Authors: Dr B. Seyedan, Dr K. Hardiman
The 4th Thermal Power India 2010, New Delhi, India, January 28-29, 2010
Abstract
Coal is a major economic commodity in Australia. The Australian coal industry is regarded as the most established and efficient in the world, producing some of the world’s top-quality coal. This is attributed to world-class mines, supporting infrastructure and a highly skilled workforce employed in the industry. All these factors contribute to Australia being one of the world's largest producers of coal. At present, black and brown coals make up about 75% of Australia’s electric generating capacity and the combined total is expected to remain dominant with a modest decrease to 68% in the next 20 years [ABARE, 2008]. Apart from the existing coal infrastructure, the continued reliance on coal is largely attributed to its low cost and abundant availability, as well as high reliability of coal power plants.
