<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/coal-mine-methane-mitigation-is-finally-getting-real-again-but-only-after-huge-government-handouts/>
"Australia was once the world’s leader in reducing methane. Back before the CSG
boom kicked off, methane mitigation was all the rage across the mining sector,
and Australia was the global hub of innovation
During the early 2000’s, the CSIRO were developing some of the world’s most
advanced methane capture technologies for coal mines, and commercial projects
were rolling out across New South Wales and Queensland.
In 2007, the same year the Wallabies last won the Rugby World Cup, BHP opened
the world’s first coal mine methane power plant.
By the end of the decade, Australia had eight different methane reducing
projects operating across coal mines in NSW and Queensland. Seven of them were
linked to the electricity grid, transforming their otherwise wasted methane gas
into electricity.
We were even exporting our methane reducing technology to China.
These projects were preventing over 260 thousand tonnes of methane from being
released each year, and transforming it into over 220 MW of electricity at the
same time. The annual climate benefit was equivalent to reducing over 7 Million
tonnes of carbon dioxide.
At the time, we were bullish on this approach to decarbonisation.
In 2010, the Department of Resources and Energy was predicting that we could
rapidly expand the number of methane reducing projects across the coal sector,
and “at least double generating capacity over the next decade”.
Fifteen years later, we’ve upheld expectations on methane mitigation about as
well as the Wallabies have on the World Cup.
However, in a similar fashion to the recent green and gold resurgence, the last
month has revived hopes that Australia might actually get back on track with
decarbonising our coal sector."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
