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QRC slams Climate Council report on future of Galilee basin coal

Galilee Basin

Galilee Basin

Photo by 350-Australia

24th June 2015

By: Ilan Solomons

Creamer Media Staff Writer

  

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JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The Queensland Resources Council (QRC) on Wednesday criticised a recently released report by environmental group Climate Council, which pitched “gloom and doom” for the future of coal.

The QRC said the report, entitled ‘Galilee basin – Unburnable Coal’ was short sighted in its analysis of the long-term global energy outlook.

The report stated that the potential export markets for Galilee basin coal mines, in the west of Queensland, were “rapidly dwindling” owing to the world moving away from coal toward renewable energy.

“China’s coal use dropped by 3% in 2014 and is projected to fall a further 2.5% this year. In March, China announced that it would cut coal consumption by 80-million tonnes by 2017 and by a total of 160-million tonnes between 2014 and 2020,” the report highlighted.

Further, the report stated that global investment in new renewable capacity was now greater than investment in fossil fuels, and the gap was expected to widen as investment in renewables surged ahead.

“Potential export markets for Galilee basin are dwindling fast. Only India remains a possibility and it is wavering in its commitment to importing coal,” the Climate Council report added.

However, QRC CE Michael Roche responded to the report’s findings saying that it lacked “any depth” in its analysis of global coal demand, and turned “a blind eye” to Queensland being on the cusp of achieving record coal exports in the financial year ending June 2015.

“The independent International Energy Agency does account in its forecasts for the uptake of renewables and gas in its 2014 World Energy Outlook report; however, forecasts that coal-fired electricity output is still set to rise 33% by 2040,” he stated.

Roche pointed out that China alone added 1 000 MW of coal-fired electricity generation capacity every week in 2014.

“Thus, in just eight weeks China added the equivalent of the entire capacity of Queensland’s coal-fired capacity,” he said.

Roche further noted that as China moved to roll out more advanced technology in its new coal-fired power plants – and shut down older technology, higher polluting plants – it might in time use fewer tonnes of coal but would require more of the high energy, low pollutant coal produced in Queensland.

He highlighted that the Climate Council report did not dispute that India’s use of coal would increase but said that India may reduce its coal imports and cease all coal imports within the next few years.

“The Climate Council’s prediction on coal imports by India is based on material from The Guardian media outlet, an outlet financially backed by Graeme Wood who publicly admits he is throwing millions into both renewables and the anti-coal activist movement,” Roche said.

Moreover, he pointed out that India had 300-million people without electricity and that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was determined to provide those people access to affordable electricity by 2040.

“We also know that no credible forecaster expects India to be able to meet Modi’s target without use of imported coal to supplement domestic supply.”

Roche added that it was also important to note that from 2017, every new coal-fired power station built in India was required by law to use super critical technology, which depended on high-quality, high-energy coal that India “just cannot supply”.

“Queensland is ready to step up to the plate to satisfy that high-quality coal demand from the Galilee basin and other coal basins in Queensland, including satisfying demand from China, India and other parts of developing Asia which are striving to give their people access to affordable power,” he asserted.

Roche stressed that if these countries could not source coal from Queensland, they would “simply” seek it elsewhere, and that other coal sourced might not be as high-quality, thereby producing a worse outcome for global carbon emissions while denying Queensland thousands of new job opportunities.

“The claims [in the report] that coal is a dying energy source are ludicrous and according to the recent BP 2015 Statistical Review of World Energy over the decade to the end of 2014, coal use grew by 968-million tonnes of oil equivalent, or four times faster than renewables, 2.8 times faster than oil and 50% faster than gas,” he asserted.

Roche further highlighted that in 2014, if the world had relied on renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar and biomass for primary energy, then the world would have had just nine days of heat, light and artificial horsepower.

“The Climate Council report is another in the long line of reports from the well-funded anti-coal brigade, who have made it clear their goal is to shut down the Australian coal industry, and hang the consequences for local jobs and for the energy poor millions in developing Asia,” he concluded.

Edited by Mariaan Webb
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

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