By Mike Boyer
The Cincinnati Enquirer

A subsidiary of Cincinnati-based Global Energy Inc., Monday won a $1.1 million Ohio job creation tax credit for a planned coal gasification electric generation plant in Lima, Ohio.

Lima Energy, a unit of Global Energy, plans to construct the $565 million plant that uses a synthetic gas made from coal to produce 540 megawatts of electricity.

Harry Graves, Global Energy president, said construction should start by June 30 at the 63-acre former Lima Locomotive Works on the coal gasification plant, which is expected to employ about 104 workers when it become operational in about three years.

"Not only will this facility be the first of its kind in Ohio, but also the largest and most environmentally clean Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle plant in the nation," said Gov. Bob Taft.

Graves said the project hopes to raise $512 million through Ohio Air Quality Development Authority bonds this spring to finance construction.

Global Energy is developing another coal gasification plant in Kentucky, and hopes to break ground on that 540-megawatt plant in the second half of this year.

"This is a big year for Global Energy, but we have about four years invested in each of the facilities," Graves said.

Global operates the Wabash River Energy plant, a smaller coal gasification plant near Terre Haute, Ind., which sells gas to Cinergy Corp. to power an electric generator.

Earlier this month, Cinergy chairman James Rogers said the utility wants to develop a coal gasification plant in Indiana.

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E-mail mboyer@enquirer.com