news from canada, page-22

Gas fired power is going to get more attention shortly.

Energy companies seek up to $10bn for clean gas power plants.
An electricity company is seeking billions in government cash to help build a gas-fired power plant each in NSW and Victoria.

TRUenergy says it wants to build the plants by 2013 to slash its emissions and provide cleaner electricity to more than 1.2 million homes, but the plan depends on how much compensation it can get from the federal government's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS).

Fairfax newspapers said the federal government is offering $3 billion in compensation to power generators reliant on brown coal, but the companies are demanding between $8 billion and $10 billion.

TRUenergy will put a plan to the Victorian government within months for a 1,000-megawatt gas-fired power plant next to its 1,500-megawatt brown coal power station at Yallourn in the Latrobe Valley, Fairfax said.

The station would be the first base load gas station in Victoria and would provide about 13 per cent of the state's electricity needs.

An engineering firm has been hired to assess the Yallourn site.

TRUenergy managing director Richard McIndoe said the planned gas plants were vital to keep up with electricity demand in both states but depended on how the company fared under the CPRS.

Victorian Energy Minister Peter Batchelor said the Victorian government backed the plan.

"The task of transforming our energy sector into a cleaner industry is massive, and its projects like these that will help us achieve this, he said."