South Africa is, in key respects, an ideal country to deploy the latest-generation Integrated (coal) Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) technology for electricity generation. This is the view of Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) Africa. “This technology needs sufficiently trained people, so there needs to be a skills base before it can be adopted,” explains MHPS Africa chief technology officer Dietmar Breuer. “In South Africa, because of [South African coal-to-petrol petrochemicals group] Sasol’s background, the technology and skills requirements are already covered. There is very good knowledge in the base technology. South Africa is, from our point of view, the ideal country in Africa for IGCC. The next in line would be the directly adjacent countries, which can easily access South African expertise.”

The one significant drawback in South Africa is the poor quality of the available coal. (IGCC gasifies coal and uses that gas to drive gas turbines and generate electricity.) “The better the coal, the more efficient the system,” he notes. “South Africa sells its best coal abroad and uses the worst coal at home for power generation. So, South Africa needs technology that can use the worst coal produced by its mines. In this regard, our technology has limits. But it is definitely viable – it can use poor coal, provided a little good coal is mixed in. We are already looking at the worst-quality coals we can use with this technology.”

The development of the latest-generation IGCC technology was supported by funding from the Japanese government as well as from Japanese power utility companies and initially undertaken by the then thermal power generation business of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. In February 2014, this division was merged with its counterpart in the Hitachi group to form MHPS. A demonstration plant was built in Japan using the refined technology at Nakoso. “With the Nakoso power plant, we have delivered a plant that set a world record for operating as an IGCC plant,” highlights MHPS Africa senior sales representative Maiko Tanaka. After operating as a demonstration plant from 2007 to 2013, Nakoso was upgraded and has been operated as a commercial plant since 2013, having been sold to the Joban Joint Power Company. The Nakoso plant has a capacity of 250 MW.

A second demonstration plant is being built for the Osaki CoolGen Corporation, at Osakikamijima-cho, near Hiroshima. This will have a capacity of 167 MW and is scheduled to start operating in 2017. Further, in September last year, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) placed an order with a consortium led by MHPS for the design work for a large-scale IGCC system to be adopted for two commercial IGCC power plants. Each will have a capacity of 500 MW and both are planned to be located in the Fukushima Prefecture, devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. One will be at Tepco’s Hirono power station, at Futaba-gun, and the other will join the former demonstration plant at the Joban Joint Power Company’s Nakoso site (Joban is partly owned by Tepco), in Iwaki.

“The commercial driver for IGCC is that, because of its higher efficiency, less coal is needed for each kilowatt hour produced,” points out Breuer. “You need to compare today’s IGCC with the latest conventional technologies, which are only cost effective when you go up to generating capacities of 800 MW to 1 000 MW. But the need in Southern Africa is not just for huge units. IGCC is also cost effective on smaller scales. Mines, for example, may need their own, smaller power stations.”