Financial aspects

Financial aspects are different in the participating countries

General aspects

EUA - CER - ERU prices from 2010 to 2012

In the first Kyoto period trading of emission rights CER's (Certified Emission Reductions) and ERU's Emission Rights Unit) presented important incentives for the utilisation of CMM.

In the past some mines used CMM as fuel for their own boilers to produce heat or steam. This kind of utilisation consumes only a small part of the available resource. Specific conditions allowed a better in the coal mining area in Saarland (Germany) and in Ostrava (Czech Rebublic). Here a pipeline connects the CMM production sites with consumers.

In 2000 a renewable energy Law was enforced in Germany. CMM was defined as a renewable energy ressource. Now there were incentives to produce power from CMM.

In 2008, the first Kyoto Period started. CMM was accepted as a greenhouse gas. Therefore, a project to reduce emissions of CMM was planned in JI and CDM countries. The CER prices near to 20 Euro/t CO2 showed a great potential for CMM project. Power production and flaring gave the opportunity to utilise all the collected CMM on a mine.

However methance presents a hazard to the mine workers, hence it has to be disposed from the mine. Utilisation of this methane may strengthen the efforts of degassing. On the other hand the procedure for JI and CDM was not really worked out in 2008. So it lasted often more than 3 years from the start of the project to the beginning of the installation.

Also, regulations for this kind of utilisation didn't really exist. In addition to the rights for the emissions projects also approvals for new investments in mining have to be developed and issued. More information about legal aspects you find here.

Country aspects

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In the following the financial situation of each country is presented. The structure of these documents is listed below. The whole report with all countries is found here: [|Country report]

1. Country Reports

1.1 Finance

1.1.1 Financial country rating and outlook

1.1.2 Local currency situation

1.1.3 Fund raising ability of the specific country

1.1.4 Price situation and outlook for competing products

2. Tax situation

3. Implementation status of Kyoto Protocol More information at Legal Aspects of CMM projects

3.1 Energy politicy (preferences for sources of primary energy) and energy legislation

3.2 Mining and mine safety laws

3.3 Environmental legislation

3.4 Energy legislation

4. Additional requirements

4.1 Ranking

5. Conclusion

Czech Republic

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Economic situation

The country, with a population of 10.2 million inhabitants, has an overall stable democracy and has attracted a lot of foreign investment over the last 20 years. Economic stability and the membership in the European Union attracted and increased the investor´s confidence. The financial country rating and outlook looks positive. Concerning the ability to raise project financing for the Czech Republic are two programs that are part of the Operational Program - Industry and Enterprise that are supported by the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade. After the accession of the Czech Republic to the European Union, a new opportunity of funding the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) via Infrastructure Program for Reduction of the negative impact of transport into the environment, in particular supporting for alternative fuels in the transport sector, came up.

Rating of Czech Repubik you find at [Rating ].

For further information on the economic situation in the years 2008-2009, including the development of the GDP, country rating, local currency situation, ability to raise project financing with the description of all existing programs, prices situation for competing products and the tax situation, see 

Implementation status of Kyoto protocol



Energy politicy

This chapter deals with energy supply, production and consumption. Coal is and will remain the country's primary energy source in the coming decades, despite increased use of natural gas and nuclear energy. The Czech Republic ranks twelfth globally in coal production and the energy consumption has a falling tendency. An important part of this chapter are the renewable energy sources, their usage, the state energy goals and the potential of renewable energy sources, especially water power and wind power. This chapter also contains the forecasts for energy production from renewable energy sources till 2020. In Czech Republic it is possible to obtain support for energy production from renewable energy sources in two mechanisms. These mechanisms are presented in this chapter.

Another important topic here is a law that requires end consumers to pay tax on the date of supply or consumption of gas. However there are exemptions from this tax, that are described in this chapter. Thus for more information, see 

Kazakhstan

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Coal mining in Kazakhstan is mainly performed by the company AreclorMittal.

Kasakhstan

More information is found in . The information in the document covers the period 2008 or 2009.

Economic situation

Kazakhstan is the largest country to have developed from former Soviet territories. It has huge natural raw material ressources, fossil fuel and minerals. Extraction and processing of these raw materials is the major focus of the economy. The main export goods are oil, gas, uranium, ferrous and nonferrous metals, machinery, chemicals, grain, wool, meat, coal. The country enjoyed an average economic growth of 8 % from 2002-2007 and slowed down to about 3 % in 2008. Capital investments from January to March 2009 amounted to 639.3 bln KZT, which is 4.9% less than during the same period of the previous year. Priority branches for investments are still coal mining, transport and communication. On May 08, 2009 Standard & Poor's revised the “Negative” rating forecast on Republic Kazakhstan into “Stable”.

More information about the economic situation in Kazakhstan in the period 2007 to 2009, including details of the gross domestic product, investments, financial rating, trade and retail turnover, industrial and agricultural production, export and import, inflation rate, production costs of fuel and industrial heat, tax situation and other,may be found in:

Energy politicy (preferences for sources of primary energy)

Kazakhstan’s energy market is dominated by domestic coal. As long as domestic coal remain to be cheap, any success of other sources will remain low to zero. Renewables contribute only about one percent to the country´s energy balance. With the amendments to a Law on the Use of Renewable Energy Sources the first step was done to forward alternative ressources. Further information on energy politics, including coal production, power generation, power transmission, power supply and renewable energy sources as well as the status of the coal mining industry you will find

Poland

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More information about Poland you find on country information Poland

Poland

In Poland a number of CMM projects are being prepared. By March 2012 one of these projects has been approved.

Economic situation

Since 1990, Poland has pursued a policy of economic liberalization. As well as GDP per capita is still below the EU average, it is nevertheless similar to that of the three Baltic states. EU membership in 2004 and the access to EU structural funds add to the major increase in the economy of Poland. As Poland is the EU’s largest coal producer, the economy depends largely on coal production. Other important exports are machinery and transport equipment, foodstuffs and chemicals. Moody’s rated Poland A2 and stable in the year 2009. The currency, based on 2009 was stable. More information about the general economic situation in Poland in 2008 and 2009, finance country rating and local currency situation, you can find here 

Ability to raise project financing for Poland

The accession to the EU made many resources available for business in Poland. Companies were enabled to obtain support in order to realize projects at different levels – small projects in regional programmes and bigger projects in nationwide programmes. The description of different programmes are presented in the following pdf

Impelmentaion of Kyoto Protocol The impelmentaion of Kyoto Protocol is found at http://ji.unfccc.int/JI_Projects/ProjectInfo.html . Choose Poland. In March 2012 20 project under track 1 are registrated, 0 under track 2.

Romania

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In Romania, there are only a few coal mines. As a member state of the EU Romania has the financial system equally as other member states.

Economic situation

In 2008 the economic growth in Romania was 8,5 %. Despite the fact of joining the European Union a thorough reform to reduce corruption, increase employment and make investment easier and reliable has not made real progress. Reforming the economy and reducing bureaucracy has become more difficult in the present economic downturn. The most important industries for Romania are textiles, manufacturing of machines, metallurgy, Chemical industry, Petrochemicals and oil. All these are on the right track to modernization and restructuring and the industry is moving to more advanced, sophisticated and competitive products. The importance of the automotive sector is growing, more and more automotive parts manufacturers are moving their facilities to Romania. According to the National Bank of Romania Inflation was 6.3 % in 2008. The country rating was BB+ (May 2009). For more information about economic situation in Romania, including some figures like GDP, local currency situation, country rating and price situation for oil, gas and power you will find 

Implementation status of Kyoto protocol

Romania is a state listed in Annex I to Kyoto Protocol, so JI projects are possible to implement there. According to Report on the in-depth review of the national communication of Romania, CMM is not specially concerned. After the official information of the state CMM projects are not explicit listed as potential JI projects. For more information see 

Energy politics

The energy mix of Romania is based on gas, solid fuels and oil but there is a significant part of the renewables. Romania has made a clear and strong statement and committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 8 % in the period 2008 – 2012. The national strategy is to increase electricity generation using renewable energy sources and to improve overall energy efficiency. In the long run (10 to 20 years) this will lead to a reduction of coal mining and production. For more information on this topic, including energy consumption and production and tax incentives for investors see 

Hard coal mining and CMM mining in Romania

There is a coal basin in Romania. There were no studies regarding the energetically potential of coal mine gas in this coal basin. The main goal of the studies concerning coal mine methane from the basin, was related only to underground safety and security measures, without any solutions for a commercial use of the coal mine gas. For more information on this basin and the possibility of a CMM project see  Datei:Romania hard coal and cmm mining.pdf

Russia

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Russsia is one of the worlds largest producers of coal. Economic situation

The Russian Federation with a population of over 140million is the world leader in production and reserves of natural gas. Other important exports are oil and oil products, wood and wood products, metals, chemicals, weapons and military equipment. Important data, such as the development of the GDP or the inflation rate in the years 2007-2009, country rating and local currency situation for this period are gathered here  Information on the ability to raise project financing and price situation, including outlook for competing products you can find here 

Implementation status of Kyoto protocol

Russia participates actively in international political initiatives referring to global climate. Thus the Kyoto protocol is of utmost importance. The legal basis and process of implementing Kyoto protocol, especially those projects considering CMM and the targets for GHG emissions reduction are listed here 

Energy politicy

Gas and oil are the two major sources of energy in Russia, followed by coal. The importance of coal has been reduced from the 1960s on, due to the discovery of huge oil and gas deposits. Nevertheless coal production, as well as power generation from coal, is forecasted to rise. Russia is also the world's largest exporter of natural gas, the second largest oil exporter and the third largest energy consumer. For more information on energy politics, including energy production and consumption in Russia, CMM projects and coal mining industry see 

Ukraine

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Economic situation

Ukraine has a population of 46 Million and the GDP in 2008 was 180 billion US $. The country heavily depends on the export of non-precious metals, machinery and equipment and food/agricultural products. By the fall of 2008, the global financial crisis exposed Ukraine’s inherent macroeconomic vulnerabilities and led to an economic crisis. Ukraine’s industrial output sank by 34.1% year on year in January. March-April 2009 Standard and Poor’s data showed that the pace of economic decline in a number of sectors has slowed. Inflation has notably decelerated, the national currency has stabilized. Ukraine’s rating was then the lowest in Europe and on a par with Pakistan. S&P left Ukraine’s outlook negative. For further information on economic situation with all its data, especially with prices for carbon credits and for fossil fuels, power and heat costs, the country rating, currency situation for the based year, see 

It is extremely difficult to rely on the Ukraine´s government for financial support in CMM projects. Further privatization of the industry and creating a healthy competitive environment would change this situation, but this is not a fast process. State mines are subsidized and are not able to bring their own means. Raising credit from Ukrainian banks is not possible because of high lending rates. The investment in full is made by Western JI-partners (at the expense of future ERU’s) without any guarantee and with a 100% risk of the investor. Further information on ability to raise project financing as well as price situation and outlook for competing products, you will find

Implementation status of Kyoto protocol

The country doesn’t have to support any specific measures to fulfil its commitments with regards to the Kyoto ProtocolT which is justified in the economic downturn after the end of the Soviet Union. Nevertheless there is a national plan of measures on fulfilment of provisions of the Kyoto Protocol. The aims of fulfilment of provisions of the Kyoto protocol, as well as JI projects and their regulations, especially projects for development of non-traditional and renewable energy are described in 

National funding for CMM projects

At the moment (2012) there are no possibilities of national funding for CMM projects.

Interesting facts (2012)

• VAT: 20%
• Natural gas price: 560$ per 1000m³
• Electricity prices:
  • for population: 2.8 eurocent per kW
  • for industrial consumers: 8.4 eurocent per kWh (1st class consumers), 10.69 eurocent per kWh (2nd class consumers)

United Kingdom

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Economic situation

The United Kingdom is still the sixth largest in the world in purchasing power. It is partner and member of the European Union G7, G8 and G20 and the Commonwealth, but not the European Monetary Union. The city of London is regarded as the most important and the biggest financial center of the global economy. Main exports are manufactured goods, chemicals and foodstuffs. Important information on the economy situation, including country rating and local currency situation you will find here  Information on the ability to raise project financing and price situation, including outlook for competing products you can find here 

Implementation status of Kyoto protocol

The legal basis for implementing Kyoto protocol, especially the description of the Joint implementation mechanism can be found here 

Energy politics

The electricity generation mix in the UK consists of gas, coal, oil derived and associated fuels and others including renewable energy sources. The UK has been energy self sufficient since time immemorial as a result of wood and charcoal burning, domestic coal mining and latterly oil and gas production. This has caused a shock to the system as the UK has become a net energy importer since the middle of the current decade as indigenous oil and gas production from the North Sea decreased more rapidly than expected. Even so, domestic energy reserves still account for about two-thirds of all the UK's primary energy needs, but reliance on politically sensitive foreign imports will increase over the next decade and it will be important to exploit all possible local sources of energy. In the following pdf you can find data and figures of energy supply, energy production, coal production and consumption of primary fuels in the UK 

Germany

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In Germany coal mining will we finished in 2018. The first utilisation of CMM from an abandoned mine has started in 1998 in Herne. The first Concession for production of CMM in Germany (Christemark) was issued in 1999.

CMM Consessions in NRW

Then a run to this consessions started. In many areas, places of CMM release are known. So the decetion of methane can be verified by the applicant.

More information about conditions for the utilisation of CMM in active an abandoned mine you find at http://www.bezreg-arnsberg.nrw.de/themen/k/klimaschutz_grubengas/index.php.

Methane recovery and utilization in abandoned coal mines

The recovery and utilization of CMM takes place predominantly with standardized modules in a containerized design. The systems consist of an extraction module, that first extracts gas from the mine and then compresses and usually serve several cogeneration engines modules in which the methane is burned. The modules have mostly an installed electrical power of 1 to 1.3 MW. (Source: Bez.-Reg. Anrsberg)

To recover the mine gas the extraction system requires a connecting to the mine. If possible, the compressor stations suck gas from the coal mine using a degassing pipe in an filled shaft. The degassing extend through the sealing of shafts into the open areas of the abandoned underground mine and represent a specific safe gas discharge.

If there is no venting pipe to suitable old mining areas a new borehole has to be created. Since 2000 until today in the Ruhr area slightly more than 20 wells were drilled into old abandoned mines. The risk of such holes is much higher than the connection by a venting pipe, because a very high accuracy is required.

Power production from CMM in North Rhine Westfalia (NRW) This first installation at an abandoned mine started in 1997 in Herne. This system ran until 2011 when the waterlevel in the mine had reached the end of the degassing pipe. More information http://www.stadtwerke-herne.de/index/unternehmen/umwelt/grubengasprojekte.html

Number of gas engines in NRW

In NRW all power production from CMM is made by gas engines. In Ibbenbüren CMM is also utilised in a conventional Steam process. Mostly motors are used with an output of 1 to 1,3 MW. The great majority is created as a container plant.

This kind of insulation can be transported easily. More than 10 years experience showed that it is economically necessary that the motor system is containerised. Especially in case of abandoned mines, the quantity of gas varies with time. It is therefore necessary to adjust the installation.

installed power capacity for CMM engines

Power production from CMM in NRW

Components of CMM Gensets

The main part of a CHP module is the engine supported by the following additional components:

• cooling water heat exchanger

• exhaust gas silencer

• exhaust gas cleaning system

• fuel tank or gas supply

• lubricating oil supply

• control & monitoring system

• optional exhaust gas heat exchanger

• generator

• container

Each of the components has a function in the system and is jointly responsible for the correct operation of the genset:

Power production from CMM in NRW

Introduction for CMM engine systems

Internal-combustion (IC) engines are able to accommodate to gas streams with a wide range of methane concentrations. Some CMM sources are mixed with air or with inert components like N2 and CO2, especially in gob gas. The size and generation capacity of an IC engine varies in a quite large range. Typical CMM powered engines have a capacity between 250 kW and 5000 kW. The gensets smaller than 2000 kW per unit are mostly installed in containers.

In principal a genset consists of the combustion engine, a generator, the coupling, a base frame and an elastic mountings arrangement. The engine and generator are rigidly mounted on the base frame. This unit is used as a combined heat and power (CHP) to generate electricity and heat.

The specifications for individual engines vary depending on the gas components and on the construction. Standard IC engines can run on gas with a methane concentration down to 40% methane in the entrance gas. If the content of methane is less than 40% specific engines have to be used, which can operate with methane concentrations down to 25%. It is important to adjust the correct ratio of O2, CO2 and N2 in order to gain a useable gas mixture. CO2 and N2 act like a fire extinguisher. On the other hand oxygen is essential for the combustion but utilisation of this gas mixture with high oxygen levels is very difficult and exceptional. The mixture-system, as a crucial subsystem of the genset, prepares an air-methane mixture with a methane content of about 7 % in the mixture, which is able to be burned in the cylinder afterwards. It has to work on quick response, so that the changes in the gas composition can be considered, in order to avoid damages of the engine.

The mode of operation depends on the local conditions and for CMM fuelled gas engines especially on the available gas volume. An efficient operation of the genset is possible with loads higher than 80. The minimum of 50% is desired due to avoid damages.

Heat production from CMM in NRW

In the diagramms the heat production made by CMM is shown. In comparison to the amount of stream the amount of heat is quite small.

The main reasons are:

• No production guarantee

• Existing thermal generating plants

• Heat distribution systems are very expensive and

• The heat price is not competitive

Methane is 21 times more harmful than CO2 as a greenhouse gas. Therefore, a high emission reduction is achieved through the use of CMM. The diagram shows the reduction in the years 2001 to 2011.

In 2005 it became clear that CMM projects in Germany are not allowed to participate in emissions trading. Due to lack of incentives in the following years there is no growing trend anymore.

Avoided GHG emissions by CMM utulisation in NRW