Environmental Advantages

UCC fired power station using either Diesel engines or Gas Turbines in closed Cycle would produce substantially less greenhouse gas emissions (more than 20 per cent reduction) per unit of electricity sent out than conventional coal-fired generators.

Even after the emissions from all the steps from coal mining to UCC fuel are taken into account – commonly referred to as the Life Cycle Assessment – there is a significant reduction in carbon dioxide emissions per unit of electricity sent out.

As well as this useful reduction in GHG emissions through improved efficiency, UCC fired Diesel engines have the following environmentally attractive features.

Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) can be readily added and the loss of overall efficiency would be less than for the case of retrofitting CCS to conventional black coal fired power stations.

They complement the less attractive load features of renewable technologies such as wind and solar because Diesel units can be started up in a matter of minutes and their efficiency remains relatively high at part-load.

Consumption of water for cooling is much less than for conventional black coal fired power stations.