In a report released by Environment Victoria yesterday, the group says Hazelwood Power Station could be replaced with clean and renewable energy projects as soon as the end of 2012; and by doing so would slash Victoria’s greenhouse pollution by 12 percent.
Hazelwood power station provides 23 per cent of Victoria’s electricity needs, but produces over 16 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions and uses 27 billion litres of water each year.
Locate in the Latrobe Valley, Hazelwood Power Station is a brown coal fueled base-load power station built between 1964 and 1971 and was listed as the least carbon efficient power station in the world in a 2005 report by WWF Australia.
The report, “Fast-tracking Victoria’s clean energy future to replace the Hazelwood Power Station”, which was commissioned by Environment Victoria and written by energy market analysts Green Energy Markets, says replacing the ageing power station with clean energy projects would also create hundreds more jobs than Hazelwood currently provides.
According to Environment Victoria Campaigns Director Mark Wakeham, the report “..highlights that the clean energy replacements for Hazelwood can create up to 2500 construction jobs and 2300 ongoing jobs, many more than Hazelwood currently provides, though there would still be a need to support new job creation in t the Latrobe Valley.”
Green Energy Markets Director Ric Brazzale says Victoria has a diverse range of clean energy resources, which together could replace Hazelwood’s generation many times over.
The report details two scenarios; one where 1180 MW of combined cycle gas turbine plant running at 65 per cent capacity factor and 1500 MW of renewable energy based generation (predominantly wind power) at 30 per cent capacity factor are implemented.
The second scenario brings forward 970 MW of combined cycle gas-fired generation running at 50% capacity factor initially and then declining over time, as well as 1500 MW of renewable energy. It also incorporates additional residential, commercial and industrial energy efficiency measures to replace approximately 25 per cent of Hazelwood’s annual generation, plus 100 MW of Demand Side Management.
The report says that in order to replace Hazelwood and bring forward new clean energy projects the Victorian Government would need to implement new policy measures that work as a transition to the eventual introduction of a price on carbon.
