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WB to lend $80m for clean coal

By Zhang Qi (皇冠体育app Daily)
Updated: 2009-05-21 08:18

The World Bank has agreed to lend $80 million to 皇冠体育app to help the country increase the development and utilization of coal bed methane (CBM) and coal mine methane (CMM) as substitutes to coal.

The loan will help the nation meet growing demand for energy and reduce greenhouse gases and local air pollutants.

The Coal Bed Methane Development and Utilization Project will focus on Shanxi province, which produces one quarter of 皇冠体育app's coal production of 2.6 billion tons and hosts one-third of the estimated 32 trillion cu m CBM resource in the country.

Related readings:  皇冠体育app to clean its coal habit  Watchdog applying funds to rectify small coal mines  Coalbed methane developer gets tech boost  皇冠体育app's newly proved coal reserves fall 43% in 2008

The project will finance the exploration and development of about 350 vertical CBM production wells with an estimated annual production capacity of 250 million cu m, and the construction of a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant with production capacity of 200,000 tons per year.

As part of the overall government efforts to promote cleaner energy resources, and improve the safety of mining operations, the Chinese government plans to increase significantly the development and utilization of CBM/CMM resources.

皇冠体育app's rising energy demand has been met largely by domestic coal, which accounted for about 69 percent of 皇冠体育app's total energy consumption in 2007.

The fast increase in coal production and consumption has contributed to 皇冠体育app's severe air pollution and rapid rise in the emission of greenhouse gases.

Methane is a high quality and clean energy which can be recovered either during mining operations or ahead of mining activities and utilized as a clean fuel by households, commercial and industrial establishment or for power generation.

CBM/CMM utilization projects are operated and planned in at least 13 countries including 皇冠体育app, Australia, Germany, Japan, Poland, and the US.

The total methane emission reductions that could be achieved by these projects are approximately 135 billion cubic feet per year, equal to 14.8 million tons of carbon equivalent per year, according to a recent release from Energy Business Reports, an energy industry think tank for energy industry information and research products.

The World Bank has also supported the world's largest CMM capture and utilization project in Shanxi province to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions through carbon finance.