Community Calls For Rejection Of Vales Point Exemption

BY EL FITCHETT

The Lake Macquarie community is calling on the NSW Environmental Protection Authority to reject a new emissions exemption for the Vales Point power station, and bring it back in line with state standards.

The power station, owned by Delta Electricity, emits almost double the New South Wales emissions limit.

Vales Point holds a 10 year exemption under the Clean Air Act, which allows it to exceed emission limits for nitrogen oxide small particles and sulphur dioxide. The exemption is due to expire at the end of 2020, and Delta Electricity would need to lodge a new application before the end of the year to continue producing at current levels.

Local community group Future Sooner is concerned about the effect of the power station on health in Lake Macquarie, and is lobbying the NSW EPA to oppose any new applications.

"Up to 6 per cent of the children with asthma aged two to 14 living on the Central Coast and Lake Macquarie, have asthma that can be linked to toxic air pollution spewing out of local coal-burning power stations," Future Sooner spokesperson Will Belford said.

Estimates by the University of Newcastle's Dr. Ben Ewald show 320 children in Lake Macquarie have asthma due to nitrogen exposure from power stations.

"We've accepted for years that this is the cost of doing business and producing electricity, but there's a growing dissatisfaction with the toll we have to pay in terms of health," Mr. Belford said.

Future Sooner wants the EPA to impose changes on Delta Electricity to reduce pollution to best practice levels by refusing to grant a new five year exemption.

"If the EPA don't grant the license then Delta Electricity have got to reduce the output from 1500 milligrams to 800, which would require some kind of technical solution in the power station," Mr. Belford said.

The Federal Government announced in it's October Budget $8.7 million in funding for upgrades at the power station aimed at reducing emissions, improving reliability, and providing an additional 30 mega watts of dispatchable energy to the market. 

However, Mr. Belford thinks that's unlikely, given Vales Point is due to be decommissioned in 2028.

"They wont particularly want to make investments in reducing the pollution at this point, but that's an assumption, we don't know whether it's definitely going to close in 8 years or not," he said.

Despite uncertainty around the future of Vales Point, Future Sooner believes the NSW EPA has a rare opportunity to ensure clean air across the Hunter.

"They have an opportunity here to show some good faith, demonstrate best practice, and make sure that in the last 8 years of operation this station it's polluting at acceptable levels," Mr. Belford said.

Vales Point Power Station Image Wikipedia

Vales Point Power Station Not so Worthless Anymore

BY JESSICA ROUSE

Vales Point Power Station on the edge of Lake Macquarie was meant to shut its doors in 2021, but now it's been revealed it won't shut until 2029 and its worth $729 million more than it was bought for.

The coal-fired power station has certainly made plenty of money since it was bought in November 2015 for just $1 million by Sunset Power who are operating the station under the old Delta Electricity name.

At the time of the sale, the ABC reports the Berejiklian government played down the sale of the power station because they believed it was worthless.

Now the massive jump in price has been referred to the Auditor-General.

The power station is quite large, responsible for 11 per cent of the state's electricity, but it's also one of the biggest pollutants in the country emitting 10 million tonnes of pollution each year.

Greens Energy Spokesperson Adam Bandt believes it needs to be shut down, but the flip flopping of energy policy in government is making that impossible.

Vales Point Power Station Image Wikipedia

"There is so much chaos in the electricity market and the electricity system under this government. People are clinging to these old assets no matter how polluting and how near the end of their life they are."

With no firm renewable energy policy from the government, Adam Bandt said everyone is clinging onto their old assets which are increasing in value, making companies more money, but the consumer's power bills more expensive.

"Now these coal-fired power stations are being rewarded for running their plant into the ground and staying open even longer and that's in large part because the government has made the whole of this area so uncertain that we haven't had the new investments in renewables that we need,"

"The choice is Malcolm Turnbull's. Are you going to start now putting your foot on the accelerator and built more renewables so we can close this coal-fired power station? Or are you actively going to make people dip into their pockets and subsidise it so that these coal barons can sit on an asset worth $730 million dollars that they paid $1 million for?" said Adam Bandt.

He also adds the power station is only going to get older and start to struggle to operate, particularly in the heat.