Clean Power Plant in Singapore
Tuas Power, the third largest power generator in Singapore has plans to build a SG$2 billion steam and electricity production plant.
The plant will run on clean coal and biomass, ensuring the the efficient and non-polluting use of coal in the power industry. 80% of the power generated will be from the combustion of low-ash, low-carbon coal and the other 20% will be from the combustion of biomass. Besides these, the plant also spots many clean features.
Green Features:
- No exposure of coal to the environment: the coal will be transported in covered barges , unloaded through fully enclosed conveyors and stored in covered silos.
- Biomass clean coal boilers: this technology allows combustion to take place at lower temperature, keeping emissions to a minimum.
- Filters have been installed to ensure particulate matter which is emitted meets the National Environment Agency (SIngapore) requirements. Ash which is generated will be reused in the plant.
Source via : Straits Times
I look at your website occasionally and I like it, but I’m wondering if sometimes you don’t mislead your readers, albeit unintentionally. For example in this story you refer to a “clean power plant” in Singapore. Now I love Singapore and whenever I’m in your lovely country I am impressed by how clean everything appears to be.
I have no doubt that the Tuas Power press release said their new power plant will be clean, but the truth is that without carbon capture and sequestration there is no such thing as a clean coal-fired power station.
Forgive me for pointing out the obvious, but PR people are paid to write press releases that paint a rosy picture about their employer or client, in this case Tuas Power. They rarely, if ever, tell the whole truth.
It may well be that the Tuas power station incorporates some clean technologies, but I don’t much evidence of that in your story. Covering coal barges and using filters to reduce particulate emissions is a given.
Yes, burning biomass can be less harmful than burning coal, because it burns cleaner, but it still emits CO2 and is therefore just as damaging to the planet’s climate.
In fact combustion of any material produces CO2, which is why most environmentalists are against everything from cigarette smoking through to forest fires and everything in between.
Wind power and solar power are the only clean technologies. Everything else is a compromise with the future of our planet. I’m sure you will agree with me when I say that WE HAVE TO CHANGE. Thank you for letting me say these things.
Hi David. Thanks for reading our website. It is true that any combustion will produce CO2. So the Tuas Power places emphasis in using low-ash and low-carbon coal to be less polluting to the environment. How true is it? We may not know. But we do have cleaner air and see clearer skies over the area. Perhaps if we have the chance, we could pay a visit to the power plant.
Also, do check out our latest post on the plan to transform one of our island - Pulau Ubin - to be self-reliant on renewable and clean energies.
A good point as highlighted by David. However, the majority of the worldwide energy infrastructure is still very reliant on fossil fuel. Thus to change the current infrastructure is not something that can be done overnight as the economics of the country does not allow us to do so. But for now while the use of renewable and clean technology becomes more viable and feasible, we have to find ways to reduce the carbon dioxide emission into the atmosphere and I think that Tuas power or the whole energy system in SIngapore is heading in the right direction. A “rosy” picture indeed but its small step to a better future.
I am still in Europe. As you know, CO2 emissions are pretty serious here, not least because of coal-fired power plants. Wind power is taking off here. I guess there may not be enough wind in Singapore to make windpower fly, but what about solar power? By the way I was just looking at another of my favourite green websites (greenassembly.net)where I noticed that they quote UN figures as showing that Singapore is one of the biggest emitters of CO2 in the world per capita, getting a world ranking of 189. Wow, that’s quite something.
The site also says Singapore is by far and away the least corrupt nation in Asia and one of the least corrupt in the world, so that’s good.
One of the problems with CO2 is that being odorless and colorless it can be easily ignored. To be honest I think that any new coal-power plant is a step in the wrong direction. Isn’t there enough sun in Singapore to build a concentrating solar power system? There are about 60 of them going up around the world, but none in Asia for some reason.