UK Tony Lodge asks how coal can help UK gas supply

摘要

The UK is blessed with vast coal reserves, but much of it is stranded: uneconomic to recover due to its location or geological difficulties. Much of it lies beneath the sea. Repeated attempts at trialling UCG have been scotched, first by the old National Coal Board/British Coal, which refused to offer decent sites for European trials in the early 1990s. In terms of seismic shocks or small earthquakes - a major concern for some who follow the shale gas debate - UCG should be no more susceptible than conventional underground mining. Importantly the process can leave pillars of unaffected coal to support the projects without subsidence, which was often a key failing of conventional deep coal extraction in the UK.