Coal has a continued vital role to play in the future of electric power generation in Canada and the rest of the world. In Canada, 20% of our power is generated from coal and in Alberta, 65%. Over 50% of the U.S. power generated is from coal and 25% of the world's coal reserves are located in the U.S.
The CCPC's mandate is to research, develop and demonstrate a commercially viable clean coal technology designed to remove greenhouse gas and all other emissions of concern from an existing plant by 2007 and a greenfields plant by 2010.
Phase 1 of this study has been completed and it shows that the platform technology for new clean power is coal/carbon gasficiation. We have learned along the way that this technology can be applied to most carbon sources - i.e. coal, coke, bitumen, refinery bottoms to produce a multitude of products, one of which is power. This concept is called "polygeneration" and it has the potential to improve the economics and environmental impacts of carbon based fuels at a time when natural gas sources are becoming most expensive and harder to find. There are 4 papers to be presented in total on how the energy dynamics in Canada could change as a result of this concept.
