Extract from ABC News
Plans for a taxpayer funded gas-fired power plant in the Hunter Valley have been labelled a "shambles", after it was revealed it may have to run on diesel for its first six months.
Key points:
- If approved, a new gas-fired power plant could be complete in the Hunter Valley by late 2023
- An Environmental Impact Statement warns the plant's gas pipeline may not be ready by then
- Green groups are worried that diesel could be used to run the plant for up to six months
The government-owned Snowy Hydro Corporation is behind the $610 million project at Kurri Kurri, which is yet to receive federal funding.
An Environment Impact Statement (EIS) for the project released on May 13 warns that a new gas pipeline may not be ready in time for the plant to start operating around August 2023.
The EIS states that if the plant was needed in its first six months of operation, it would have to use diesel fuel.
Georgina Woods from the Lock the Gate Alliance said that would be a disaster for the Hunter Valley's already elevated levels of particulate pollution.
"The
very idea that the federal government would spend taxpayers' money to
build an unnecessary gas-fired power station without a gas connection
ready to go to run it on, is really illustrative of how much of a
shambles energy policy is in this country," she said.
"The federal government needs to step away from its obsession with headlines and get into the nitty-gritty of how Australia's energy system is going to transition to zero emissions and how we're going to ensure we have good jobs and reliable energy supply as we make that change."
The Kurri Kurri power station is proposed as a 'peaking' power generator, aimed at providing dispatchable capacity when the needs of electricity consumers are highest.
The EIS states:
"Gas fired generation is a proven technology which could be operational at the (Kurri Kurri) site by late 2023. Total emissions from the [plant] would be low compared to baseload coal and given its fast start capacity, gas fired power generation can be used for firming of renewable energies and as a peaking facility."
It has been proposed by the federal government to fill an expected shortfall in power generation from 2023, when AGL closes its Liddell coal-fired power station in the Hunter Valley.
Liddell supplies about 13 per cent of NSW's electricity supply.
The EIS warns that the implications of not going ahead with the Kurri Kurri gas plant include power shortages and interrupted power supply for NSW residents and businesses.
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