Coal
industry joins Canadians
MINOT (AP) - North
Dakota's lignite industry is joining with a Canadian group that wants to
build a power plant that produces virtually no emissions.
In five to seven years, the Canadian Clean Power Coalition, made up of 10
energy producers and researchers, aims to build such a coal-fired
demonstration power plant in Canada.
The goal is a technology that can be used across the industry with
lower-grade coals, said Bob Stobbs of SaskPower in Regina, Saskatchewan, the
coalition's executive director.
"We have to move into the testing-by-doing stage,"
Stobbs said. "We can't keep studying this to death."
North Dakota's coal industry is cooperating because Canada and North Dakota
share large lignite reserves.
North Dakota also is interested in the chance that coal gasification will be
used as the means of capturing carbon dioxide to prevent emissions.
Since 2003, three shipments of North Dakota lignite have been sent to an
Alabama plant where different types of gasification are tested, said Steve
Van Dyke of Bismarck. Van Dyke is a spokesman for Partners for Affordable
Energy, a regional coalition promoting coal-based electricity.
Researchers have found that North Dakota lignite is highly reactive to
gasification, he said. "That's because it's a young coal, and it just seems
to gasify better."
Basin Electric Cooperative of Bismarck runs a coal gasification plant at
Beulah and hopes to share its research with the CCPC, said Daryl Hill of
Basin Electric.
"We view this as mutually beneficial. We can learn from our Canadian
friends," Hill said. "The best way to learn about what's going to work best
with North Dakota lignite is by sharing information. By working together, we
can enhance the use of lignite in the region."
The Canadian coalition is examining two other options for capturing carbon
dioxide along with gasification |