CSIRO develops a hybrid concept for generating electricity

The Australian energy supply sector is undergoing radical changes, partly due to pressures regarding its environmental performance. Those changes have spurned a team at CSIRO's Energy Technology Division, headed by Jim Edwards and Dr Greg Duffy, to demonstrate a solar thermal - fossil energy hybrid concept for generating electricity with high thermal efficiencies, with the potential for greatly reducing CO2 emissions. The concept involves a solar dish which provides heat that reforms a gas containing methane (CHJ and steam, to generate CO2 and hydrogen. The gas can be natural gas, landfill gas, or coalbed methane. The CO2 is recovered for storage or sequestration while the hydrogen is used for power and heat generation