Aust'n gov't launches billion-dollar fund for clean coal initiatives

Australia on Friday launched the nation's multi-billion-dollar Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund, which will finance clean coal power stations.

Australia does not have a low-emission and high-efficiency clean coal power station, said Resources Minister Matt Canavan, adding he had received widespread interest from a number of potential investors seeking to tap in to the clean coal frontier.

The infrastructure fund is believed to be worth up to 3.8 billion U.S. dollars once fully-funded.

"I've received some interest over the past week associated with our commitment to build base load power stations, including to support clean coal options," Canavan told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Friday.

"Some people might not realize that in North Queensland there is no base-load power station north of Rockhampton and industrial consumers in north Queensland pay often up to double the prices in southern Queensland," he said.

"There is certainly and option there and a market there for supply."

The announcement comes just days after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull used his annual National Press Club speech to say that Australia needed to push on with developing clean coal options.

"We will need more synchronous baseload power and as Australia is a big exporter we need to show we are using state-of-the-art, clean, coal-fired technology," Turnbull said.

"The next incarnation of our national energy policy should be technology-agnostic."

Both the opposition and the Greens have come out attacking the government's commitment to coal power. Labor spokesperson Mark Butler said the prime minister was just out to protect "the coal club" instead of seeking to further explore eco-friendly renewable energies. Endit