Aussies find promising mine to bury coal in
11/03/2021 01:18
(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions
expressed are his own.)
By Antony Currie
MELBOURNE, March 11 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The country’s
dirtiest power plant will close early after an agreement between
owner EnergyAustralia and the Victorian government. The deal
will cut emissions, foster renewables and help displaced
workers. It could be a blueprint for others, if the finances
weren’t so opaque.
Full view will be published shortly.
On Twitter https://twitter.com/AntonyMCurrie
CONTEXT NEWS
- The government of the Australian state of Victoria and
utility EnergyAustralia, owned by Hong Kong-based CLP Holdings,
on March 10 struck a deal to close the country’s dirtiest coal
power station four years ahead of schedule. The 1,480 megawatt
Yallourn power station, which was built in the 1970s, burns
brown coal and supplies around 20% of the state’s energy needs.
It also accounts for some 13% of its net greenhouse-gas
emissions.
- As part of the agreement, EnergyAustralia will develop a
350 megawatt electric battery by the end of 2026, larger than
any battery currently in operation. The state of Victoria will
contribute to the cost of developing the battery. The deal has
put “mechanisms in place to facilitate Yallourn to operate
economically through to 30 June 2028 and to operate at certain
required operational and performance availability levels,”
according to CLP.
- EnergyAustralia has also pledged to maintain current
employment conditions for the plant’s roughly 500 full-time
workers and the 500 or so brought in for three to four months of
the year to work on major unit outages. The company will also
provide A$10 million ($7.7 million) to help with career
planning, retraining and financial and mental-health advice. It
will also work with the state government to offer support to
those working in the affected supply chains.
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EnergyAustralia press release https://www.clpgroup.com/content/dam/clp-group/channels/investor/document/3-4-announcements-circulars/2021/e_CLP_Announcement%20(Repowering%20Victoria)_final.pdf.coredownload.pdf
CLP Group press release https://apac1.views.cp.thomsonreuters.com/newsfile/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20210310:nHKS75Shtv
EnergyAustralia to shut Yallourn coal-fired plant four years
earlier than planned urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nM0N28501A
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(Editing by Pete Sweeney and Katrina Hamlin)
((antony.currie@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
antony.currie.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))