Prospects for Coal and

Clean Coal Technologies in Italy

Report by Dr Stephen Mills

IEA Clean Coal Centre, UK

Italy – setting the scene

Major global manufacturer:

• 11th

largest global economy

• 2nd

largest manufacturing country in EU

• 5th

largest manufacturing country in the

world (after USA, China, Japan, Germany)

• 3rd

largest economy in the Eurozone

Population 61 million + land area 301,300 km2

Founding member of G7, G8, the

Eurozone and the OECD

Background

Competiveness hampered by expensive electricity:

• heavy reliance on imported natural gas and oil

(one of Europe’s biggest energy importers)

• high incentives for renewables

• electricity imports

• limited use of coal

• no nuclear power

Italy has Europe’s 2nd

largest industrial sector

But economic growth has been poor

In 2012, energy imports cost €65 billion

The Italian energy sector

PES (158.8 Mtoe

in 2013)

Oil Consumption decreasing but still major source

Share in energy mix higher than EU average

61.8

Gas Limited domestic production - high import

dependence

Much used for power generation (~46% of Italy’s

electricity)

57.8

Hydro Levels significantly increased since 2003

Four biggest plants are >1 GW

11.6

Other REs Level of deployment increasing. High incentives.

Wind and solar dominate sector

13.0

Coal Low domestic production

Most demand met by imports

Biggest use is for power generation

14.6

Domestic coal

Only Carbosulcis mine in Sardinia now operational

Produces high-sulphur subbituminous coal

• Sulcis resources = 610-620 Mt

• Proven reserves = 10 Mt

Production fallen from >2 Mt/y in 1980s to ~80 kt/y

Coal plays a modest role in energy sector

Most coal is imported – mainly for power

generation

The Carbosulcis mine, Sulcis

• all supplied to ENEL’s Portovesme power plant

• usually blended with imported US or Colombian

coal

• proposals for a combined mining and carbon

capture project

Imported coal

Imports:

• 20-27 Mt/y of bituminous coal

• steam, coking, PCI

• imports provide ~98% of solid fuels

Most power plants rely entirely on imported coal

Largest coal importer in

EU after Germany and UK

Torrevaldaliga Nord

• coal unloaded from Panamax and

Post Panamax vessels via

continuous ship unloaders

• sealed transport and handling

system

• two closed domed storage

buildings

• each 150 kt capacity

• dust emissions from coal

movement effectively zero

Makeup of generation sector

• total capacity ~9.7 GW

• some are very clean + efficient

• high steam conditions

• fleet’s average efficiency is ~40%

- Torrevaldaliga Nord is higher (45%)

• several proposed projects would have

been similar to Torre Nord

Natural gas, oil, coal, renewables

But no nuclear – none planned

Coal-fired fleet

Italian power generation sector - 1

• reduced demand

• over-capacity in thermal (CCGT) sector

• increasing input from renewables

• no nuclear capacity

• limited use of coal

• heavy dependence on imported gas

• high incentives for renewables

• electricity imports

The sector is changing:

Electricity is more expensive than Euro average

Italian power generation sector - 2

• Italian plants generated 285 TWh (~87%)

• Installed capacity increased by 5.8 GW to 124 GW

• Renewables increased by 11%

• Gas provided biggest share – 125.4 TWh

- >60% of total thermoelectric production

• Coal provided 44.7 TWh (13.6%)

• Also electricity imports of ~43 TWh (~13%)

- biggest suppliers France and Switzerland

- Italy is biggest electricity importer in Europe

Reducing the cost of electricity

Aims to align electricity prices + costs to EU standards:

• reduce generation costs

• reduce electricity imports

• ensure full European integration

• fully integrate energy from renewables

• electricity consumption will be contained

• energy mix will be largely gas and renewables

• level of coal use will stay roughly the same

• oil use will fall to virtually zero

National Energy Strategy (NES) of 2013

NES anticipates that:

Advantages of coal for electricity generation

• widely available from stable, reliable sources

• price less volatile than oil or gas

• modern plant can be reliable, clean and efficient

• modern technologies can control emissions

• coal-fired generation - often the cheapest option

• co-firing possibilities

• no intermittency issues

• can run on base load or more flexibly

Not much mention of coal in NES

Carbon capture and storage will be important

Power generation mix – other countries

Advantages in having a diverse, balanced mix of technologies that

includes fossil fuels, nuclear and renewables

(World Bank, 2012)

Oil Gas Nuclear Hydro Other

REs

Coal

S. Korea 4.1 22.9 29.3 0.7 0.6 42.2

Germany 1.5 11.5 16.3 3.5 18.9 46.9

India 1.2 10.3 3.2 12.4 5.0 67.9

UK 1.0 27.7 19.5 1.5 10.0 39.9

USA 0.7 29.8 18.7 6.5 5.6 38.3

Italy 6.3 46.1 ------- 14.2 16.3 16.0

Clean Coal Technologies in Italy

• Torrevaldaliga Nord – 3 x 660 MW units

• Brindisi Sud (Federico II) – 4 x 660 MW units

*******

But several other major proposed oil-to-coal

conversions cancelled

Supercritical power plants

Existing supercritical plants

Torrevaldaliga Nord Brindisi Sud (Federico II)

Porto TolleMontalto di Castro

Coal -

fired

Oil-

fired

Gas,

oil-fired

Supercritical/Ultrasupercritical RD&D

• power generators

• engineering companies

• research providers

• universities

• techno-economic studies

• small scale research

• technology demonstration

• materials development

• emission control issues

Variety of organisations involved

Activities have included:

Part of Sotacarbo’s

gasification test platform

Fluidized bed combustion

Sulcis CFBC power plant, Sardinia

• 340 MW Alstom-supplied boiler

• fires a 20/80 blend of Sulcis +

imported coals

• also 15% biomass (since 2007)

• plant efficiency ~40%

Italian generators, universities and research

providers have undertaken FBC-based projects

Other small Italian FBC units fire

biomass and/or wastes

Sulcis power plant

Co-combustion

So far, mainly biomass and RDF used

Fusina, Venice

• 2 x 320 MW PCC units

• co-fires up to 5% RDF

• authorised for up to 70 kt/y RDF

• up to 10% RDF should be viable

Sulcis CFBC

• 340 MW

• modified Alstom CFB boiler

• coal is 20% Sulcis/80% Colombian blend

• can fire up to 15% biomass with coal

Power sector emissions

• many plants operate cleanly and efficiently

• nine have Eco-Management and Audit Scheme

certification

- total ~9.5 GW of installed capacity (or ~85%

of Italy’s coal-fired generating capacity)

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

kt

NOx

SO2

Limits for: - SO2

and NOx = 200 mg/m3

- particulates = 20 mg/m3

Emission control systems

Between 1990 and 2012, ENEL significantly reduced

emissions from its coal-fired fleet

Measures taken Result

Fitting low NOx

combustion and SCR

systems

NOx emissions reduced by 91%

Reducing SO2

by

retrofitting FGD systems

SO2

emissions reduced by 96%

Switching from ESPs to

fabric filters

Particulates reduced by 98%

Power plant residues

• Italian coal plants produced 1.68 Mt of

ash in 2012

• 1.41 Mt was recycled

• ash from ENEL and other generators

utilised

• overall, high degree of utilisation in

Italy

• Italian plants produce ~45 kt/y of

gypsum – 36 kt/y is utilised

Europe’s plants produce ~60 Mt/y coal combustion residues

- mainly fly ash, bottom ash, FGD residues

Gasification, IGCC

Sotacarbo gasification test platform

• includes two fixed bed, updraft,

air-blown pilot and demo scale

gasifiers

• both are equipped with a range of

syngas clean-up systems.

• more than 2500 hours of testing

Several (non-coal) commercial scale gasification plants operating

- mainly small gasifiers firing RDF and biomass

Also, four large IGCC

plants operating at major

oil refineries

Carbon capture and storage (CCS)

Coal-fired power plants

• well-established systems to control conventional emissions

• current focus on reducing CO2

emissions

• range of technologies being developed and/or demonstrated

• many focused on reducing costs and energy penalties

Also opportunities for Italian technology suppliers

NES: ‘CCS is a research priority’

CCS technology development

Zero Emission Porto Tolle (ZEPT) project (Brindisi)

coal-fired 660 MW USC unit + amine CO2

capture

co-firing coal and biomass

1 Mt CO2/y to deep off-shore saline aquifer

Post-combustion CO2 capture

Pre-combustion CO2 capture

ENEL/ENDESA collaboration

coal gasification + CO2

capture

at Puertollano IGCC plant in Spain

16 MW hydrogen-fueled Fusina power plant, Venice

Oxycombustion

ITEA’s 5 MWth

ISOTHERM pilot

plant

50 MWth pilot engineering

package for CO2

Technology

Centre Sulcis

ISOTHERM Technology

ITEA’s flameless pressurised oxycombustion system

- 50 MW pilot + 320 MW commercial scale plants proposed for USA

CO2

Technology Centre Sulcis for Zero Emission – Clean Energy

- 48 MWth pressurised oxycombustion pilot plant

+ associated test programme

350 MW demo plant to be built in the Sulcis area

Summary

• a leading economy but hampered by high electricity prices

• one of Europe’s biggest energy importers

• National Energy Strategy aims to reduce cost of electricity

• in recent years, significant reduction in emissions from the

coal-fired fleet

• advanced supercritical PCC power plants in operation, but

others cancelled

• various CCTs in use or under active development in Italy:

- modern emission control systems (FGD, SCR, etc)

- commercial scale CFBC technology

- co-combustion of coal and biomass/wastes

- gasification/IGCC

- CCS – various projects, CO2

Technology Centre Sulcis

Contact details:

Dr Stephen Mills

IEA Clean Coal Centre, Park House, 14 Northfields,

London SW18 1DD, UK

email: Steve.J.Mills@sjmills.plus.com

Thank you for your attention