Media Statement - 25th February 2007
Federal Labor today released its National Clean Coal Initiative - to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and secure jobs in the coal industry.
Australia's coal industry is an important part of our economy, and is the lifeblood of many regional communities in Queensland, NSW and Victoria. Australia directly exported $24.5 billion last year, making Australia the world's largest coal exporter.
Federal Labor's plan includes:
- Setting up a national clean coal initiative to place Australia's coal industry and exports on a sure international footing;
- Establishing a nation clean coal fund worth $500 million fund (over the period to 2015) to generate $1.5 billion in new investment by working in partnership with the private sector; and
- Setting up a national objective of international coal generated electricity into the national electricity grid by 2020.
This is based on one dollar from government to be matched by two dollars from business.
Federal Labor's National Clean Coal Fund is in addition to existing Commonwealth funds for clean coal projects through the Low Emission Technology Demonstration Fund.
Federal Labor will also increase funding for the CSIRO by $25 million over four years. This will strengthen its leadership role in the research and development of clean coal technologies.
This is about ensuring that we have a strong and long-term coal industry. We can do that by working in partnership with State Governments and the coal sector.
Labor's National Clean Coal Initiative is an important element in Labor's comprehensive approach to dealing with the threats and opportunities of climate change which include:
- Immediately ratifying the Kyoto Protocol;
- Cutting Australia's greenhouse pollution by 60 per cent by 2050;
- Setting up a national emission trading scheme;
- Substantially increasing the mandatory renewable energy target; and
- Convening a National Climate Change Summit in Canberra in late-March/early-April 2007.
Federal Labor will be making further announcements on energy renewables and other energy sources in the coming months.
In addition, Federal Labor will set a target for clean coal technologies. This will be:
- For technologies that significantly reduce emissions to be commercially viable by 2020; and
- For near zero emission technologies CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) to be commercially viable by 2030.
Federal Labor's National Clean Coal Initiative will form part of the discussion at Labor's upcoming National Climate Change Summit in Canberra.
Federal Labor looks forward to further input from the business and science communities on this important initiative.
Clean Coal technologies
Key elements of what are currently considered 'clean coal' technologies include:
- Coal gasification, whereby power plants gasify the coal with the resultant synthesis gas used to run a turbine that produces electricity.
- Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), whereby the CO2 from the synthesis gas is separated, and then redirected and stored. The redirection of CO2 into geological formations is called geosequestriation.
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Oxy firing, whereby pulverised coal is combusted in a mixture of oxygen and recirculated flue gas in order to reduce the net volume of flue gases from the process and to substantially increase the concentration of CO2 in the flue gases.
- Post Combustion Capture (PCC), whereby CO2 is removed from the flue gas from conventional coal fired power stations and then stored.
Clean Coal Technologies
Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) technology
Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) plants gasify the coal, allowing the pre-combustion capture of CO2. The synthesis gas produced is then used to run a gas turbine to produce electricity.
The term 'combined cycle' refers to a gas fired power plant that combines a gas fired generator with a steam powered generator running off the heat from the resultant flue gas.
Because the IGCC power plant separates out the CO2 before combustion it can be captured more effectively and efficiently when compared to a traditional coal fired power plant. Up to 100% of CO2 could be captured from an IGCC power plant.
The attached diagram (available as a download) shows in summary form how these key technologies combine to achieve near zero greenhouse gas emissions in the context of coal-fired power generation.
IGCC plants have been built and operated overseas on a commercial basis for many years for the purpose of producing syngas for use in chemical manufacturing.However there are only two IGCC plants currently delivering electricity into a grid (335MW in Spain and 250MW in the Netherlands). The capital cost of an IGCC plant is well above that of a traditional coal fired power plant and to date they have not been commercially viable. Consequently, both of these plants were built with government support but are now operating on a commercial basis.
Currently there are no international IGCC plants employing CCS and there are currently no IGCC plants at all in Australia.
There are a number of IGCC and CCS demonstration projects planned in countries including the USA, Germany, and the UK. These include the US FutureGen project, a US$1 billion initiative to build a 1000MW IGCC plant with CCS.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS)
While an IGCC plant will allow the capture of CO2 as a product of the chemical process, the CO2 still needs to be compressed and then transported to a suitable storage site.
Geosequestration involves the pumping of CO2, in a compressed liquid form, into suitable geological formations deep underground. The most likely sites for carbon storage are depleted oil or gas fields, deep saline aquifers and deep coal seams.
Aquifers are seen as suitable sites for geosequestration because the CO2 is absorbed into the water, which then becomes heavier and sinks. Because saline aquifers will not be drawn upon in the future as a water source there is no danger that the trapped CO2 would escape.
Current research is aimed at very closely monitoring and modelling the movement of CO2 underground and identifying areas where it will be trapped under impermeable rock.
The technology for pumping liquid CO2 into oil or gas fields is well known and proven. The first commercial-scale project dedicated to CO2 storage in a geological reservoir has been in operation at the Sleipner West Field in Norway since 1996.
Geosequestration related activity in Australia
There are a number of research projects underway in Australia to gain greater understanding of our local geological structures and identify suitable sites for geosequestration.
In the Otway Basin, Victoria, there is a project to separate CO2 from methane, pipe it 2 to 3 kilometres and pump it 2 kilometres underground into a depleted gas field. Approximately 100,000 tonnes of CO2 will be sequestered over two years. This project is currently receiving support from the Victorian Government.
The Fairview Zero Carbon Project (ZCP) in Roma (Qld) will extract methane from deep coal seams (non-minable), which will be then burnt in a 100 mega watt gas fired power station. The emissions from the power station will then captured and injected back into the coal seam.
Oxy firing (or Oxy- fuel) coal fired plants
Oxy-firing involves the combustion of pulverised coal in a mixture of oxygen and recirculated flue gas in order to reduce the net volume of flue gases from the process and to substantially increase the concentration of CO2 in the flue gases (up to 95%). In conventional coal combustion, using air, CO2 concentrations in flue gas are approximately 15%.
The higher concentrations of CO2 make the capture of carbon from an oxy fuel plant more efficient and less costly.
An advantage of oxy-fuel technology is that it can potentially be retrofitted to existing plants from coal-based electricity generation.
There are no full-scale oxy-fuel plants currently operating. A current problem with the technology is the cost of generating the pure oxygen needed to inject into the recycled flue gas.
Oxy-fuel related activity in Australia
There is a proposal for the retro fitting of a 30MW oxy-fuel plant into Power Station A at the Callide facility near Biloela for demonstration purposes. Carbon would be captured post-combustion and piped to a site for geosequestration (yet to be determined).
Post combustion capture (PCC)
Post combustion capture of carbon involves the removal of CO2 from flue gas from conventional coal fired power stations (i.e. not oxy-fuel), allowing it to be transported to a storage site. The technology could be applied to exiting and future conventional coal fired plants.
The benefit of PCC technology is that can be applied to existing power plants. Given the life expectancy of coal fired power stations existing plants are expected to continue contributing carbon emissions for the next 30 to 50 years. Therefore any attempt to cut emissions in this period will have to capture and store emissions from existing plants.
The same technology could be integrated into super and ultra critical coal fired plants built in the future.
Post combustion capture related activity in Australia .
The Timetable for Commercially Viable Clean Coal
Technologies aimed at cleaning coal, that is either removing contaminants or drying to remove moisture are easier to develop than coal gasification and carbon capture. Some of these coal-cleaning projects are earmarked for completion by 2009.
Technologies capable of generating more significant reductions in carbon dioxide emissions could be available within fifteen years. For example, the OECD/International Energy Agency (2005) Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions - the Potential of Coal notes that:
"after 2020, coal fired generation technologies featuring efficiencies of some 50% can be available"
Although the CSIRO have estimated that carbon capture and storage technologies would effectively double the cost of producing electricity from approximately $35 MWh to $70 MWh, the aim of their current research is to reduce the cost of capturing and storing carbon to approximately $17 per MWh over the next ten to fifteen years.
The Energy Suppliers Association of Australia has suggested that the cost of technologies using CCS could be reduced by even more than this.