Cleaner Coal – Continued – From Guest Blogger Anil

More comments from Anil on “clean coal”  companies ….

Arch Coal

The company is the second largest coal dealer in the US. Arch performed well in the third quarter than in the second quarter because of increased demand for metallurgical coal in Central part of the US. The performance was boosted by the company’s successful cost control measures. The US government wants power plants to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions by nearly 60 percent below the year 2003 level by the year 2015. Arch is contributing in this initiative by helping in reduction of mining and clean burning of low sulfur coal for generation of electricity.

Massey Energy

In terms of revenue the company is the fourth largest producer of coal. The company is a large coal extractor in the US with substantial operations in West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia. The company, with the help of subsidiaries produces and sells bituminous coal majorly in the US. Massey produces high quality and low sulfur coal as the trend is moving towards clean coal for both metallurgical and industrial purposes.

CONSOL Energy

The company is the fifth largest producer of coal. The CNX’s coal has the advantage of burning faster than other coal but it contains higher percentage of sulfur. The clean coal movement became a disadvantage for the company. The company is charging higher price for clean coal.

Yanzhou Coal Mining Company

The company is primarily owned by Yankuang Group. The company is a coal mining company in Mainland of China. Yanzhou is engaged in the underground coal mining as well as preparation, processing, sale and railway transportation of coal. The company’s coal is low on sulfur which is quite suitable for a big power plant. The low content of sulfur helps them to produce cleaner coal.

Acorn Energy

The company is quite a low profile company. Acorn works through the subsidiaries and operates as an energy infrastructure company. The company offers cleaning, rejuvenation and regeneration technologies that acts as a catalyst. The company offers services to coal fired power plants that are using systems to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions from coal. The company as well as subsidiary, Coalogix technology shares are doing very well in the market and will continue to do so.

There are many other companies that are directly or indirectly been benefitted by clean coal. The Chevron Corporation is the second largest energy company and among the top oil companies in the US. Sensing the need of the hour, the company has entered in the market of clean coal partnering with Penn State University Institutes of Energy and Environment with a motive to develop clean coal power. The companies that are associated with coal will also benefit from the initiative. These companies own infrastructure ranging from mining machinery to railway transportation, and include companies such as Joy Mining Machines, Union Pacific, and Burlington Northern Santa Fe.

The coal is also used in majority of steel production and many companies use coal power, such as Corus Group, US Steel and Nucor. Although short term cost will increase as clean coal technology is expensive, still in the long run clean coal will help the coal industry to stand a chance in the rat race of clean energy sources.

Alternative energy companies will be at a disadvantage with the advent of clean coal. Solar companies such as Suntech and many other may lose their market share. Not only solar companies but other companies working on alternative sources of energy such as Suzlon, BP, Exelon, and Siemens will be affected.

There has been lot written about and talked about clean coal technology but it is still a matter of debate that “cleaner coal” is a reality or is it just to mitigate the threat which was overshadowing the coal industry. There are a lot of risks are involved with the technology, may it be a technological risk or capital cost burden. Despite of clean coal technology, coal will continue to attract environmental opposition. It is imperative to assess the industry properly before investing for the long term as the companies are doing well to reap the short term benefits.