SPRINGFIELD (AP) — Two key deadlines await the long-planned FutureGen clean-coal project before the year ends.

Project planners say the Illinois Commerce Commission is due to decide whether utilities including Ameren and Commonwealth Edison would have to buy power from the project. And the U.S. Department of Energy is expected to decide whether to proceed to the design and engineering phase. The project has $1 billion in federal funding.

FutureGen Alliance CEO Ken Humphreys tells The (Springfield) State Journal-Register (http://bit.ly/RAwpbW ) that the power-purchase decision could give the project a needed revenue stream.