The region has significantly higher than national rates of six cancers: Colorectal (14% higher), Head & Neck (26%), Kidney (23%), Liver (26%), Lung (28%) and Pancreatic (17%). It is not what the community wants, because of climate change, and because of the environmental impacts of coal-fired power on our health. The Vales Point power station has been operating on the shores of Lake Macquarie since the 1960's and was constructed before NSW environmental protection laws came into effect. In 1978, two Toshiba 660 MW units were added, becoming "B" Station. The black coal burned at Vales Point is more expensive than Yallourns brown coal, Mr Everett said, but Vales Point could be run with more flexibility to quickly ramp output up or down to better match demand limit production costs. In its home market, it runs two coal power generators and two combined heat and power plants. Sev.en has shown a clear interest in energy businesses in Australia, ensuring that it is well-placed to provide reliable generation through the energy transition, he said. Eraring is now scheduled for closure in 2025 and will leave Vales Point as the last electricity-generating station standing on Lake Macquarie, however, Vales Point is also scheduled for nominal closure in 2029. September 2022 Delta Electricity agreed to sell to Czech company, Sev.en Global Investments. Officials from the department told Senate Estimates in March that they were aware that Shine Energy was likely to fail to deliver a bankable feasibility study into a proposed Collinsville coal fired power station after an audit undertaken by the Australian National Audit Office found the $4 million in grant funding awarded to the company was not enough to ensure the study could be completed. [1], In 2017 it was valued at $732 million, and was estimated to make part-owner energy entrepreneur and former National Party candidate Trevor St Baker a half billionaire. the practices of Delta Electricity, past and present that are driving a range of water pollution impacts in Lake Macquarie, the sale of the power station to Se.ven Global Investments, Closure planning, decontamination and rehabilitation. Recent state government announcements in Queensland and Victoria look to cut coal generation out of the energy mix as soon as possible. It has previously been reported that the EPA briefed the states environment minister, James Griffin, over concerns about the exemption, as well as seeking approval to pay a senior barrister for advice on the legality of the exemption. The expectation has been that the power station would close in 2029 and the clean-up could begin., Vales Point on southern Lake Macquarie stayed in government hands until 2015, when the Coalition state government controversially sold it to energy entrepreneurs Trevor St Baker and Brian Flannery for $1 million., 167 Parry Street,Hamilton East, NSW, 2303, AboutCampaigningResearch & ReportsSubmissionsVolunteerHCEC NewsMedia ReleasesEventsContact UsCommittee Records, Barrington - Hawkesbury Climate Corridors Alliance, Water pollution Datawatch: NSW power stations. The owners of the Hazelwood coal plant in the Latrobe valley only provided five months notice ahead of its closure in 2017, which delivered a big blow to the workforce and Victorias power prices. [6], Carbon Monitoring for Action estimates this power station emits 9.32 million tonnes of greenhouse gases each year as a result of burning hydrocarbon fuels.[7]. Sign up to The Sydney Morning Heralds newsletter here, The Ages here, Brisbane Times here, and WAtodays here. The black coal operators run at a much higher short-run marginal cost and so those nearing the end of their technical lives may be re-evaluating their closure dates, Mr Allen said. In 2010, a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project at Delta Electricity's now mothballed Munmorah power station was set for expansion, after receiving US$28 million in funding. Solar feed-in tariffs cut again, despite much higher wholesale grid prices, How to double your old homes energy rating: Lessons from two efficiency retrofits, All-electric Polestar doubles sales, boosts margins as it prepares more EV models, EV battery recycler hits 95% recovery rate in world-first collection program, Electric vehicles grab record 6.8 pct share of Australia market as Tesla rules again. When queried, the department told RenewEconomy that the funding set aside in the budget was considered to represent value for money. The map below shows the location of the plant, near Mannering Park, New South Wales. Please correct the marked field(s) below. Follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook or Instagram. Federal Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister Angus Taylor said last month that the industrys potential cannot be ignored and argued that Australia can attract $70 billion of investments over the next decade. A longstanding advocate of the need for round-the-clock dispatchable coal power, Mr St Baker said his decision to sell was more to do with wanting to redirect capital into his interests in electric vehicle charging than in any diminished conviction about the continuing need for coal-fired power as the transition to low-carbon power progresses. Billionaire Trevor St Baker will reignite plans for a 20-year extension of NSW's Vales Point coal power station amid fears the early closure of Origin Energy's giant Eraring plant may lead to market volatility and higher prices. The WHO annual guideline for NOx of 10 ug/m3 (4.87 ppb) is regularly breached at monitoring sites close to the Vales Point power station. Our Morning Edition newsletter is a curated guide to the most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. That, environment groups say, has given new urgency for the NSW Environment Protection Authority to clarify the legality of a pollution exemption provided to the plant late last year. Future Sooner, local residents and health professionals are deeply concerned if this sale goes ahead it will extend the life of this filthy, old, polluting coal-fired power station and prolong the damage that is already affecting our health, said Gary Blaschke OAM, resident of Lake Munmorah, cancer sufferer and Future Sooner spokesperson. These fossil fuel power stations burn coal to power steam turbines that generate some or all of the electricity they produce. offsite water contamination from the south-east portion of the ash dump identified in the Environment Protection Licence this year. The Toshiba 660 MW turbo-alternator became the standard in New South Wales, with similar units later being installed at Eraring, Bayswater and Mount Piper. Delta confirmed that it had terminated contracts with relevant suppliers for the turbine upgrades. The Stop the Sale of Vales Point Power Station and Close It Down petition to Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers & NSW Treasurer Matt Kean was written by Future Sooner and is in the category . Its a two years exemption, then we can apply for another period of time. Vales Point Power Station February 17, 2022 Delta Energy's plans for Vales Point power station at Mannering Park will go unchanged despite the announcement by Origin Energy on February 17 that it will close Eraring - Australia's largest power station - seven years early. Coal is carbon. The study also criticized the absence of air pollution monitoring within 25 km of Eraring and the nearby Vales Point power station. Records date back to 2011. [1], In March 2019 Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that Delta Electricity's proposal had been shortlisted but provided no details.[2]. We know that the emissions meet the National Environment Protection Measures for NOx, but weve got the environment groups position. Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings. The Vales Point Power Plant is currently set for closure in 2029, but the EPA ruling delivered on 28 October 2022 could bring that date forward to 2025. Mannering Park Progress Association spokesperson Sue Wynn said a new coal-fired power station at Vales Point was the worst news Mannering Park and surrounding areas could possibly hear. Environmental Justice Australia solicitor Jocelyn McGarity said there were serious concerns the licence conditions were unlawful and that the plant should not be allowed to operate beyond 2029. He noted the deal includes a coal mine that supplies the 1320-megawatt Vales Point generator and that the plant is in good order. But Tom Allen, director of Australian energy and utilities research with UBS, said the markets focus would be on the long-term viability of black coal-fired generators in NSW, particularly amid the NSW governments plan to ramp up renewable energy investment, which will place prices under further pressure. For fossil fuel production to be clean carbon capture has to be tacked on to capture the emissions. Environment Justice Australia and the Nature Conservation Council have questioned whether the renewal of a licence granting the plant operators exemptions from some pollution standards for nitrogen oxide is valid because, they say, Delta applied for the renewal after the deadline. Sep 18, 2022 - 3.16pm Energy entrepreneur Trevor St Baker and coal investor Brian Flannery will sell their Vales Point coal-fired power station in NSW for several hundred million dollars to. Sold for a song in 2015, the site is expected to be the subject of a new coal-fired power station proposal. Alinta Energys Hong Kong-based owner Chow Tai Fook Enterprises is understood to have fielded approaches for the Australian business, which includes the large Loy Yang B coal power generator in Victoria. One is electrolysis that uses electricity to split water, which can be powered by renewables in an emissions-free process and is known as green hydrogen. The sale will facilitate this growth as Sev.en has shown a commitment to the sector and an ambition to expand, both in Australia and globally.. Sev.en Group is a global, experienced and responsible operator of conventional power plants. In February, Prime Minister Scott Morrison promised Liberal party donor and part owner Trevor St Baker that an $11 million grant would be going his way to make upgrades. The grant was to pay for upgrades to a turbine at the Vales Point power station, increasing its thermal efficiency, allowing an additional 30MW of output for the same amount of coal burnt. Andy Saunders 1 year ago John John 1 year ago Andy Saunders 1 year ago The Vales Point coal power station was sold by the NSW government in 2015 for just $1 million. Before joining RenewEconomy, Michael worked in climate and energy policy for more than a decade. It has been announced that the ageing Vales Point coal-fired power station on the Central Coast, NSW is to be sold by the Australian Delta Energy to the Czech fossil fuel investment company Sev.en, owned by billionaire Pavel Tyka. It listed Eraring, Vales Point and Mt Piper in NSW and Yallourn in Victoria as most vulnerable. Delta Coal which supplies Vales Point have an active proposal to continue mining largely exploited seams under the lake and ash dump until 2029 and community fears over worsening pollution impacts from this aging facility under this potential new ownership have been made public. Correspondence obtained through an earlier FOI request shows that Delta Electricity and the department undertook negotiations throughout 2020, ahead of funding being awarded in the federal budget. 4), for a total of 875 MW. Vales Point Power Station is one of two operating coal fired power stations on the shores of Lake Macquarie, New South Wales. Newcastle GP andpublic health academic Dr Ben Ewaldsaiddata from existing Hunter and Central Coast power stations provided more evidence of the need to replace old coal-fired power stations with renewable energy. Help using this website - Accessibility statement, Alinta Energys Hong Kong-based owner Chow Tai Fook Enterprises is understood, EnergyAustralias owner CLP Group, also based in Hong Kong, is in the market, AGL Energy is struggling to determine its forward strategy. The funding was to be provided as an ad hoc grant under the Morrison governments Underwriting New Generation Investments (UNGI) program, meaning the funds could only be used for Delta Electricitys proposed upgrades.
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