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What is Coal Seam Gas?

Coal seam gas, also known as coal seam methane (CSM), occurs naturally within coal seams. Gas and water particles are held within the microscopic cracks of the coal. To extract the gas we first extract the water from the coal. This changes the pressure on the gas and allows it to flow through the tiny fractures of the coal seam. The gas is then collected and piped like other forms of natural gas. We do not need to remove the coal; the coal layer remains in tact.

Benefits

Coal seam gas is a cleaner burning "greener form" of energy. It produces almost half the greenhouse gas of burning coal and generally costs less to produce than wind or solar sources. It is an ideal “transition energy” as we begin to change our energy mix to more sustainable energy sources.

Energy source     Carbon dioxide emissions
Burning coal           90kg for each gigajoule
Coal seam gas        52kg for each gigajoule

New South Wales currently generates approximately 99% of its electricity supply from black coal. If natural gas completely replaced coal-fired electricity in NSW, it would save approximately 40 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. This is equivalent to taking 10 million cars off the road or planting 17 million trees.

In recent years, the Australian natural coal seam gas industry has grown from almost nothing to more than 15 per cent of the east coast gas market. It is predicted this share will rise to 50% by 2020.

New Energy Initiatives

Sydney Gas is active in seeking out new initiatives for better production of energy.

These include:

• Applying for geothermal licences to produce power from "hot rocks".
  
• Geosequestation of CO2 into coal and porous sandstones.

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