MINING giant Rio Tinto and oil producer BP have dropped plans to build a coal-fired power generation plant with carbon capture and storage technology in Kwinana, Western Australia.

Hydrogen Energy, a joint venture company between the two companies, has spent the past two years investigating a site in Kwinana for the project, which aimed to convert coal into hydrogen and carbon dioxide.


The hydrogen was to be used to fuel a power station in the area, while around 4 million tonnes of CO2 per year would be captured and stored underground.

However, the Sydney Morning Herald reported yesterday that the planned project would not go ahead, since it had been discovered that the rock formations selected to permanently store the CO2 could not seal in the gas.

A spokesperson for BP told SMH that the proposed reservoir was not fully understood.