After 50 years supplying Victoria with cheap, brown coal-fired electricity, the Hazelwood power station and mine are closing down.
Why is Hazelwood closing?
Commissioned in the 1960s, all eight generating units at the Hazelwood power station were up and running by 1971.
It still provides nearly a quarter of Victoria's energy needs, but the plant was never meant to have such a long career.
The State Electricity Commission planned to retire Hazelwood by 2005, but it was privatised by the Victorian Government in 1996.
In the year it was meant to close, the Bracks government extended its life until 2030, under the condition that the plant became more efficient.
With the introduction of the carbon tax came fears the power station would close down.
While the tax was short-lived, Hazelwood survived.
After 50 years of supplying Victoria with cheap electricity, the plant's owners Engie announced late last year that the site was no longer economically viable.
In the week leading up to its closure, there were last-ditch calls for government to step in and keep Hazelwood open.
But these were dismissed by Engie as too late and too expensive.
Documents released to the ABC revealed the scale of improvements that would be needed to bring the plant up to scratch, with WorkSafe Victoria ordering Engie to repair five of the eight boilers to meet work health and safety standards.
How do you shut down a power station?
Workers will finish their final shift at 7:00am on April 1.
But the shutdown process has been underway for some time, and the eight generating units have been progressively turned off throughout the week.
Once the power station has been shut down, the workers who are staying on will begin the clean-up, removing industrial oils, gases and fluids.
It will take a year to decommission the power station, a process that involves more cleaning, disconnecting electricity and salvaging materials.
When the site has been decommissioned, it will remain there for about two years before it is finally knocked down.
Engie said it would take about three years to demolish and remove all buildings.
How many workers are affected?
The Hazelwood power station employs about 450 staff, and another 300 contractors.
When it announced the closure, Engie said about 250 workers would stay on at the site to manage the demolition and rehabilitation.
That figure has since been revised to 135 staff and 100 contractors.
The Victorian Government has set up a $20 million scheme to encourage older workers at other power stations to take redundancies, to make room for younger Hazelwood employees.
There are also state and federal government grants to support the region during its time of transition.
Nevertheless, residents of the Latrobe Valley are worried about the future of their community.
What will happen to the power station and mine?
The owner of the power station and mine, Engie, said it would cost at least $743 million to rehabilitate the site.
That includes $439 million for the mine and $304 million for the power station site.
It will not happen overnight.
Engie said it would take a year to decommission the power station, and another three years to demolish it.
It will then be another 30 years before the site is handed back to the Victorian Government.
There are plans to fill the mine with water, creating a lake in the gaping hole in the earth.
A report into the rehabilitation of Latrobe Valley brown coal mines found this was the most viable proposal, but experts say it could take decades to fill the pit.
There have been questions about where all that water would come from, and whether it would be of high enough quality to allow swimming, boating or other recreational activities.
When it comes to the machinery itself, Museums Victoria has been looking at adding parts of the power station to its collection, recognising its industrial heritage.
What will it do to electricity prices?
When Engie announced it would close Hazelwood, the price of wholesale electricity jumped.
But what about the cost to consumers?
Modelling from the Victorian Government suggested household power bills could go up 4–8 per cent — $44 a year for the average residential power bill.
But a month later, consumer advocates said households could be paying up to $300 extra every year on their gas and electricity bills.
Shutting down the generators has also raised questions about electricity supply, and whether Victoria could face similar problems to South Australia during periods of peak demand.
The ABC's political editor Chris Uhlmann, in a piece analysing the effect of the shutdown on the energy market, argued the country was facing a policy-induced power crisis and inevitable electricity price rises.
Dylan McConnell, a PhD researcher at the Australian-German Climate and Energy College, has written that what will happen to prices "is anyone's guess":
The Victorian wholesale market will also become a more concentrated market. As a result, there may be more opportunities for market power to be exercised.
Perhaps the recently announced ACCC inquiry in power prices will put generators on their best behaviour.
Any price rise may be short-lived. The Australian Energy Market Commission, which makes the rules for the energy market, has reported that more renewable energy supply is expected to reduce wholesale electricity prices.
Is it a win for the environment?
Hazelwood has long had the dubious honour of being Australia's "dirtiest" power station, meaning it produces more emissions for the amount of energy it generates than other coal-fired plants.
Environment Victoria said Hazelwood accounted for 14 per cent of Victoria's greenhouse gas emissions, and closing it down could cut emissions by 16 million tonnes.
The open cut mine and power station have also caused health concerns for Latrobe Valley locals, worried about the impact of living so close to so much coal dust.
These concerns came to a head during the Hazelwood mine fire of 2014, when a fire got into a disused section of the mine and burned for more than a month.
An inquiry concluded toxic smoke from the mine likely led to deaths in the Latrobe Valley, and the Victorian Government set up more monitors for air quality as a result.
Is this the beginning of the end for coal-fired power stations in Gippsland?
There are four power stations in the Latrobe Valley — Loy Yang A, Loy Yang B, Yallourn and Hazelwood.
There were once five, but brown coal briquette manufacturer Energy Brix closed its power station and factory in 2014.
The announcement of Hazelwood's closure prompted questions about the future of the remaining energy generators.
As well as owning Hazelwood, Engie runs the Loy Yang B power station, which supplies 17 per cent of Victoria's power.
When Engie announced the Hazelwood closure, it said it had appointed a financial advisor to look into selling the site.
The remaining power stations are Loy Yang A, owned by AGL, and Yallourn, owned by Energy Australia.
AGL has flagged closing its site by 2048, while Energy Australia has set a closing date of 2032.
But both companies say the power stations could close earlier, depending on government policy.
No comments:
Post a Comment