(EnergyAsia, January 3 2012, Thursday) — Vancouver, Canada-based Carbon Friendly Solutions Inc said its wholly-owned subsidiary, MicroCoal International Inc (MCI), has signed a binding letter of intent with two companies to build a coal-fired power plant in Indonesia, its first in Asia.

MCI, Carbon 2 Power Ventures Inc, also of Vancouver, and PT Wijaya Tri Utama (PAK) of Indonesia, will jointly develop the plant at PAK’s existing 15MW Banjarmasin power plant in South Kalimantan over a period of six and 12 months.

MCI and PAK will provide project financing while Carbon Friendly Solutions will focus on developing clean energy technology, renewable energy and forestry projects.

MCI focuses on developing a process to convert low rank coal to more expensive high rank coal.

Slawek Smulewicz, Carbon Friendly Solutions (CFS)’s CEO, said:

“The installation of this commercial MCI plant in Indonesia is a significant step that will facilitate CFS to market MicroCoal technology in Indonesia, and other key Asian countries. In the next 10 years, approximately 65% of the power plants capacity addition is expected from coal. The majority of the Indonesian coal reserves are low rank (high moisture) coal, which is suitable for our technology.”

According to Carbon Friendly Solutions, MCI has spent four years developing an internationally proven and patented process to convert low rank (low BTU) coal to more expensive high rank (high BTU) coal.