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Figure 8: Sihe CBM Power Plant in Qingshui County (claimed to be the world’s largest)
generally, many villagers found that CBM exploration does done more good than harm and they have benefited from it. In Qinshui County’s official report, the county has risen in rank from 499 to 100 in the national county economy appraisal was skyrocketed to 100 from the original 499 in 2010. Environmental impacts The arrangement between the local government and the Jincheng Coal Industry Group has had positive impacts on the environment. By recovering CBM/CMM from the coal mines, Jincheng Coal Industry Group was able to make use of a natural gas that would have been otherwise emitted during mining operations and turn that cleaner burning resource into energy. In 2008, Jincheng Coal Industry Group established Sihe CBM Power Plant at Sihe Mining area. Claimed to be the world’s largest, the power plant has an installed capacity of 120 megawatts and was incorporated into Jincheng Power Grid of Shanxi Provincial Power Company. Sihe CBM Power Plant is also one of China’s first Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects. In 2011, Sihe CBM Power Plant made use of 226 million cubic meters of CBM and CMM. Compared with coal-fired power-generation, CBM power generation saves energy resource equal to
323,000 tons of standard coal and reduces methane emission of approximately 18.15 million cubic meters of and approximately 1,617 tons of carbon dioxide emission every year. Jincheng Municipal Government also pronounced that with the promotion and application of CBM, Jincheng has separated itself from coal-related “black image” and its environment has greatly improved. The number of days at Grade II (good) was increased from 258 days in 2005 to 354 days in 2010, and among which 104 days met the standard of Grade I (excellent) . The city’s plan to recover and utilize CBM won an award from the Ministry of Environmental Protection for being “a model city for the environment.” It also won the United Nation’s “Dubai International Award for Best Practices to Improve the Living Environment.” Jincheng Coal Industry Group and the local government have used these positive results of their arrangement to persuade the central government that CBM should be excavated by coal enterprises. In fact, the current mining rights arrangement offers coal enterprises two options, both illegal: the first option is to act like Jincheng Coal Industry Group, though without CBM right, it recovers