When is a coal plant not a coal plant?

Posted by jossc — 21 May 2008 at 4:23pm - Comments

Drax from a distance: the UK's biggest source of CO2 pollution

Drax from a distance: the UK's biggest source of CO2 pollution

Silly question I know. A coal plant is a coal plant is a coal plant - still the dirtiest form of power generation known to us, no matter which way you look at it. But now that more and more people are uneasily waking up to the fact that the government are about to sanction a new generation of the things, suddenly we're knee-deep in spin about how environmentally friendly they could become. How surprising.

First there's been a great slew of CCS 'clean coal' stories. Carbon capture and storage may be theoretically feasible but it's expensive (up to twice the cost of unabated coal), technically complicated (involving deep cooling the CO2 into liquid form and creating a network to pump it out back under the North Sea where our oil and gas reserves originally resided) and commercially untried (so far no one is keen to pay for it themselves).

Then there are the moves afoot to burn biomass in coal plants. The UK's largest power station, Drax in Yorkshire, launched a £50 million plan today aimed at replacing 10 per cent of the coal it uses with biomass. Grinding plant matter such as wood chips, sunflower husks or grasses into a fine powder allows it to be injected into the plant's furnaces. Drax CEO Dorothy Thompson claims the process will allow the plant to cut its CO2 emissions by 15 percent by 2012.

So far their experiments have shown that small amounts (2-3 percent) of biomass can be injected without problems, but to extend this to the 10-15 percent needed to start making a meaningful impact will require many changes. Different biomass materials burn in different ways, so the processing plant needs to be able to handle the materials accordingly. The resulting fuels then need to be inserted into the coal-fired boilers at different positions to ensure they burn properly. Not impossibly complicated but certainly not straightforward either. And even a 15 percent reduction is less than impressive when you realise that Drax is already the single biggest source of CO2 pollution in the UK, pumping out 22.7 million tonnes each year.

Sustainable, locally sourced biomass is a precious commodity. The best thing to do with this carbon neutral but limited resource is to burn it as efficiently as possible in combined heat and power plants specifically designed to burn biomass. Not injected in to less efficient plant designed to burn coal. At a time when the need to act is more urgent than ever, the government and industry seem intent on tinkering with the outdated and inefficient system we have instead of making the difficult decisions that put us on the path to clean, efficient, decentralized energy system.

Companies are well aware that the government needs their investment and are playing hardball to get themselves the best possible deals. A prime example is EON, the German utility planning to build the UK's first new coal-fired power station for over 20 years at Kingsnorth in Kent. Reports that EON is also considering a new nuclear plant at the same location are clearly designed to put pressure on the Department of Business to approve the Kingsnorth proposal as it stands, and to scare local people in Kent who are less than impressed by EON's new coal plans.

The truth is that coal is back on the agenda again because it is cheap and available - attempts to dress it up as a 'clean' and modern fuel are just plain embarrassing, especially when genuinely clean and modern renewable technologies are being overlooked in its favour.

About Joss

Bass player and backing vox in the four piece beat combo that is the UK Greenpeace Web Experience. In my 6 years here I've worked on almost every campaign and been fascinated by them all to varying degrees. Just now I'm working on Peace and Oceans - which means getting rid of our Trident nuclear weapons system and creating large marine reserves so that marine life can get some protection from overfishing.

Follow Greenpeace UK