Queensland at the forefront of clean coal technology

Mines and Energy Minister Geoff Wilson told a Clean Coal conference in Brisbane today that while the resources boom had delivered enormous economic benefits to Queensland, it had also thrown up some big challenges.

The Minister said Queensland was already showing leadership by investing in clean coal technology.

“We need to strike the right balance between the need to produce coal and the need to protect the environment and the jobs of the 18,600 men and women who work in the coal industry,” Mr Wilson said.

“Coal will always play a role and that’s simply because we have over 32 billion tonnes of high-quality, low-cost, easily accessible black coal to last for more than 300 years.

“I believe we can have the best of both worlds and Queensland has the capacity to lead the way on a national and international scale,” Mr Wilson said.

Queensland’s clean coal initiatives

·Setting up a new Future Strategies Division that will spearhead the drive to develop clean coal technology

·Working with other states on a national carbon trading scheme

·Establishing a Climate Change Centre of Excellence

·Developing the world’s first oxy-fuel clean coal power plant with carbon capture and storage

·Investing in ZeroGen, a world-first demonstration plant to capture and store carbon emissions

·Investing $300 million from the Queensland Future Growth Fund in the continued development of clean coal technologies

·Building the new Kogan Creek power station that will set a benchmark for the environmental performance of coal-fired power stations in Australia; and

·Backing the Queensland Centre for Advanced Technologies and its scientists and researchers who are working on cutting-edge solutions to improve the performance of coal.

“The State Government takes its responsibilities seriously and has come up with sensible, workable solutions that strike the right balance,” he said.

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