Coal’s role in transition
The pragmatists are not prepared to call it game over for maligned resource as pressure mounts on the international stage for an end to mining and export of the material
SO … COAL FIRED POWER IS ON THE WAY OUT, YEAH?
Yes. But not immediately. While Tasmania, SA and the NT no longer have coal-fired power stations, coal generated 54 per cent of Australia’s electricity in 2020. Queensland’s youngest station, Millmerran, is not due to close until 2051, while other states will close stations in the 2040s:
WA by 2040, NSW by 2042 and Victoria by 2048. Some plants, such as Yallourn in Victoria, will close earlier than expected.
When the IPCC released its most recent report, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said it “must sound a death knell for coal and fossil fuels, before they destroy our planet”, and urged OECD countries to phase out coal by 2030. Feeling the pressure, financial institutions have tightened lending for coal-fired power – some 130 banks have announced exit dates for any investment in this area. But Energy Minister Angus Taylor has maintained a future need for coal despite – and partially because of – Australia’s increasing use of renewables. “Reliable sources of energy, like coal and gas, will continue to be needed to keep the lights on and deliver 24/7 power for households and businesses as more and more renewables enter the system,” Mr Taylor says.
WHAT IS THE PROBLEM WITH COAL?
Burning coal for electricity creates more greenhouse gases than any other method. Digging it up also creates substantial greenhouse gases in its own right, and these socalled “fugitive emissions” (across all sorts of mining) constitute 10 per cent of Australia’s total emissions. Electricity production represents 33 per cent of all our emissions and stationary energy production represents another 20 per cent – both of which involve coal. Proponents of Australian coal have long claimed it is cleaner than coals from other parts of the world, or at least creates more energy when burned. Critics say whatever difference this creates is negligible, given how polluting it is.
Coal can also have severe impacts on human health. Even the dreaded “black lung” – a disease many probably think exists only in history books – is still detected in Australia, with 133 cases identified among Queensland miners between 2015 and 2020. The Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering estimates coal creates a $2.6bn impost on our health system every year.
CAN WE MAKE COAL CLEANER?
Advanced coal plants using so-called supercritical (SC) and ultrasupercritical (USC) technologies produce lower emissions, although they are more expensive to build. According to a 2018 study by the Clean Coal Centre, a new power plant using SC or USC technology will produce up to 40 per cent lower CO2 emissions if it’s replacing an older plant without those technologies. Nationals Senator Matt Canavan has called for the federal government to fund a coalfired power station using USC technologies. Carbon capture and storage projects – whereby greenhouse gases are trapped underground – have been hailed as a way to clean up coal, and while these proposals sound promising, critics say they will never live up to the hype.
In June, the federal government awarded up to $5m to a company to demonstrate the viability of carbon capture and storage from the Milmerran coalfired power station, near Toowoomba. Minerals Council of Australia chief executive Tania Constable says an underground facility near Milmerran has the potential to store large volumes of carbon dioxide “over the next 100 years”, including from other heavy industries nearby. The principles behind carbon capture have been used in the resources industry for some 50 years, Ms Constable says, as carbon dioxide is injected into underground reservoirs to draw out oil and gas. Carbon capture projects are “already living up to
Reliable sources of energy, like coal and gas, will continue to be needed to keep the lights on and deliver 24/7 power for households and businesses as more and more renewables enter the system
the hype at a global level”, she says. “It is absolutely critical that carbon capture and storage is used alongside all other technologies to reduce emissions and get that global goal of net zero emissions by 2050. It’s an imperative. We must make it work.”
CAN COAL WORK WITH RENEWABLES?
When Scott Morrison brandished a lump of coal in parliament in 2017 (he was Treasurer at the time), he said coal was an “important part” of Australia’s “sustainable and more certain energy future”.
Coal can be used to make hydrogen (known as V2 - TCHE01Z01MA “black” or
“brown” hydrogen) via a process called gasification, and this is happening through a pilot AGL project in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley. It is hoped the project, shipping liquid hydrogen to Japan, could open up a lucrative new export market. It is also hoped a site in Bass Strait could be used to store the project’s carbon emissions. Opinions are divided. Some argue we should stop using fossil fuels for any reason, even for hydrogen production; others say all methods to create hydrogen should be explored, and using coal as an interim measure could boost the nascent industry. In June, the government released a discussion paper on whether “source of origin” labelling for hydrogen should be introduced, so consumers know if they are buying brown, blue or green hydrogen. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Minerals Council says it is not supportive of source of origin labelling.