AES China Announces Partnership to Develop Carbon Reduction in China

AES China announced November 17, 2009 that AES Climate Solutions Asia entered into a partnership with Shenzhen Dongjiang Environmental Renewable Power Company Ltd. and Songzao Coal and Electricity Company Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Chongqing Energy Investment Group, to invest, construct and operate a coal mine ventilation air methane (VAM) project.

“The VAM project uses proven, commercially available technology, and is an example of how U.S. and Chinese companies can work together to reduce emissions,” said Paul Hanrahan, AES President and Chief Executive Officer.

The VAM project, located at the Datong coal mine in Chongqing municipality, will be one of the first commercially operating facilities of its kind in China, and is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 200,000 tons of CO₂ equivalent per year. The VAM project is planned to start construction in the first quarter of next year and to commence operations by the end of 2010. Underground coalmines emit ventilation air, which contains methane within its exhaust stream. The VAM project will use MEGTEC’s VOCSIDIZER™ technology, which captures and destroys about 95 percent of methane within the captured exhaust stream before it is released into the atmosphere.

The project will be developed under [the guidelines of] the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Clean Development Mechanism, which encourages the private sector and developing countries to contribute to emission reduction efforts.

In a statement from Kolkata, India, on October 17, 2009, Coal India (CIL), the world’s largest coal company, said it will procure equipment worth about US$2 billion from the overseas market in the next five years. This will mainly be procured to increase production levels by 175 million tonnes.

As quoted in The Economic Times, CIL chairman Partha S. Bhattacharyya said: “We intend to increase production capacity by as much as 35 million tonnes every year over the next five years. This will require sourcing equipment from overseas — equipment that is not manufactured in India. The cumulative value is expected to be about US$2 billion over the next five years.”

CIL is slated to reach a total production level of 570 million tonnes in five years. One of the primary goals of this tender is to procure high-capacity open cast mining equipment, including high capacity dumpers, shovels and dredgers for mines.