The Greening of Gavin

Planning Favours Coal over Wind

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I was doing a bit of digging around after my post titled “Renewable Energy Regression” to find out if there were any double standards around planning regulations for coal power stations vs wind farms.

Well is just so happens there is a very big double standard.  You may remember that I reported that;

“the Baillieu Government announced their new wind policy – banning new wind farms in whole regions of the state, and allowing any resident across Victoria to put a stop to a wind farm within 2km of their home.”

So we know that any person can veto a wind farm within 2km of their home, but can they do the same with a coal power plant?  Well it appears that they cannot.  It appears that they have no voice at all when it comes to the brown coal fired power stations in Victoria.  Last year, before approval by the EPA, 4,000 people objected to the EPA regarding the HRL proposal – the most objections that the EPA has ever received on any issue.  The HRL proposed “Dual Gas Power Station” which has now been EPA approval and is backed financiall by the Federal and State Governments will be an;

“integrated drying gasification combined cycle (IDGCC) which can reduce emissions of CO2 from brown coal-fired power generation by 30 per cent and reduce water consumption by 50 per cent, compared to current best practice for brown coal power generation in the Latrobe Valley.”- Peter Batchelor, 2008. 

Now the power station, the company claimed back in 2009, “will generate up to 550 megawatts of power using syngas (synthetic gas from the drying and gasification of brown coal) and natural gas (as a start up and supplementary fuel).”  It has since been downgraded to a 300 megawatt plant using the same technology.

However this still makes the HRL power station as dirty as a black coal fired power station.  Hardly clean energy in my books.

Anyway, back to planning.  So we have acertained that local citizens can veto a wind farm, and cannot veto a coal plant, even when the EPA asked for submissions in August 2010 and received many thousands of objections.  So how close is this proposed power station to homes?  Lets take a look at an aerial map (click to enlarge).

As you probably expected by now, there are about 250 homes within 2 km of the proposed site for the HRL power station in Morwell, Victoria. I bet most didn’t even know it was going to be built there. Talk about dual standard for energy planning. Me thinks that Big Coal may be in bed with a certain government, then again, that is not news at all. We all knew that.

If you want the good oil (pardon the pun) about the history of the HRL proposal, you could do no better than visiting SourceWatch.org

Moving towards a cleaner energy future? Pigs arse we are!

Hazelwood To Close (kind of?)

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When a state government facing an uncertain chance at the polls, they are liable to make announcements that are not fully thought through.  Today is one of those days.

Today the Victorian Government announced that they are closing down Hazelwood Power Station.  I for one welcome the announcement, however there is a big catch.  The government don’t actually own the power station!  International Power own Hazelwood.  So that means some sort of deal with the owner that has yet to be brokered, so an announcement that the power station will incrementally close down generators is a little premature.  Here is an extract from The Age to put it into context;

Victoria has been forced to go it alone after the federal government ruled out setting a price on carbon until after 2012 in a move the premier said threatened investment in green energy.

“We’ve got new investment which has been deferred indefinitely until there is certainty in relation to Hazelwood,” Mr Brumby said.

“I’ve made our position very clear today and that is that if you want to tackle greenhouse (emissions), if you want to tackle climate change – you can’t do that without tackling the worst of the coal generators, which is Hazelwood.”

Hazelwood produces about a quarter of Victoria’s energy.

Shutting down two power units would save up to four million tonnes of emissions annually over the next four years. This equates to about 28 million tonnes by 2020.

The government has set a 2020 emissions target of 20 per cent of 2000 levels, or about 30 million tonnes.

All fantastic news, especially the emissions target which will be a first for Australia, however there is no articulated plan on how to cut the emissions except the closing Hazelwood piece.  But here is the rub;

International Power spokesman Jim Kouts stressed that while there was a preliminary discussion about closing Hazelwood “there is certainly no agreement”.
Shutting down Hazelwood “would require governments to support the phased closure of all generating units over an agreed term in return for a fixed capacity payment,” he said.

So no deal struck, just talk, and no plan on what to replace it with renewable energy (that I have seen).

Gee, that reminds me of another post I wrote recently about climate change policy!  I will rejoice if it comes to fruition, but I still hold my breath.

More info about this plan when it comes to hand.  I will have to read the 30 page white paper and get back to you all.

Gav

Ageing Energy Infrastructure

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As I have mentioned before, Victoria’s energy infrastructure is old and dirty.  We still burn brown coal which is one of the dirtiest and most carbon polluting fossil fuels that you can dig up from the ground (besides tar sands).

Being an advocate for the Replace Hazelwood campaign that Environment Victoria are running, I thought it would only be fitting to help plug their educational video regarding the alternatives.

It makes for a compelling argument in my view. Lets replace Hazelwood Power station with renewable energy sources of the same or greater capacity, and not only will we cut Victoria’s greenhouse emissions by at least 12%, it would also fill a massive policy vacuum left behind by the delay of the CPRS.  This is the chance for our politicians to gain some credibility in the lead up to the double election year (Victoria and Federal).

For more information about the solutions please visit www.replacehazelwood.org.au

Gavin