Australia’s Linc Energy to seek JV partner for $918 million clean coal plant

Australia's leader in clean technology, Linc Energy said yesterday that it would look for a joint venture partner to develop its planned commercial scale coal gas-to-liquids plant at an approximate cost of A$1 billion ($918 million).

Brisbane-based Linc Energy is an innovative energy company engaged in the development of underground coal gasification (UCG) and gas-to-liquid (GTL) conversion. The combination of these two technologies has the potential to economically convert 'stranded coal' from deep underground, into ultra-clean liquid fuels.

Linc Energy said that it is still two years from full commercialisation of the technology.

''It takes about 20 months to build a commercial plant and we're a few months from getting to the position where we can launch to do that, not for any other reason than the right location and the right contractor in terms of getting our cap-ex pricing right,'' Linc Energy's chief executive officer Peter Bond said on an interview with ABC Television.

''We don't want a partner who will just bring money,'' he said. The company is seeking a partner to bring in money to reduce the company's risk profile and add to the business.

Linc Energy aims to keep the capital expenditure at around A$1 billion per 20,000 barrels per day plant.