Alstom on the hunt for CCS partners in China

France’s Alstom is looking for partners to develop carbon capture and storage (CCS) applications in China, the China Daily reported today.

The company (Paris:ALO) manufactures and supplies transport and energy infrastructure (see Alstom to build Brazil power plant powered by waste gas and Drax hires Alstom to build biomass plant). According to Philippe Joubert, Alstom’s executive vice president and president of its power sector, the company is in discussions with several partners in China, where it is already active, recently unveiling a new boiler factory in Wuhan, China.

China Daily reported that China is the largest market for boilers in coal-fired power plants, which are larger emitters of carbon dioxide emissions.

The city of Beijing is already working to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in power plants through the use of CCS technology.

And earlier this year, the UK government unveiled regulations that ban the commissioning
of coal-fired power plants unless they incorporate CCS technologies (see UK: No new coal without CCS).

Alstom says its technology helps to use less coal and reduce power plant emissions. Alstom has 10 carbon dioxide capturing demonstration projects in six countries, with full-scale commercialization of CCS expected to be in the market by 2015 (see TransAlta, Alstom to develop CCS project in Alberta).

CCS applications have been criticized for being cost intensive, but Joubert said costs are declining and that it’s now comparable with wind energy.

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