In order to further promote the prevention and control of coal mine gas and reduce carbon emissions, the Shanxi Provincial Development and Reform Commission, Shanxi Provincial Energy Bureau, Shanxi Provincial Department of Science and Technology, Shanxi Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment and Shanxi Provincial Administrative Examination and Approval Service Administration and other five departments recently jointly issued the "Notice on Further Accelerating the Comprehensive Utilization of Coal Mine Low-concentration Gas" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), requiring to speed up the extraction and utilization of low-concentration gas in coal mines, improve the level of gas extraction and utilization, and promote coal mining enterprises to achieve the "double carbon" goal as soon as possible.
Coal mine gas is a general term for toxic and harmful gases mainly composed of coalbed methane in mines. Shanxi is a major coal province and a strong gas emitter. The emission of gas from coal mines not only poses a serious threat to the safety of life and property in coal mines, but also directly affects the continuous improvement of ambient air quality and the process of achieving the goal of carbon peak and carbon neutrality in the coal industry. Therefore, as the vanguard of the national energy revolution, Shanxi's further acceleration of the comprehensive utilization of low-concentration gas in coal mines is not only an inherent requirement to turn harm into treasure and promote the development of new quality productivity, but also an important way to achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality.
The "Notice" pointed out that coal mining enterprises are the main body of gas extraction and utilization. For high gas, coal and gas outburst mines, gas extraction and comprehensive utilization facilities should be built in strict accordance with the regulations. Coal mining enterprises should make comprehensive use of extracted gas with a methane volume concentration of 2% to 8% or more under the premise of ensuring safety, and encourage enterprises to actively explore and carry out comprehensive utilization of extracted gas and exhaust gas with a methane volume concentration of 2% (inclusive) to 8% to reduce gas emissions to the greatest extent.
The "Notice" makes it clear that in terms of the establishment of gas power generation projects, project approval departments at all levels should strictly follow the filing management authority and regulations to ensure that the filing procedures for gas power generation projects are completed through the online platform before the project starts construction. At the same time, in order to reduce the burden on enterprises, the filing authority shall not set pre-examination conditions without authorization.
In terms of policy support, coal mine gas power generation projects will enjoy support policies such as distributed power generation. In particular, for coal mine gas power generation projects with an installed capacity of less than 6MW, they will enjoy the power business license exemption policy, and coal mine gas power generation projects of 6MW and above can simplify the application for power business licenses according to regulations, and at the same time require power grid enterprises to provide various convenient conditions for coal mine gas power plant access systems to ensure the stability and efficiency of power supply. In order to further promote gas emission reduction, we also support the inclusion of low-concentration coal mine gas emission reduction projects in CCER (National Certified Voluntary Emission Reduction) to encourage enterprises to actively participate in carbon market trading. At the same time, methane emission reduction projects in the coal industry will be included in the scope of climate investment and financing pilot support, a green project library will be established, and financial institutions will be guided to increase support for methane emission control and emission reduction in the coal industry.
The "Notice" emphasizes that it is necessary to give full play to the role of scientific and technological innovation platforms and strengthen the research and development of low-concentration gas utilization technology. Guide relevant enterprises to carry out collaborative research around key technologies such as low-concentration gas catalytic oxidation, enrichment and concentration, and high-value utilization, so as to provide strong technical support for the comprehensive utilization of coal mine gas.