Venture to help eastern Europe clean up its coal

Date: 08/10/1998

By Chris Johnstone

EASTERN Europe's large but heavily polluting coal sector is being offered a helping hand to clean up its act to help pave the way for membership of the EU.

European Commission funds totalling around 8 million ecu are being invested in a public-private joint venture which is aimed at improving the efficiency of the region's coal-burning power stations.

One of the biggest long-term beneficiaries of such technology - if it proves its worth - is likely to be Poland's massive coal industry, which produces as much as all the other EU producers combined.

However, the investment offers little solace to western mineowners seeking a short-term lifeline to help them survive in an intensely competitive market through subsidies or measures to protect them from cheaper imports.

The UK government is currently considering a complaint against the Polish coal sector for dumping subsidised coal on the market as the British industry fights to hold on to its share of the power production sector.

The 'clean coal' technology supported by EU energy research funds promises an efficiency improvement of around 10% in power stations burning coal and a cut of 15% in emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas.

Later developments could allow biofuels and coal to be burned in combination, although a demonstration power station is not likely to be ready for around ten years.

Energy Commissioner Christos Papoutsis has stressed that Poland must improve its environmental record for energy production before it can join the Union.

"It must begin to adapt its coal industry to Community rules. Clean coal technology and combined energy production using coal and other fuels will help this country to hasten integration," he insisted last week.

However, the deep inroads being made by cheap gas in supplying an increasing proportion of EU power stations is not likely to be reversed by clean coal technology, according to Arndt Norgaard, managing director of the joint venture project.

"In the UK and US we have fairly low gas prices. I do not think technology will change that situation. It would be difficult to get coal-fired technology in these markets," he said.

Firms involved in the project - most of which are boiler-makers, steel and turbine manufacturers - hope that developing countries which use large quantities of coal, such as India, China and Indonesia, will provide a large market for the new technology.

They say this could allow massive savings in the quantity of coal burned and contribute significantly to cutting greenhouse gas emissions.