AGL Energy brings forward Loy Yang A coal power plant closure from 2045 to 2035

AGL Energy has announced the bringing forward of the closure date for the Loy Yang A coal power station in the LaTrobe Valley from 2045 to 2035. 

Such action was not unexpected given the Victorian Premier's announcement on Tuesday setting Victorian energy storage targets, and with continual growth in grid solar and wind farms and the planned construction of offshore wind. In March this year the Victorian Government set offshore wind targets of 2GW by 2032 and 4 GW by 2035.

But the 2035 closure date is still not ambituous and not in keeping with Paris climate target for phasing out coal. Bronya Lipski from Environment Victoria argues that a 2032 closure is in line with AEMO step change scenario. The Greens in the upcoming state election argue that all Victoria's coal plants should be phased out by 2030 with ramping up the speed of renewables and storage construction.  

AGL Energy occupied over carbon pollution, Gloucester CSG, policy on RET

Over 60 people attended and occupied the AGL Energy head office in Melbourne this morning siting down on the 23rd floor offices of this energy producer and retailer. Several people locked themselves together on the 23rd floor. A number of climate guardian angels locked on to the front doors at street level. Why were they there?

AGL Energy, once regarded as a relatively green and environmentally friendly electricity producer, has in recent years bought and accumulated assets in black and brown coal generation and coal seam gas exploration and exploitation. It is now a major source and polluter of carbon emissions. Along with it's transformation into a major carbon polluting company, it has also argued strongly for changes to the RET scheme for the Large Scale Renewable Energy Target (LRET) to be abolished and existing arrangements grandfathered, and also the Small-Scale Renewable Energy Target (SRET) to be abolished.

Paul McArdle in a blog post at WattClarity® on 10 October argues that AGL is almost twice as large as the second biggest generator in terms of capacity gemeration for the National Electricity Market (NEM).

• AGL Energy is developing CSG at Gloucester against the wishes of the local community (Newcastle Herald Story
  
• AGL wants the RET scheme to be slashed (Business Spectator Story)
  
• AGL Energy has recently bought dirty and polluting brown and black coal generating stations like the Loy Yang A Power station in the La Trobe Valley(Herald Sun story) in 2013, and the Liddell power station in the Hunter Valley (RenewEconomy story) in 2014.
  

Environment Minister approves fossil fuel projects increasing carbon emissions 8% per year

Maules Creek and Boggabri coal mines, and the Gloucester CSG Field in New South Wales get conditional go ahead from the Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke increasing Australia's contribution to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change and strongly condemned by the local community and conservationists.

Environment Minister Tony Burke has conditionally approved the Whitehaven Maules Creek open cut coal mine near Narrabri in the Leard State Forest as well as the four fold expansion of the neighboring Idemitsu Boggabri coal mine, and a major Coal Seam Gas field near Gloucester being undertaken by AGL.

The decisions were brought forward after the NSW State Government leaked that the Minister had already decided last year to approve the projects. "Unfortunately the decision of the New South Wales Government to leak commercially sensitive information has caused me to have to bring these decisions forward today with the remaining work to be resolved directly between the company and myself." Tony Burke said in a press release.

The decision came just a few days after an announcement that the Minister would delay a decision on the Maules Creek mine until the end of April.

According to a report in the Age newspaper the three projects have a huge carbon footprint of 47 million tonnes of greenhouse gases a year. This amounts to 8 per cent of Australia's emissions and contradicts the work of the Climate Change Department and carbon price in aiming to reduce Australia's emissions by just 5 per cent by 2020.

A Greenpeace report by environmental consultants Ecosys - Point of No Return - published in January 2013 highlighted the danger of 14 global 'carbon bomb' projects which would increase global carbon emissions by 20% and lock the planet in to worst case business as usual climate change scenarios of 4 to 6 degrees centigrade of global warming this century. Fossil fuel extraction projects in Australia and China top the list. The approval of the Maules Creek coal mine and Boggabri coal mine extension are part of Australia's substantial contribution to this 'carbon bomb'.