Invest wisely in electricity

THE Government will not go wrong if it is able to attract foreign direct capital injection into clean energy and fuel, steel, cement and other products.
The interest shown by Mayur Resources to build coal-fired power plants in PNG should be welcomed.
A coal-fired power station is an effective technology and accounts for 30 per cent of global electricity production.
As long clean coal alone is permitted for use in PNG, it should not be a cause for alarm on emissions.
A 500 megawatt coal power plant will take 12 to 24 months to be commissioned whereas as a hydro power plant of similar output capacity or more will take more than 10 years of substantial concrete input at enormous cost if no cheaper cement supply is available.
Therefore, the supply of cheap and quality cement should be made available to build huge dams such as the proposed Purari dam which has the potential of generating 5,000 megawatts.
An option would be to install coal-fired power plant to generate electricity to run one or two cement plants to produce enough cement stock for huge dams if Purari is factored into the picture.
There is no gas available at commercial quantity under the existing PNG LNG project for electricity generation of such demand.
Until such time the hydro plants are commissioned, the coal-fired power plants can be phased out.
The government is urged to take bold decisions for the best interest of the country.

Galaxy Spencer
Observer NCD