Australian mining firm unveils plans for giant CCS power plant

Waratah coal proposes plan for a new 'clean coal' power stattion

Australian mining company Waratah Coal plans to build an A$1.25bn (US$1.08bn) clean coal power station right next to the proposed site of one of the country's largest coal mines.

The 900MW Galilee Power plant, it was announced last week, will incorporate carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies and be located near Waratah's planned coal mine project in Queensland.

The plant will be in two stages, with the first 450MW segment slated for completion by 2013. A timetable for the second phase has not yet been disclosed. Power generated from the plant is to be fed into Queensland's electricity grid.

Waratah chief executive Peter Lynch said the "power station will utilise reject coal from Waratah Coal's tenements as power station feedstock", adding that the flagship plant would be designed to "incorporate the latest clean coal low emission technologies".

He said that the company had not yet decided on the precise nature of the technology it will use at the new plant. He added that they are currently evaluating several clean coal technologies with an aim to form partnerships that "will ensure that the project has access to relevant up-to-date clean coal technology and the specialist technical expertise needed to establish and operate the project".

However, the company confirmed that it did intend to use CCS systems capable of trapping and storing carbon dioxide underground, preventing the gas from entering the atmosphere. Waratah said it is currently working to identify suitable sequestration sites for the plant.

The company plans to spend A$7.5bn on a coal mine project that will provide waste coal to the power station. The project will involve the construction of a 490km railway line to transport coal from the inland Galilee Basin area to a two-berth port facility that it plans to build on the central Queensland coast.

The mine targets an annual output of 40 million tonnes, with shipments expected to start in 2013.

Both the clean coal plant and mining project are pending government approval. One faction that has voiced disapproval over the tentative power plant is Queensland environmental organisation Capricorn Conservation Council, which raised doubts on the viability of clean coal technologies.

The council's vice president, Ian Herbert, told Australian broadcaster ABC that "the inconvenient truth is that there is no such thing as a clean coal power station and there probably won't be for at least 20 years".

He called the technology "unproven" and noted that “if the amount of money that was spent on research into some of these futile technologies were spent on renewable technologies, on lowering the price of solar panels, solar thermal systems, hot rock systems ... we would be far more advanced than we are at the moment".