MANILA - Canada's SaskPower International Inc plans to introduce in the Philippines technology that promises to reduce coal plant emissions.
Brad Wall, premier of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, told InterAksyon.com that the state-run power company will look for local partners interested in putting up carbon capture facilities.
"We've actually developed a consortium. It is an offer for companies, electrical utilities, to join us. We'll share the engineering expertise that we have, share whatever technological transfer there is," he said.
SaskPower is putting up a carbon capture facility beside a 100-megawatt coal plant in Sasketchawan. The facility is expected to bring down carbon and sulfur dioxide emission by up to 90 percent.
The facility will allow the company to "trap" said emissions, which could then be sold to industries.
"We've sold all the CO2 -- the million tons per year that we'll capture -- we've sold it all to the oil companies," Wall said.
The carbon capture facility, which should operate commercially by April next year, is the first of its kind in the world.
"We're very excited. It actually works. SaskPower is the name of the power company. In addition to that, the consortium will also be run by SaskPower, potentially to transfer the technology in their markets," Wall said.
Michael J. Monea, SaskPower president, said the company's carbon capture technology would make coal plants competitive with natural gas facilities cost-wise at about $80 per megawatt.
SaskPower invested $1.2 billion for its showcase carbon capture facility, but the amount needed to put up succeeding ones should go down by over 30 percent, he said.
The technology would also reduce emissions even though natural gas emits less than half what coal plants discharge, Monea said.
SaskPower is Saskatchewan's primary power producer with a portfolio of natural gas, coal, hydro and wind plants.
At present, coal accounts for over a third of the Philippines' power generation mix. Coal's share in the mix is expected to shoot up as it fuels many of the power plants in the pipeline.
source: interaksyon.com
