Rio Tinto’s Global InitiativesWe are part of a number of global initiatives to meet the long term challenges of global climate change.
For the past three years, we have supported the
Global Energy Technology Strategy Program (GTSP) . This is a long term research program aimed at a better understanding of the role of energy technology options, advanced technology development and worldwide deployment. This research is supported by an international group of public and private sector sponsors.
The program is managed by Battelle, a large, pre-eminent non-profit organization that has a staff of 19,000 scientists, engineers and support specialists. It conducts $2.9 billion in annual research and development and operates four of the U.S. Department of Energy's leading edge laboratories.
The first phase of GTSP showed that technology was the key in addressing climate change while maintaining a healthy economy. Phase 2 of GTSP, which was completed in 2007, identifies a number of key technologies which will be needed and the timing for implementation of those technologies. Specifically, it has examined the role of carbon capture and storage, nuclear energy, biotechnology, other renewables, hydrogen and energy efficiency.
Another initiative we are involved in is the
FutureGen Alliance, a public-private partnership to design, build and operate the world’s first coal-fueled, near-zero emissions power plant. The commercial-scale plant will have integrated hydrogen production and carbon capture and storage as a prototype demonstration of zero emission coal fired technologies. It is expected that the chosen site will be announced this year and be up and running in 2012.
Hydrogen Energy is a joint venture with BP and Rio Tinto. Initial projects will combine a number of existing technologies in a unique way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel power generation by some 90 per cent when compared with existing plants.
Two key projects that Hydrogen Energy is currently pursuing include:
Carson Energy project is an industrial-scale project using petroleum coke to manufacture hydrogen for power generation while also dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions by capturing carbon dioxide and storing it safely and permanently underground. The power plant will generate up to 500MW of low-carbon electricity, enough to power up to 325,000 homes in Southern California.
Kwinana project is a recently announced study to develop a U.S. $1.5 billion coal-fired power station in Western Australia that would be fully integrated with carbon capture and storage. Subject to the successful outcome of a detailed engineering and commercial studies, and providing government policy is in place to make the project commercially viable, a final investment decision for Kwinana could be made in 2011 with the project becoming operational after a three-year construction period.
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