#Trump to 'free up' and 'fire up' clean coal

US President-Elect Donald Trump has said that among his first actions when sworn in as president on 1 January will be to “free up” and “fire up” clean coal, writes Martin Banks.  Trump has vowed to "cancel job-killing” limitations on the production of American energy, including clean coal, creating “many millions” of high paying jobs in the process.

The European Union, on the other hand, has made climate change one of its key priorities, committing itself to a 20 per cent cut in greenhouse gas emissions and ensuring 20% of total energy consumption comes from renewable energy by 2020.

Yet, as it further strives to decarbonize the European economy and promote renewable sources of energy, Europe – and the world – still has a duty to deliver citizens the secure, reliable and cost efficient energy supplies they need to keep their homes and businesses working.

And that, in the main, still means coal.

Even in the post-COP22 world, there are legitimate reasons why some European countries have decided to remain with coal. It is reliable, it is abundant and it is relatively cheap.

As Forbes columnist Ken Silverstein pointed out, the central question is now how to make coal cleaner as opposed to how to make it go away.

There is little doubt that the clean coal concept is technically achievable as is evidenced by several well-documented demonstration projects, including American Electric Power’s Mountaineer plant in West Virginia, which successfully captured and stored more than 37,000t of CO2 between 2009 and 2011.

Clean Coal Storage (CCS) has had its successes on a larger scale too and, in recent years, the utilisation of various state-of-the-art Clean Coal Technology (CCT) solutions to coal power plants has noticeably reduced their emissions.

One example is the Boxberg Thermal Power Plant in the German state of Saxony and operated by Vattenfall, one of Europe’s largest energy companies. A spokesman for Vattenfall said it estimates that the use of the latest materials, boilers and turbine technology will lower Boxberg’s annual consumption by 30 percent when compared with the global average.

Although, due to its size, the entire Boxberg plant remains a sizeable source of CO2 emissions in Germany, it represents an example, says the spokesman, of how emissions can be reduced even in large lignite plants, which are conventionally a source of substantial greenhouse emissions.

Since coal remains resilient and cheap, many argue that it makes sense to invest in CCS technology and other similar solutions. The German example, and others, suggest that coal is still feasible, from both environmental and economic concerns.

All this is highly relevant because much of the developing world will remain dependent on coal, as will most developed nations, albeit to a lesser degree.

According to the International Energy Agency, 40.8% of the world’s electricity generation currently comes from coal – more than the 1970s. It was 38.3% in 1973. Today coal is double the next largest generator, natural gas.

An IEA spokesman said: “This is amid expectations that global electricity consumption will grow by more than 70% to 2040. To help meet these growing consumption levels, coal will generate 23% more electricity by 2040. At issue is whether carbon capture and storage is technically possible and if so, at what cost."

The Asian share of the global coal pie is now about 69% but that will grow to be 77% in 2040. Even China, which will reduce its coal usage from 75% of its electricity portfolio to 49% during this time, will still use 27% more coal because of its anticipated economic expansion. The United States, too, will still depend on coal for 25% of electricity in 2040, says the Paris-based agency.

India is the world’s third largest coal producing country and the fourth largest coal importer. The country continues to significantly rely on coal for electricity generation, and this abundant and affordable fossil fuel accounts for 69% of the country’s electricity output.

As coal will continue to power a large – and possibly even increasing – share of the Indian economy in the foreseeable future, managing the negative side effects of the coal industry is seen as a continued priority. A recent power plant was unveiled in Chennai that uses a revolutionary type of CCS. According to the company that developed it, the plant is the world’s first commercially viable, zero-carbon power plant.

Even Germany, bent on expanding renewables, says coal will still have a role. So does Japan though it also asks why it can’t be used more “efficiently”.

Over the past several decades, advancements in clean coal technology have managed to reduce the coal industry’s negative environmental and health impacts across the globe.

Despite steadily reducing its own reliance on coal, the European Union remains the world leader in cutting-edge CCT and is home to a wide array of companies specialised in reducing the environmental impact of the coal industry, noted a source at the Clean Technologies and Products unit in the European Commission’s DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs.

He told this website: “Far from being purely the domain of large multinational companies, many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from countries such as Germany, Poland and the UK, offer a range of technological and consulting solutions that could be put to good use over the coming years and decades.”

The commission points out that the potential for other clean coal technologies “is clear”.

These include carbon capture and storage (CCS), a growing technology in Europe which aims to restrict the emissions of CO2 produced by coal-based power plants. During this process, carbon dioxide is captured and then stored geologically or in the ocean. The aim is to prevent CO2 from being emitted into the atmosphere.

The commission source said: “In Europe CCS technology is being explored and the Commission has funded projects to research and develop CCS further and power plants have pursued this technology to reduce the harmful impacts made on the environment.”

The introduction of another technology, Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC), is an alternative for a less energy consuming and more complete separation of CO2 for newly built coal-fired power plants compared to retrofitting existing plants.

As the commission notes, there is already “an abundance” of EU clean coal legislation and funding opportunities, including the Research Fund for Coal and Steel which has a budget allocation of €50 million to fund research and pilot projects undertaken by universities, research centres and private companies to enhance the safety and efficiency of the EU coal industry.

As can be seen, the EU is actively funding and supporting research, development and demonstration of clean coal and CCS technologies.

One example is the European Industrial Initiative (EII), launched in 2010 and a multi-stakeholder initiative and serves as a model for collaboration between industry, EU member states, the European Commission and research institutes. The CCS EII has a key objective: to ensure the cost competitive deployment of CCS in the medium-to-long term.

As German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said: “Coal-fuelled power will, on no account, be switched off in the next decade. In my opinion, not even in the one after that.”

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