French Firm Starts Coalmine Methane Tests
A French coalmine methane (CMM) producer has begun a campaign of tests on gas from former mines near Valenciennes in northern France.
La Francaise de l’Energie (LFDE) said January 9 that a mobile test unit, built by its subsidiary Gazonor, is determining the potential for recovering gas now venting from decompression wells in the eastern part of the Hauts-de-France coal basin, in the former coalmining area of northern France close to the Belgian border.
The first site tested is at Rouvignies. In progress for several weeks, this test “confirms the possibility of recovering, before its release into the atmosphere, a gas comprising 86% methane (CH4) at this well which guarantees the potential of electricity production,” LFDE announced.
LFDE says this first campaign, with six tests, should determine the number of ‘green electricity’ production sites on this part of the basin. It notes that, as methane is more than 25 times more polluting than carbon dioxide, such installations would significantly reduce CO2 emissions in the region. Any such reserves would be independently certified during 2H 2018, said LFDE, enabling it to determine how much CO2 it can avoid venting into the atmosphere in Hauts-de-France.
LFDE already produces some CMM in the area. Last year it began earning a 15-year guaranteed Feed-in Tariff from electricity produced at existing small CMM-fired plants (typically 1 MW) near Valenciennes; power from such units is sold to EDF. Whereas France is banning the issue of new exploration licences, something that could adversely affect active exploration of coalbed methane (CBM), the monetisation of CMM (sometimes known as firedamp) that might otherwise vent into the atmosphere instead looks set to be continued in France and supported by government-funded feed-in tariffs.