Rio Tinto to focus on clean energy joint venture in California

Global mining giant Rio Tinto has sold its 50 per cent stake in the Hydrogen Energy International Ltd (HEIL) joint venture in order to focus on a similar project in California.  HEIL owns an interest in the Hydrogen Power Abu Dhabi (HPAD) project, which seeks to create cleaner electricity by storing gas emissions that would act as feedstock for a hydrogen power station. For the past two years, HEIL has been responsible for the development of the HPAD project.  Rio and BP set up HEIL in 2007 to develop clean energy projects globally. Rio has now sold its stake to BP in order to focus on its investments in carbon capture and storage (CCS) at a California-based project, Hydrogen Energy California (HECA), also in partnership with BP. HECA has proposed a new hydrogen-powered electricity generating facility for the Kern County area.  Expected to cost at least $2 billion, HECA will create enough power for over 150,000 homes, producing it with 90 percent fewer carbon dioxide emissions. "The Abu Dhabi project is a ground-breaking and important project based on gas feedstock, but Rio Tinto prefers to focus on projects with solid fuel feedstocks, which are better aligned with our other businesses," said Preston Chiaro, group executive, Technology & Innovation. He continued: "We look forward to continuing to work with our partner BP, the US Department of Energy and other key stakeholders to deliver the California project, which we regard as a critical project in the development of CCS technology.ÔÇØ Chiaro called the California project an ÔÇ£excellent strategic fitÔÇØ for Rio Tinto, as it stores emissions from coal and petcoke.  CCS is technology that involves taking carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels used in power production and storing them underground to prevent their release into the atmosphere.  Supporters say it is an important bridging technology in the fight against global warming.  Rio Tinto is headquartered in the UK, with exploration and mining activity centered on South America, Asia, Europe and southern Africa.  *┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *