THE TOO-HIGH COST OF “CLEAN” COAL

Cost blowout hits clean coal vision
Jamie Walker, December 20, 2010 (The Australian)

"Australia's hopes to lead the world in generating "clean" electricity from coal have taken a hammering…A massive cost blowout forced the Queensland government to scrap [the ZeroGen] prototype power plant that was to be in action by 2015…[which] means carbon capture technology to trap greenhouse gases produced from coal-fired plants will not be in use for a decade at least.

"While Premier Anna Bligh said yesterday the $192 million invested in ZeroGen had not been wasted, and the state and federal governments remained committed to developing clean coal processes, she admitted this was not yet economically viable."

click to enlarge

"A feasibility study on the ZeroGen proposal to capture carbon dioxide emissions and store them underground found the cost would have burst through the $4.3 billion budget [possibly by more than half again] and driven up power prices to unaffordable levels. The state government [said it] would not… fund an Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle power station incorporating carbon capture and storage…[because] it is not yet economically viable…"

[Queensland Premier Anna Bligh:] "Frankly, it would drive up the cost of electricity beyond the reach of normal people."

Even if they build the plant, there are other questions when they get to storage. (click to enlarge)

"ZeroGen was the most advanced of four ‘flagship’ projects funded jointly by the federal government, the states and the coal industry to produce clean electricity from a station integrated with carbon capture and storage.

"Construction of a fully-fledged 530 megawatt power station, with 90 per cent emission capture, was to have begun in 2012 under the fast-tracked timeline…[and] was to have been in operation by 2015, making it the first in the world…"