Combet cool on Hazelwood closure

Hundreds of activists travelled to the Hazelwood brown coal fired power station, 180 km east of Melbourne, for the 101010 global work party on Sunday.

Environmental groups in Victoria are behind a campaign to replace the aging Hazelwood power station with renewable energy. Premier John Brumby wants to close the power station down in stages and wants Federal Government financial assistance in doing so. But the new Federal climate change minister Greg Combet is decidedly cool on the idea.

Premier Brumby acts to neutralise Climate change issue for Victorian election

The Victorian parliament tackled climate change on Friday with a climate bill passed to set a 20 percent emissions reduction based upon 2000 levels by 2020. "This is a significant Bill which has the potential to stabilise and then drive down our greenhouse emissions, while also creating certainty for investors and industry, and many new jobs across the state," said Friends of the Earth (FoE) campaigns co-ordinator Cam Walker.

It follows the lead in August by the minority Labor and Green ACT Government announced cuts to greenhouse gas emissions of 40 per cent by 2020, and 80 per cent by 2050, based on 1990 levels.

Victorian Premier announces generous feed-in tariff for large scale solar power

While most people were watching the Federal political sphere, John Brumby, the Victorian Premier, surprised many with a major announcement on promotion of building large scale solar power to promote Victoria as the solar capital in Australia. The scheme will result in 5 to 10 concentrating solar thermal (CST) power stations to be built in the states' north and west by 2020, as well as medium scaler rollout of solar photovoltaic systems.

But action on climate change is a hot state political issue too, with a highlevel active campaign to close down the Hazelwood power station in the La Trobe valley, one of the dirtiest most poluting coal fired power station in the Industrial world. Lst Saturday over 30 community events were held in a National Day of action to Replace Hazelwood. As part of global action on climate change organised through 350.org, campaigners are organising a protest on 10/10/10 outside the Hazelwood station.

Once the Rudd Government announced deferral of the Emissions Trading Scheme for 3 years and lost public confidence the pressure transferred to state governments to act on climate, even though such action is likely to be piecemeal.

The Victorian announcement is for a generous feed in tariff for large scale solar thermal power plants to start the transition from coal-fired power to renewables as part of ithe state Labor Government's forthcoming policies for action on climate change. The target of 5 per cent of the state's electricity from solar by 2020 is in addition to the 20 per cent power from wind by 2020. The announcement comes as a new report confirms that Victoria could supply more than 100 percent of it's electricity from renewables.

John Brumby, while visiting Silex's solar test facility in Bridgewater, said "This commitment to a sustainable future for Victoria should see the establishment of between five and ten large solar plants across regional Victoria," Mr Brumby said "As a result of this initiative, Victoria will have up to 25 per cent of its power coming from renewable energy by 2020. This initiative will also provide new economic opportunities in regional Victoria, generating between $1.5 and $2 billion in new solar investment in Victoria."

The State Government has set an interim target of generating 500GWh of solar power by 2014. "This is in addition to power generated by the Silex facility and represents a massive increase on the present level of solar generation Australia-wide and is enough to power more than 90,000 homes." said Brumby.

The cost to household electricity bills was estimated at $5-$15 a year from 2014.

Gavin Jennings, the Victorian Climate Change Minister also announced action to support medium scale solar energy, such as installation of solar panels on large suburban shopping centres, "Generating their own electricity means businesses will not only help reduce emissions but they will save money on their bottom line - a win for business and the environment." he said. A Medium Scale Working Group would be established by the State Government to advise on what type of actions are needed to drive medium-scale solar power.

The Federal Government was urged to put a price on carbon to further drive investments into the renewbles sector to deliver deeper emission cuts. "A price on carbon is necessary to deliver the very deep reductions in emissions we need, but we need to forge ahead and tackle climate change through measures such as these." said Brumby.

The Federal Government of Julia Gillard has maintained the commitment by Kevin Rudd to reassessing an Emissions Trading Scheme in 2012, although the Greens are pushing strongly for the introduction of an interim carbon tax to start July 1, 2011.

The announcement from the State Government comes as part of a forthcoming policy on climate change in the lead up to the state election at the end of 2010. The Government is considering an initial 25 per cent phaseout of the coal fired Hazelwood power station, one of the most polluting and dirtiest in the western industrialised world, while climate and environmental activists are urging a total closedown of Hazelwood over two years.

Environmentalists and Greens welcome solar initiative

The announcement has been welcomed by environmentalists. "This is a bright move that will help Victoria get ahead of the pack in the shift to renewable energy", said FoE campaign coordinator Cam Walker. "It will be a popular initiative among the millions of Victorians who are looking for strong leadership on climate change. By fast-tracking more clean-energy projects like this, the Government will soon be able to replace the dinosaur Hazelwood coal-fired power station."

"In 2006 Premier Brumby committed to introducing a "landmark" Climate Change Bill so we expect that a centrepiece of the Government's Climate Change White paper to be released this month will be strong new climate change laws." said Cam Walker, "The White Paper should deliver a whole of government Climate Change Bill which sets ambitious emission reductions targets and is benchmarked on the Climate Change (Scotland) Act, " he said.

Environment Victoria also welcomed plans by the Brumby Government to fast-track the development of large scale solar power for Victoria. Environment Victoria's Campaigns Director Mark Wakeham said, "Today's announcement will make Victoria much more attractive as a place to build large scale solar power stations which can contribute to replacing polluting coal-fired power stations like Hazelwood within the next term of government."

"Victoria is likely to become the preferred state for large scale solar as a result of the premium payment provided by the feed-in tariff. If we can get projects off the ground quickly we may well be able to exceed the 5 percent target." said Mark Wakeham, "However if we want to lead the nation in both large scale and small scale solar we still need to improve the solar feed-in tariff for households and small businesses to catch up to the incentives offered in NSW and the ACT."

"In the absence of national leadership and a price on carbon Victoria will need to take further measures to support energy efficiency and clean energy to ensure that we can replace the whole of Hazelwood power station and achieve significant cuts to our greenhouse pollution in the next term of government." he said.

The state Liberal party came in for criticism on climate action, "So far the only climate policy we've seen from the Coalition is a plan to stymie the development of wind power. If Ted Baillieu wants to appeal to the vast majority of the community who want action to reduce greenhouse pollution he needs to get some runs on the board quickly." concluded Mark Wakeham.

The Greens have also welcomed Victorian Premier John Brumby's announcement of a gross feed-in tariff for large-scale solar plants and urged both Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott to embrace a national feed-in tariff to support all forms of renewable energy. Australian Greens Deputy Leader, Senator Christine Milne, said today "A properly designed feed-in tariff is recognised as the reason Germany, Spain and some US states have seen tremendous booms in renewable energy, creating jobs and investment, cleaning the air and reducing emissions," Senator Milne said. "Premier Brumby is to be congratulated on his decision today. He is leaving Julia Gillard in his wake, although he still has a fair way to go to catch up with the Greens."

It is likely Prime Minister Gillard will announce grants for development of solar projects as part of the Government election campaign. Senator Milne criticised this approach for renewable energy as not strategically developing the sector. "One off, ad hoc grants do nothing to develop the industry. They will see Australia importing technologies we have driven offshore through lack of ongoing support."

"If we want to create jobs and long-term investment, as well as drive the transformation to 100% renewable energy, we need a well-designed national feed-in tariff." said Senator Milne "While I welcome Premier Brumby's announcement, the expansion of state-based schemes can lead to perverse outcomes for investors, particularly in the context of the national renewable energy target."

Report confirms Victoria's abundant renewable energy resources

A new report for the Victorian Government by Engineering consultants Sinclair Knight Merz - Renewable Resources Victoria: the renewable energy potential of Victoria - has confirmed that Victoria's future energy needs could be entirely met from renewable energy sources, including wind, solar, geothermal and wave.

According to the report renewable energy could provide up to eight times Victoria's current energy consumption and double the the estimated future demand by 2030.

Minister for Energy and Resources Peter Batchelor said on the release of the report "For nearly a century, Victoria has relied heavily on coal, oil and gas to supply us with relatively cheap but highly polluting energy. Now, we must reduce greenhouse gas emissions while our demand for energy continues to grow. As we begin this transformation, this new report confirms that Victoria is well placed to seize the opportunities that will arise, creating new skills, new jobs, new investments and new ways of making and using energy."

The report was based on a similar study for the UK which found that it was unlikely the UK had sufficient renewable energy resources to meet it's energy needs. While talking up the report Peter Batchelor also stressed moving to a low carbon economy would not happen overnight, "Technology for harnessing some of these resources is still in its infancy and very expensive. In addition, as technologies develop new infrastructure will be needed and must be appropriately managed and located to take into account social and environmental impacts," he said.

The initiative by the Victorian Government follows a report by Beyond Zero Emissions and the Melbourne Energy Institute at Melbourne University of a detailed and costed plan of action on How to achieve Zero Carbon Emissions by 2020 for Australia.

Sources

• Media Release - Victorian Premier John Brumby - Victoria shines in solar action on climate change
• Media Release - Victorian Minister for Energy & Resources - New report shows renewable energy potential
• Media Release - Environment Victoria - Solar moves help clean up Victoria's energy supply
• Media Release - Friends of the Earth - Support for large scale solar a bright move
• Media Release - Greens Senator Christine Milne - Gillard and Abbott should follow Brumby to feed-in tariff for baseload solar

Brumby considers partial closure of Hazelwood while climate activists urge full phase-out

Friends of the Earth has welcomed the revelation that the Victorian Labor Government is considering closing down a quarter of the capacity of the Hazelwood brown coal-fired power plant, but has maintained a call along with other climate change and environmental groups for a full phase out of the developed world's dirtiest coal fired station replacing capacity with renewable power generation and energy efficiency savings.

Related: Environment Victoria | Climate Action Centre | Switch off Hazelwood |
Call for Gillard to install solar panels on the Lodge

“We will continue to campaign for the political parties to commit to a full phase out of Hazelwood and it's replacement with a mix of energy efficiency and renewable energy within the next term of government” said Friends of the Earth (FoE) campaigns co-ordinator Cam Walker.

The campaign to replace the Hazelwood brown coal fired Power Station in the La Trobe valley by 2012 was launched in May 2010 on the steps of Parliament House.

According to a report in the Age, the Brumby government is considering replacing two of the eight Hazelwood generating units with alternative generating capacity provided by gas and renewable energy.

Cam Walker said “We do not believe we should be investing in gas, instead we should be replacing coal with renewables, the energy source of the future. However, we must acknowledge this significant move. A rapid phase-out of Hazelwood would mark the first roll back of coal as a primary source of energy for our state and be a powerfully symbolic action and lead to considerable reductions in our greenhouse emissions. According to The Age newspaper, it is likely that this will reduce Victoria’s greenhouse emissions by around 3 million tonnes a year”.

Hazelwood Power station, owned by the British listed International Power, was completed in 1964 and was due for closure in 2005, however the Bracks Labor Government extended it's contact till 2031. It provides just under a quarter of the Victoria's electicity and is responsible for 15% of the state’s emissions. International Power also owns several other coal and gas operations in Australia. According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald profit from its Australian business surged 40 per cent to £233 million last year, but the company claims problems in funding capital improvements due to investment uncertainty with regards a price on carbon.

The Federal Government under Julia Gillard has so far indicated there will not be a price on carbon set until 2013 using their current Emissions Trading Scheme - the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) The CPRS has been widely criticised for offering too many concessions to power generators and other carbon intensive industries. "The assistance package under the Government’s proposed carbon trading legislation for emissions intensive industries is a $20 billion waste of taxpayers’ money", said the CEO of the Grattan Institute Professor John Daley in a report on April 22 - Restructuring the Australian Economy to Emit Less Carbon. (See article - Conservationists and scientists angry at Rudd retreat on climate)

According to a report commissioned by Environment Victoria and released in March - Victoria’s Energy Mix 2000-2009 - Victoria's reliance on coal fired electricity has increased in the last decade, with both electricity generation and greenhouse pollution from coal increasing by over 9% since 2000.

International Power has indicated it is open to discussing a phased shutdown of Hazelwood if compensation payments could be agreed with the state and Federal Governments. The first phase of a shutdown is expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation to International Power.

The State Government is facing an election at the end of 2010 and is under pressure to produce climate action and environmental policies to nullify Greens Party electoral threats in a few inner city electorates.

“If confirmed, a commitment by the government to a rapid staged closure would show vision and leadership and put Victoria ahead of the other states once again on this most pressing of issues. It is impressive given the lack of action by the federal ALP on climate. We urge the Commonwealth to do its share by contributing funds for the buy out.” said Cam Walker. “We would see this as the beginning of a profound shift in the debate, one that marks the start of a rapid and complete transition away from coal and into truly renewable energy sources.”

Community climate action groups and environment NGOs met at the climate action centre on Saturday and were of the unanimous view that keeping three-quarters (12 million tonnes of carbon pollution) of Hazelwood operating indefinitely was totally unacceptable and that the campaign would continue until all of Hazelwood was replaced.

A mass protest to Switch Off Hazelwood, Switch On Renewable Energy has been scheduled on Sunday 10/10/10 as part of an International Day of Climate Action. (Facebook event page)

Sources:

• Media release - Friends of the Earth, July 10, 2010 - Full phase-out of Hazelwood required for rapid transition from coal
  
• The Age, July 10, 2010 - Power cut for big polluter Hazelwood
  
• Photo copyright Takver via Flickr - CC-SA-A
  

Replace Hazelwood - people demand climate action from Victorian Premier

I was one of over 250 people who gathered on the steps of the Victorian Parliament in Melbourne, calling for Victorian Premier John Brumby to take strong climate change action and negotiate the closure of the Hazelwood brown coal fired Power Station in the La Trobe valley by 2012. Related: Environment Victoria | Climate Action Centre | Switch off Hazelwood | Photos on Flickr: Takver, Climate Action Centre

Hazelwood is Australia's dirtiest power station, using brown coal, which produces almost 15 percent of Victoria's greenhouse pollution - 3 per cent of Australia's total carbon emissions. It pumps out more than 16 million tonnes of greenhouse pollution each year and is also a massive user of water (27 billion litres a year) and emitter of dangerous pollutants. It is the single largest source of dioxin pollution in Australia, as well as emitting 7800 tonnes of hydrochloric acid each year.

Speakers said it is possible to replace Hazelwood with a combination of renewable energy, energy efficiency and peaking gas plants. The jobs in construction and operation of these power stations would far exceed the 500 jobs that currently exist at Hazelwood, though effort would need to be taken to ensure that new jobs were created in the Latrobe Valley.

International Power owns the Hazelwood Power Station and have recently flagged to the Federal Government that they would be prepared to close the power station with the right financial incentives.

The lunch time crowd chanted: "Switch off coal, wind and solar now" and "John Brumby Replace Hazelwood".

A Melbourne University Climate Action group was taking the message of climate action up to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd at Crown Casino the same afternoon.

Action on climate change demanded by thousands on Melbourne's St Kilda Beach

Thousands of Melbourne people rocked up to St Kilda Beach to be part of a Climate Change Human Sign near the St Kilda Sea Baths. The event was organised by Locals into Victoria's Environment and promoted by the Climate Emergency Network and is a call for politicians at all levels of Government to make the hard decisions by legislating to drastically reduce carbon emissions and negotiate meaningful international carbon reduction targets at the Copenhagen Conference of Parties in December 2009.

The Federal Government has been much criticised for its Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme in that too many free permits were handed out to business and targets were set far too low. In the budget handed down by the Rudd Labor Government the environment and climate change funding was relegated to second fiddle to economic recovery.

In Victoria the Brumby Labor Government is proceeding with a Desalination plant for Melbourne which will boost carbon emissions. Alternative water sources that are less costly and more environmentally friendly, such as stormwater harvesting, rainwater tanks and tertiary treatment and purification water recycling have been passed over in favour of a high tech, high cost and polluting solution.

Photo by Aerofoto