The contract, annually valued at around $2m, is to generate power at Carbon Energy’s 5MW syngas-powered electricity production plant which is presently built at Bloodwood Creek in the Surat Basin. The planned facility, which is expected to power approximately 4,000 homes per year, would be operational by the end of 2009. The company’s UCG technology was developed in conjunction with Australia’s CSIRO.
Andrew Dash, managing director of Carbon Energy, said: “The establishment of the 5MW station is a major step towards full commercial production.
By 2010, the company plans to add 20MW power station at the Bloodwood Creek location. Apart from this plan, the company also has future projects in Australia and overseas in key markets such as India and the United States.
Presently the company is evaluating various alternatives for Carbon Capture and Storage and the planned 20MW plant would allow the company to demonstrate Carbon Capture and potentially carbon storage (CCS).
Compared to the traditional coal-fired power generation, the UCG process is environmental friendly and can reduce clean coal power generation cost by approximately 30 % to 50%.
Dash, said: “The reason we have such a competitive advantage in this space is that clean or low emission coal technologies typically depend on digging coal out of the ground, transporting it ,then gasifying it above-ground prior to Carbon Capture. The UCG process eliminates the first 3 steps, including all the associated costs, because it already converts the coal into a gas underground.”
