Tauron and Azoty plan coal gasification project worth €400-600 mln

State owned chemical group Azoty and power utility Tauron plan to develop a coal gasification project worth €400-600 million by 2019-20, companies said in a market filing. “The estimated value of the project will depend on the technology picked,” the companies said announcing that they signed a letter of intent on the issue. “The project is at the stage of preliminary front end engineering design and accompanying analyses, including market ones,” the companies said, adding that they hope to finish the planning stages and select the technology that will be used in the process by the end of this year. The companies will set up a joint SPV to run the project, with potential to add more companies into the mix. The unit will have 500 MW capacity. Coal mined by Tauron will be used to produce synthesis gas, which can be used directly in the production of hydrogen, ammonia, methanol and other chemicals. The letter of intent is valid until December 31, 2017. Both sides can terminate the letter of intent with one month notice.