LNG will not replace coal as the baseload power plant fuel

LNG will not replace coal as the baseload power plant fuel: group

Washington (Platts)--28Sep2004


Imports of liquefied natural gas will never be sufficient to replace the coal
used in baseload power plants, John Stanton, vice president of the National
Environmental Trust said Tuesday. Stanton also told the Natural Gas Roundtable
in Washington, D.C., that wind, solar, wind and biomass will at best remain
fringe sources of energy. But, he said that he thought the federal government
should spend more money to develop coal-gasification technologies and expected
that gasified coal would become the primary fuel used by electric generators.

In the meantime, the US will have to recognize that its immediate energy needs
must be filled by LNG. The technology is available now to remove most of the
carbon dioxide from natural gas, which makes it an even more attractive
commodity from an environmental point of view. He acknowledged that
considerable opposition to LNG docking facilities in the US continues, but
Canadians "are not allergic to energy development" and very likely will import
the LNG that will be shipped to the US.

Stanton acknowledged that growing dependency on LNG could put the US economy
at risk, which is one reason why the federal government should allocate more
resources to developing coal-gasification technology. He also acknowledged
that unless the government intervenes, imported LNG will be less costly to
produce and use than gasified coal in peaking plants.

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