Reducing carbon emissions: clean coal V gas power generation.

My favourite sentences from the article below has been set in bold and underlined.

So clean coal is "unbankable", wind and solar is unreliable and gas produces the least amount of CO2 per megawatt hour for producing stable and reliable energy.........hmmm.



'Clean coal': billions of dollars and lots of carbon
By Ben Potter


February 15, 2017, 6:02pm

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The Turnbull government wants to ease Clean Energy Finance Corporation guidelines to allow "clean coal" to qualify for "clean energy" funding but figures from a big Japanese supplier of clean coal plants suggest the guidelines would have to be gutted to get the plants over the line. Jonathan Carroll
A top executive at the largest Japanese supplier of high tech coal-fired power plants says they would likely cost more than thought in Australia and still emit relatively large quantities of carbon.

Akihiko Kazuno, head of global strategic planning for Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, said the company's ultra-supercritical power stations – the most advanced currently being built commercially – typically cost between $US1.5 billion and $US3.5 billion per 1000 megawatts of capacity.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg, Treasurer Scott Morrison and the Minerals Council of Australia – which is launching a "Coal: Making the future possible" advertising campaign – are pushing for "clean coal" plants to be built in Australia.

But industry says the plants are "unbankable" because of their high costs and carbon risk and resources entrepreneurs Gina Rinehart and Trevor St Baker have shunned the technology too.

High cost
Assuming Australian costs are at the upper end of the range cited by Mr Kazuno, the cost of building a 1000MW ultra-supercritical plant in Australia would be about $4.6 billion.

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Levelised cost of electricity 2030 estimates. CO2CRC
This is much more than the costs assumed in the CO2CRC's Australian Power Generation Technology Report relied on by proponents of building such plants in Australia, which put the cost at about $3.1 billion for black coal and $4 billion for brown coal. But it is close to the $5 billion-plus per 1000MW costs of two huge 4300MW ultra-supercritical coal plans recently built in South Africa.

Energy expert Bruce Mountain, director of Carbon+Energy Markets, said construction costs in Australia would likely be at the top end of the range.

Ultra-supercritical power plants operate at higher temperatures and efficiency to reduce the amount of carbon emitted by coal generation, but it is still much more than for a gas plant of comparable capacity.

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Capital Cost Estimates. CO2CRC
Mr Kazuno said carbon emissions vary, but he would "assume around 700-750 kilograms of CO2/ MWh for black coal and around 900-1,000 for brown coal" without carbon capture and storage.

Not 50 per cent
This is a 25-30 per cent reduction for black coal plants in Australia, which typically emit just under or just over 1000 kilograms of CO2 per MWh, and a 28-33 per cent reduction for Victoria's brown coal plants, which emit 1250-1500 kilograms of CO2 per MWh (excluding the outgoing Hazelwood power station). A combined cycle gas turbine plant emits about 373 kilograms of CO2/MWh, according to the CO2CRC report.

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation's guidelines require technologies to reduce emissions by 50 per cent from the current grid average of 840 kilograms of CO2/MWh to win funding.

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Hancock Prospecting chairman Gina Rinehart is the latest resources boss to reject "clean coal". Supplied
Mr Frydenberg and Queensland senator Matt Canavan want to ease the guidelines to allow clean coal to qualify but Mr Kazuno's figures suggest they would have to gut the guidelines to get the coal plants over the line.

The CO2CRC puts levelised (capital and operating) costs for supercritical power stations – an older technology that emits more than 800 kilograms of CO2/MWh – on a par with new solar generation in 2030 and just above the cost of new wind generation.

Carbon indemnity
These estimates do not include any carbon costs, even though companies such as BHP Billiton commonly factor in a carbon cost when vetting new projects. BHP assumes a price of $US24 per tonne of CO2. The Climate Institute estimates carbon risk would require an indemnity of $27 billion-$44 billion over the 30-year lifetime of a large plant.

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Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison brought a lump of black coal to Parliamentary question time last Thursday to stress the government's support for "clean coal". Alex Ellinghausen
Bloomberg New Energy Finance puts the cost of power from ultra-supercritical coal power at $134-$203 a MW/h including carbon costs and financing and construction risks, and $94 a MWh without these risks. By comparison, power from new wind plant costs $61-$118 per MWh, new solar plant $78-$140 and new gas plant $74-$90.

Mr Kazuno said funding from Japan's export finance bank could be available to help fund the purchase of a new high tech power station in Australia, but he said this would not be "soft finance".

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Carbon dioxide emissions by power plant – tonnes of CO2 – black coal from left, brown coal from right. Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis