Urgent Investment Needed for Renewables

BY OLIVIA DILLON 

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), says urgent investment is needed for the Hunter's renewable energy projects. 

With the upcoming closure of the Liddell Power Station, the Operator has updated the 2022 Electricity Statement of Opportunities, and says projects in the pipeline need to be fast-tracked, to avoid the continuation of soaring energy costs. 

The update reflects key concerns already held by the region's peak business body. 

Business Hunter CEO Bob Hawes, said measures need to be put in place across the region, to prepare businesses and households for the possibility renewables won't initially be able to match domestic demand. 

"We've got to now stress more strongly to businesses and the community, to look much more carefully at energy conservation measures; how they can put in place measures that will reduce their energy consumption as a way to offset the pressure that they're likely to come under as power shortages continue," Mr Hawes said. 

"If they do, it's likely we're not going to see the stabilization of prices at all. Prices are likely to stay quite high." 

He also said with the election coming up in March, investment in renewables should be a priority. 

"We're recommending the incoming state government look at the opportunity to automatically designate any renewable energy project as a state-significant infrastructure project, so it moves quickly through the planning process," Mr Hawes said. 

"We need to give these projects as much support as we possibly can, because at the moment it's looking a little bit grim based on AEMO's forecast."  

Lake Mac Council Rejects Nuclear Power Plant Proposal

BY OLIVIA DILLON

Lake Macquarie City Council have voted against a motion to host a nuclear power plant at the former Eraring Power Station. 

The motion asked councillors to repeal a long-standing ban on nuclear power stations, and consider building one on the Lake's shore. 

The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Act 1998 and the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act ban the approval, licensing, construction or operation of any nuclear fuel fabrication plant, a nuclear power plan, enrichment plant or reprocessing facility in Australia. 

However, North Ward Councillor Colin Grigg, who brought the motion to council, believes nuclear power is a clean, sustainable solution to the region's power problems. 

"I believe we need to take a look at nuclear because as it stands right now, renewables are not sufficient to meet the demand and I think we need to have reliable base load power," Cr Grigg said. 

However, council was not persuaded, and voted 12 to 1 against the motion at last night's meeting, citing issues surrounding the storage of nuclear waste, and the station's environmental impact on the area. 

In response, Cr Grigg said council needs to "take of the shades" and continue the discussion about what to do next.

"I'm disappointed that councillors missed the opportunity to read the facts sheet that I sent to them all. They were quoting from understandings from before like Chernobyl and I think that's the problem; the community has basically been scared off nuclear and all I'm saying is we need to, with fresh eyes, take a look at nuclear," he said. 

He also said placing the plant at Earing was just a suggestion, and he'd be happy to see a facility placed elsewhere. 

"There's 45 countries in the world that are using nuclear power. There's 450 nuclear power stations in the world; American has 100 and is building more, and France has over 50 and is building more. I think that we're lagging behind on this. If there's an alternative that could provide reliable base load power, I'm happy for it, but at the moment there's nothing else."  

Image: CSIRO

Energy woes continue as Liddell turbine taken offline

BY DAKOTA TAIT

There's been another turbine failure at Liddell Power Station.  

Turbine Four was taken offline on Monday, stripping the station of a third of its capacity. 

The station only has three turbines, after one was closed in April ahead of a total closure next year.

Liddell only returned to full capacity two weeks ago, after generator malfunctions earlier in winter.

The malfunction's been put down to a leaking hydraulic tube and is expected to take a week to repair.   

There's concern, it could more pressure on the stretched energy grid, as the energy regulator calls for the switch to renewables to speed up.

Eraring Power Station to close seven years early

BY DAKOTA TAIT

Origin Energy have announced they're now seeking approval to close the Eraring Power Station in August 2025 seven years of schedule.

The Hunter Valley facility is Australia's biggest coal-fired power plant.

It's the company's only coal-fired generator, meaning it will rely on gas and renewables for power from now on.

It comes as the State Government announces $100 billion worth in expressions of interest for the Hunter-Central Coast Renewable Zone. 

AGL announced last week its Bayswater Power Station could close as early as 2030 and no later than 2033.

Liddell is already set to shut next year.

Image credit:www.originenergy.com.au

Kurri Kurri power plant given the final environmental go-ahead

BY DAKOTA TAIT

The Kurri Kurri gas plant has been given the final go-ahead by the Federal Environment Minister.

Sussan Ley signed off on the environmental impact statement yesterday.

It means Snowy Hydro can now move forward with securing a construction contract.

A firm date for works to start hasn't been set, but the Government expect the plant to be up and running next year.

Ms Ley says the project isn't just vital for energy reliability and affordability, but the economy as well.

"This project is about two things," Ms Ley said. "It's about jobs in the Hunter, the importance of jobs in the Hunter Region, particularly with the unemployment rate heading down."

"But this is also about the transition to low emissions technology."

Labor announced last week it will support the project, on the condition the power plant starts operation on 30 percent hydrogen, with 100 percent usage by 2030.

But Energy Minister Angus Taylor says it's a backflip, without much behind it.

"Labor has said what they're going to do, without a business plan," Mr Taylor said.

"It's uncosted, although we know the construction cost is going to go up by $600 million."

"But their overall project is uncosted - they haven't explained where the hydrogen is going to come from."

Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley gave the project the final green tick.

Local MP's Calling for the Hunter to be Left Out of Nuclear Power Plans

BY ISABEL EVERETT

Local MP'S are calling for the Hunter to be left out of nuclear energy plans, following the recent appointment of Keith Pitt as the Resources and Water Minister.

Both Shortland MP, Pat Conroy and Newcastle MP, Sharon Claydon have expressed concern following the Ministers appointment, over the Hunter's role in the Federal Governments potential nuclear power plans.

"He (Keith Pitt) is on the record for being a very strong advocate for establishing a nuclear power industry in Australia," Pat Conroy said.

Mr Pitt recently encouraged a parliamentary inquiry into nuclear power. 

The Local MP'S are calling on Scott Morrison to reveal any nuclear power plans the Federal Government has and to let locals know whether the Hunter and Central Coast will be part of a nuclear future. 

Over the past 50 years, there have been 95 proposals for nuclear power stations in Australia and 42 different sites identified as possible locations for waste dumps.

"Every government study on where nuclear power plants would be placed has identified Lake Macquarie and the Hunter as ideal locations for those power stations," Pat Conroy said. 

Potential nuclear power station sites have included Glenbawn Dam, Bayswater and Liddell power stations, Cessnock, Port Stephens, Newcastle, Eraring, Vales Point and Lake Munmorah power stations.

Sites for waste dumps have included Denman, Singleton and Broke.

"It very likely that we would see a power station in our community if a nuclear power program is to go ahead, that's why I'm asking people to contact their local MP's, to contact the media, to contact the Government and say there's no way," Pat Conroy said.

Nuclear power is known to emit relatively low levels of of pollution, however the costs are known to be high.

Newcastle MP, Sharon Claydon, says Mr Pitt's promotion was a 'deeply concerning appointment' and that any pursuit of nuclear power would be 'madness'.

"On any measure - be it cost, timing, energy needs, waste, environmental & health risks, and non-proliferation - nuclear power is found to be wanting," Sharon Claydon says.

"Even if we manage to sort out all of the profound issues with nuclear power, we're still left with the unavoidable reality that it's more expensive than renewables."

Pat Conroy says it would almost double the cost of electricity in Australia and says a large majority of his local constituents have been strongly opposed to the idea of a nuclear power station in the Hunter.

"Overwhelming opposition to it, firstly from an 'I don't want this anywhere near where I live' concern, and secondly it would take ten years to build a power station, and the urgent need to combat climate change means that's way too long."

                                                   Image Credit: The University of Minnesota

Labor Plan to Address Power Bill Poverty

BY LAUREN FREEMANTLE

Following news earlier this year the Hunter's ombudsman energy complaints have risen by 14%, State Labor is promising to re-regulate electricity prices.

Shadow Energy Minister Adam Searle visited Hamilton today, meeting with members of Newcastle St Vincent De Paul to discuss the plans - with a quarter of all calls to the charity now from those struggling to pay their power bills or buy groceries, combined.

Vinnies' Pam Clark said that from July until October, the local organisation handed out $96,000 worth of vouchers to people who cannot afford to pay their electricity bills.

Pam said families and small business often try to put the bills aside and forget about them, which fellow Vinnies member Kevin said results in them racking-up major debt.

"If they default on their bill for too long, the situation is placed in the hands of a debt collector, which makes it very difficult with the debt collectors hounding them," Kevin said.

"Once it goes to the debt collector, our vouchers are no good then," Pam explained.

Newcastle MP Tim Crakanthorp is blaming the region's energy woes on sector privatisation.

"For all the Government's claims that the price of power would come down after privatisation, it is very clearly untrue," he said, "[Former NSW Premier] Mike Baird made a pledge that would not happen, he signed on the dotted line and we've got 60% increases in power prices."

Adam Searle highlighted confusion for residents trying to choose an energy plan as a factor leading to price-gauging.

The Berejiklian Government has attempted to address the issue through its Energy Switch service, which uses a customer's latest e-bill to scan the entire rental electricity market and identify the three best deals on the market.

Consumers need to go to their local Service NSW outlet to access the comparison tool, and Mr Searle says it's not accessible for everyone and merely addresses "the symptoms not the cause."

Labor's pledging to introduce an independently set default offer for those who struggle to compare energy prices. It would require companies to make their offers in plain English and be easy to compare with one another.

"If you go to the Supermarket, it doesn't matter what size butter you buy, there's a cents per gram measure," Adam Searle said, "the electricity companies know what you use when you use it, they should be able to run your pattern and quantum of usage through all of their offers and tell you which is the best."

Labor is also welcoming a recommendation from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to introduce mandatory price caps set by the independent regulator.

Tim Crakanthorp speaks with Pam and Kevin from St Vincent De Paul. 

AGL Power Shortage Creates Issues for Tomago Smelter

BY LAUREN FREEMANTLE

AGL has curtailed electricity supply to the Tomago Aluminium Smelter on two occasions this week, and the federal opposition says it's bad news for the Hunter economy.

The energy giant is arguing the smelter accepted a commercial agreement to reduce output rather than pay increased power bills.

The curtailment follows energy shortages at Bayswater and Liddell power stations earlier this week, while there was also a limited amount of power emerging from Victoria via the interstate interconnector.

Tomago Smelter claims a thermal imbalance resulted from the power limitations imposed for 45 minutes on Tuesday night and again for two hours on Thursday evening, as workers attempted to restore the potline system.

Hunter MP Joel Fitzgibbon is pointing the finger at the Prime Minister's attempts to revive the ageing Liddell station, which is set to close in 2022, rather than developing new strategies.

"The under capacity we have in electricity supply is the result of years of policy inaction by the Abbott and Turnbull governments," Mr Fitzgibbon said.

"We can't fix that mistake now, but we can ask Malcolm Turnbull to get out of the way and allow AGL to build the new generation capacity they are promising here in the Hunter."

Joel Fitzgibbon and Paterson MP, Meryl Swanson fear Hunter jobs may be lost if we keep following this trajectory.

"Tomago Aluminium and its workforce are paying the price for five years of energy policy inaction..." Ms Swanson said.

Image: Tomago Aluminium.