. . A Morrison government plan to fund upgrades at the Vales Point coal fired power station fell through after the government offered insufficient funding for the upgrades to take place, with owners Delta Electricity warning the plant could close early, documents obtained under FOI show. 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. Feb 18, 2022 - 5.07pm. Custom Content. The power station's end of technical life is set for 2029. Vales Point Power Station sale completed December 18, 2022 by Merilyn Vale Sev.en Global Investments has announced it has completed its acquisition of Delta Electricity Pty Ltd, the parent company of the Vales Point Power Station and the Chain Valley Colliery. The other legacies of coal power include environmental and community impact that cannot be ignored as the closure of power stations take place in NSW. Origin Energys 2000 MW Liddell plant will close in early 2023. On Tuesday Kean said he was still expecting the plant to close by 2029, saying the state had plans in place to ensure that the capacity of Vales Point is replaced by that time. NSW is facing a potential shortage of reliable power as coal power stations shut down, with the closure of AGL Energy's Liddell plant in the Hunter Valley in April 2023 set to be followed. He dismissed the suggestion that Vales Point would close earlier than 2029, particularly given the impending closure of its near neighbour, Liddell Power Station, in 2023. 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. It has two steam turbines, with a total generating capacity of 1,320 MW (1,770,000 hp) of electricity. Vales Point provides 11% of NSW electricity. In order to supply coal to the station, three mines were opened; Chain Valley Colliery, Newvale No.1 Colliery and Wyee State Mine. 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Parliamentary Secretary for the Central Coast, Adam Crouch, said the results of the registration of interest showed that the region was set to reap the jobs and investment rewards from the transformation of the energy system. 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. Invoice Validation & Network Tariff Analysis. Managing director Greg Everett said the decision was not due to plans for an early closure, but rather the grant approval process and timing did not meet the companys own timeline for having works completed. Hoping that this means by 2029 transporting and storage of toxic coal dust via the eyesore transport chanel located over Rutleys road will cease and be dismantled ? This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. At Delta, which supplies about 11 per cent of NSWs power, RBC is thought to have run a process to sell either 50 per cent or 100 per cent, with Mr St Baker originally keeping open an option to retain his stake. At the same time, embattled AGL Energy is struggling to determine its forward strategy and put in place a refreshed board after the collapse of a demerger plan and as its biggest shareholder, software billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes, pushes for a faster exit from coal power to align with the goals of the Paris climate accord. Mr St Bakers proposal for a singleNSW plant and two new power stations in Victorias Latrobe Valleywas slammed by environment and community groups, who said the high-efficiency, low-emission plants were only one-third less polluting than highly polluting old power stations on the proposed sites. The value of the NSW coal power plant was cut to $156 million, down from $732 million in 2017 when power prices skyrocketed after the closure of the Hazelwood power station, documents. Wholesale power prices are meanwhile several times higher than the $40-$45 megawatt-hour range that prevailed when he and billionaire partner Mr Flannery bought the generator. As of 2021, the Vales Point Power Station emits more toxic nitrogen oxide pollutants than allowable under the NSW Protection of the Environment Operations (Clean Air) Regulation 2021 in order to continue to legally operate (or otherwise cease operating), the operator applied for an exemption under its licence 761,[8] which was granted on 15 December 2021 with a reduction variation and additional conditions imposed by the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority. Only this week did the Federal Government flag that commercial interest in the Hunter-Central Coast Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) has been significant. AGL Energy has also brought forward the closure of its 2220 MW Loy Yang A plant in Victoria to 2035. To learn more, read our Privacy Policy. Mr St Baker, who bought Vales Point power station from the NSW Government for a song in 2015 and made $113 million in profit on the deal in 2017-18, has outlined plans for a new plant at Liddell or Vales Point as part of a $6 billion proposal for three coal-fired power stations in NSW and Victoria. Please try again later. 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. fair dinkum" baseload power generation after the Federal Government lost a public battle with generator AGL over the closure of Liddell power station in 2022. 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.. Granted in December last year, the exemption allows the operators to emit a higher level of nitrogen oxide than usually allowable under clean air regulations. In 2022, an air pollution exemption granted to Vales Point power station by the NSW EPA was successfully challenged by environment and legal groups, who argued that community health impacts of toxic air emissions - including childhood asthma and premature deaths were - being ignored, pointing out that Vales Point routinely breach NSW air protection laws. Sold for a song in 2015, the site is expected to be the subject of a new coal-fired power station proposal. The operator applied for an exemption granted in December 2021 with a reduction variation and additional conditions imposed by the NSW Environment Protection Agency. Delta Coal which supplies Vales Point have an active proposal to continue mining largely exploited seams, ommunity fears over worsening pollution impacts from this aging facility under this potential new ownership, RSVP for updates and an invitation in 2023. 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. Every time an old coal-fired power stations closes to be replaced by renewable energy, theres an immediate health benefit to communities within 100 kilometres of the facility, Dr Ewald said. the nominal closure of Vales Point . However. USE is forecasted to be greater than the reliability standard from 2027-28 in New South Wales, increasing further from 2029-30 when Vales Point Power Station is expected to retire. 1 to 3) and one of 275 MW supplied by Associated Electrical Industries (unit no. (NB only name and email is required to sign the petition - contact details are optional), You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it. Sign up to Guardian Australia's Morning Mail, Our Australian morning briefing email breaks down the key national and international stories of the day and why they matter. The generation table uses eljmkt nemlog to obtain generation values for each year. Environment groups say an ageing coal-fired power station in New South Wales that sold for hundreds of millions of dollars may be operating in breach of the states clean air laws. Mr St Bakers announcement came as the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) released a report on Monday showing Chinese finance is increasingly stepping in as the lender of last resort for coal plants, as other banks take active measures to restrict their funding. Childhood asthma in the region has also been found to be extremely high (50% greater than in Sydney in spite of city transport fumes) and there is strong evidence that students who attend schools within a 10 Km radius of a coal fired power station have a reduction in learning outcomes due to the emissions from burning coal. Hydrogen is a rare element which means it needs to be manufactured. The EPA granted Delta an exemption to the licence, however, the exemption went hand in hand with an order to reduce daily levels. Access unlimited content, the digital versions of our print editions - Today's Paper, as well as the Newcastle Herald app. Phone: 02 4352 6111 Vales Point was originally equipped with three turbo-alternators of 200 MW supplied by the English Electric (unit nos. AGL, rival Origin Energy and EnergyAustralia have all brought forward the dates for closure of coal-fired power stations since the start of 2021, triggering suggestions that some other coal generators may need to keep running for longer to keep electricity supply secure amid the rise of weather-dependent wind and solar power. Key points: Energy Australia will build a 350 megawatt, utility-scale battery in the Latrobe Valley by the end of 2026 The giant coal-fired Yallourn plant has been operating for 47 years Description. 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. The announcement today by Original doesnt change Vales Points position, said the spokesperson. Please correct the marked field(s) below. The power station doesnt currently have a valid air pollution licence. In a letter obtained by RenewEconomy, Delta told the department that the funding was below the amount of funding the company had requested and left the company carrying too much of the cost. To learn more about how we use information collected with cookies, please read our Privacy Policy. This page was last edited on 30 April 2021, at 11:25. [3] The plan for a new 660-MW plant appears to be cancelled. The facility is old, dirty, and poorly maintained. Vales Point was commissioned in 1978, and its two turbines generate 1,320 megawatts of electricity, accounting for 11 percent of NSW's energy. Mr St Baker said he was looking for international investors after Australian banks and major lenders ruled out exposure to coal project funding, in part because of climate change stranded asset risks. While the Chinese government has signalled it will restrict coal lending, the country has yet to formally limit its investment in coal plants, the IEEFA report said. Coal supplies NSW with an average of 63 percent of its energy requirements, while the National Energy Market average is 59 percent. Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date. Sydney, NSW 2000 Were carefully considering it and its an important decision to make and well be making that public shortly, he said. "Hundreds of thousands of people living near Australia's largest power station do not know what they are breathing," the report states. 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. Meanwhile, EnergyAustralias owner CLP Group, also based in Hong Kong, is in the market for partnerships to support future investments to support the decarbonisation of the countrys third-largest power and gas supplier. In 1978, two Toshiba 660 MW units were added, becoming "B" Station. Delta said it did not make financial sense to proceed with the upgrade with the smaller grant amount, given ongoing uncertainty in the energy market and the looming closure of the power station, currently slated for 2029. Two years on from the sale, the facility was valued at $722M. The energy and materials can be provided by either renewable power and water, orcoal and gas. If Vales Point power station is allowed to operate beyond 2029, we know it will have continued serious consequences for the health of the community. Australia is positioning itself to tap the potential boom in hydrogen fuel, if its adopted globally as a replacement for petroleum. Find them all here. 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. It was a good letter from Anne Aldcroft (CCN380) regarding dog owners not doing their duty. . At a budget estimates hearing last month, Stephen Beaman, a senior regulator at the EPA, said the agency would be finalising its position very shortly on the legality of the exemption. We know that the emissions meet the National Environment Protection Measures for NOx, but weve got the environment groups position. But it also represents a significant expansion of Sev.en in Australias coal power sector beyond its interest in Queenslands InterGen, with the suggestion that further investments in the domestic energy sector may be on the cards. POWER magnate Trevor St Baker is expected to lodge a proposalwith the Federal Government today for a new Hunter or Central Coast coal-fired power station with a Chinese joint venture partner.
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