China is developing a new electricity generation mode from the coalbed methane with a current total install capacity of 90,000 kilowatts.

Along with the development of science and technology, the coalbed methane has already become a new source of power generation in China, said Liu Wenge, vice director of China Coal Information Institute's coalbed methane information center.

The expert said apart from the current 90,000 kilowatts, other projects with the install capacity of 150,000 kilowatts are under construction or planned to be built.

A coalbed methane power plant with 120,000 kilowatts are being built in Jincheng of north China's Shanxi Province, which will be world's largest one of this kind when completed.

Liu said China's major equipment for coalbed methane electricity generation are gas turbines and internal combustion engines, as a result, the existing coal-fired power plant can be easily rebuilt into coalbed methane power station.

As China speeds up the exploitation of its coal mines, the gas emission also keeps growing.

In 2004, China's coal mines gave out 14 billion cubic meters of gas and experts say that it will increase to 17 billion in 2020.

Liu said the coalbed methane is a sort of clean energy and it will be a promising source of power generation in the near future.

Source: Xinhua