vales point power station closure

Currently the sale is under investigation by the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) with its decision to be announced in mid-October 2022. Environment groups question whether ageing stations exemptions from some pollution standards are valid. In an open letter to the Newcastle Herald, eleven community environment groups from Lake Macquarie and the Hunter urge the Australian Treasurer, Jim Chalmers to reject the sale of the Vales Point power station for fear of worsening impacts. Coal supplies NSW with an average of 63 percent of its energy requirements, while the National Energy Market average is 59 percent. Stop the Sale of Vales Point Power Station and Close It Down, Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers & NSW Treasurer Matt Kean. USE is forecasted to be greater than the reliability standard from 2027-28 in New South Wales, increasing further from 2029-30 when Vales Point Power Station is expected to retire. Recent state government announcements in Queensland and Victoria look to cut coal generation out of the energy mix as soon as possible. the practices of Delta Electricity, past and present that are driving a range of water pollution impacts in Lake Macquarie, the sale of the power station to Se.ven Global Investments, Closure planning, decontamination and rehabilitation. No need to search elsewhere for all the latest updates on the electricity market and energy-efficiency tips that are important for you, the savvy business owner. Wholesale power prices are meanwhile several times higher than the $40-$45 megawatt-hour range that prevailed when he and billionaire partner Mr Flannery bought the generator. In order to supply coal to the station, three mines were opened; Chain Valley Colliery, Newvale No.1 Colliery and Wyee State Mine. To disable your cookies, please click on Settings. Delta Energys plans for Vales Point power station at Mannering Park will go unchanged despite the announcement by Origin Energy on February 17 that it will close Eraring Australias largest power station seven years early. The sale, which was handled by RBC Capital Markets, takes Mr St Baker out of coal power at a sizeable profit on paper. Victoria Energy Policy Centre director Bruce Mountain said the Victorian government had struck an entirely sensible deal with EnergyAustralia to bring forward closure at Yallourn, which provided a long lead time of seven years for the market to fill gaps in power supply by 2028. We oppose this sale as it is NOT in the local, state or national interest: Vales Point was the first major power station in New South Wales to be located near its fuel source (coal). Its like selling an unregistered car. These fossil fuel power stations burn coal to power steam turbines that generate some or all of the electricity they produce. We already have really low NOx emissions, lower than Bayswater and Mt Piper, and we are doing operational changes, and we believe that we will meet whatever the requirements are going to be.. If the sale goes through, it will continue to pollute long past its slated 2029 closure date. The Vales Point coal-fired power station near the shores of Lake Macquarie, in NSW.Credit:James Whelan. It has been announced that the ageing Vales Point coal-fired power station on the Central Coast, NSW is to be sold by the Australian Delta Energy to the Czech fossil fuel investment company Sev.en, owned by billionaire Pavel Tyka. The operator applied for an exemption granted in December 2021 with a reduction variation and additional conditions imposed by the NSW Environment Protection Agency. We continue to invest in the reliability of Vales Point to its notional closure in 2029. On Tuesday the NSW energy minister, Matt Kean, declined to weigh in on whether the sale was appropriate, but said the government would remain vigilant over the plant operations. The EPA granted Delta an exemption to the licence, however, the exemption went hand in hand with an order to reduce daily levels. Sydney, NSW 2000 The combined capacity of 2195 MW made Vales Point the largest power station in Australia at the time. A spokesperson for Delta Energy said there were no plans for Vales Point to go the same way as Eraring. EnergyAustralia announced on Wednesday its Yallourn coal plant would close in 2028, four years ahead of the previous deadline. Health at GoPetition. With this acquisition we will significantly strengthen our presence in Australia, said Sev.en chief executive Alan Svoboda. Delta Electricity, which is jointly owned by Trevor St Baker and Brian Flannery, announced early in 2019 that it was seeking support for the proposal from the Australian Government's Underwriting New Generation Investments program. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Coal transport and infrastructure in Australia, Key developments in coal mining and power in Australia in 2012, Financing coal power stations in Australia, Underwriting New Generation Investments program, "Delivering affordable and reliable power", "Federal government shortlists upgrade of Vales Point power station turbine", https://www.gem.wiki/w/index.php?title=Vales_Point_A_power_station_(replacement)&oldid=241402, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. [3], In September 2022 Sunset Power owners announced the sale of Vales Point Power Station to a Czech family investment group Sev.En Global Investments.[4]. It listed Eraring, Vales Point and Mt Piper in NSW and Yallourn in Victoria as most vulnerable. Given that the ongoing operation of the Vales Point power station remains subject to market forces, and noting the current forecast closure date of 2029 may come forward or be deferred on the strength of these market forces, the benefits arising from the remaining life of Vales Point power station and the proposed project have been diminished by the passage of time, Delta said. For fossil fuel production to be clean carbon capture has to be tacked on to capture the emissions. [citation needed], In November 2015, the Government of New South Wales sold Delta Electricity, which at that time owned only the Vales Point Power Station, to Sunset Power International for $1 million. fair dinkum" baseload power generation after the Federal Government lost a public battle with generator AGL over the closure of Liddell power station in 2022. Only this week did the Federal Government flag that commercial interest in the Hunter-Central Coast Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) has been significant. Alinta Energys Hong Kong-based owner Chow Tai Fook Enterprises is understood to have fielded approaches for the Australian business, which includes the large Loy Yang B coal power generator in Victoria. The sale will facilitate this growth as Sev.en has shown a commitment to the sector and an ambition to expand, both in Australia and globally.. Vales Point Power Plant is owned by Delta Electricity, but in September the company announced that the plant is being sold to Czech family investment group Sev.En Global Investments. Managing director Greg Everett said the decision was not due to plans for an early closure, but rather the grant approval process and timing did not meet the companys own timeline for having works completed. Correspondence obtained by RenewEconomy through a freedom of information request shows that Delta Electricity cited ongoing policy uncertainty, questions about the long-term future of the plant and an inadequate funding offer from the Morrison government as reasons for cancelling proposed upgrades to Vales Point. Environment Justice Australia and the Nature Conservation Council have questioned whether the renewal of a licence granting the plant operators exemptions from some pollution standards for nitrogen oxide is valid because, they say, Delta applied for the renewal after the deadline. As outlined in the budget speech and subsequent announcement, the budget allocation has a funding cap of $8.7m, which is below that which Delta requested, leaving a substantially higher quantum of funding by Delta, Delta said in the letter. The coal for Vales Point is delivered by conveyor and a balloon loop connection to the Main Northern railway line between Wyee and Morisset. The power stationed operated from 11 March 1927 until March 1976. At a budget estimates hearing last month, Stephen Beaman, a senior regulator at the EPA, said the agency would be finalising its position very shortly on the legality of the exemption. The sale price was not included in the press statement released on Saturday, December 17. The turbines were removed in 1997; the boilers and buildings were demolished between 201114. [1], In 2017 it was valued at $732 million, and was estimated to make part-owner energy entrepreneur and former National Party candidate Trevor St Baker a half billionaire. the nominal closure of Vales Point . 15% of Wyong and 11% of Gosford population suffer from 3 or more chronic health conditions including asthma, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, compared to 5% or less across Sydney. Help using this website - Accessibility statement, Alinta Energys Hong Kong-based owner Chow Tai Fook Enterprises is understood, EnergyAustralias owner CLP Group, also based in Hong Kong, is in the market, AGL Energy is struggling to determine its forward strategy. Vales Point 'A' Station was decommissioned in 1989. The Vales Point power station has been operating on the shores of Lake Macquarie since the 1960's and was constructed before NSW environmental protection laws came into effect. Delta also blamed ongoing regulatory and policy uncertainty, which it said, does not represent an appropriate investment environment.. The map below shows the location of the plant, near Mannering Park, New South Wales. The NSW Government has responded to the closure of Eraring by saying that to ensure energy reliability, it will work with industry partners to install the Waratah Super Battery, a 700MW/1400MWh grid battery, by 2025 to release grid capacity so Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong consumers can access more energy from existing electricity generation.. Please try again later. News and analysis for the clean energy economy. In December 2021, the value of the power station was written down to $156 million and in September 2022 Delta Electricity agreed to sell to Czech company, Sev.en Global Investments. Vales Point Power Station will have its limits on nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions cut by up to 35% to meet new national air quality standards in the local community, and will have to adhere to strict new monitoring and reporting conditions from next year. The proposed plant would adjoin the existing 1320 MW Vales Point power station owned by Delta Electricity. The EPA ruling has fuelled concerns that NSW may face an energy supply crunch in the coming years as coal swiftly exits the market. Email: info@de.com.au, {"type":"HYBRID","minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","width":"600px","height":"500px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"visitedicon":"","wmsoverlay":false,"zoom":16,"layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview","rotate"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"resizable":false,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"cluster":false,"clustergridsize":60,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clusteraveragecenter":true,"clusterminsize":2,"imageoverlays":[],"kml":[],"gkml":[],"searchmarkers":"","fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":false,"locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":-33.161011600000002,"lon":151.5452521,"icon":""}]}. 287 Elizabeth Street NSW is facing a potential shortage of reliable power as coal power stations shut down, with the closure of AGL Energy's Liddell plant in the Hunter Valley in April 2023 set to be followed. While Delta secretary Steve Gurney said the sale of Vales Point was a completely unrelated commercial matter to the emissions issue, Nature Conservation Council chief executive, Jacqui Mumford, said the new owners should be required to slash the stations pollution so that people across NSW can breathe healthier air. A longstanding advocate of the need for round-the-clock dispatchable coal power, Mr St Baker said his decision to sell was more to do with wanting to redirect capital into his interests in electric vehicle charging than in any diminished conviction about the continuing need for coal-fired power as the transition to low-carbon power progresses. 1 to 3) and one of 275 MW supplied by Associated Electrical Industries (unit no. 4 was brought into use in 1966. Future: Part of the Vales Point power station on the Central Coast. Australia is positioning itself to tap the potential boom in hydrogen fuel, if its adopted globally as a replacement for petroleum. The Nature Conservation Council of NSW said that, unlike previous exemptions, this one cannot be extended beyond October 2027. The black coal operators run at a much higher short-run marginal cost and so those nearing the end of their technical lives may be re-evaluating their closure dates, Mr Allen said. Thermochemical reactions drive the other two methods. It is understood that the joint owner of Delta, and significant political donor, Trevor St Baker, had been told informally in early 2020 that it was set to receive $11 million in grant funding from the Morrison government to fund the $20 million turbine upgrade. Find them all here. We do not want this in foreign hands. (Delta Electricity have also flagged the possibility of the proposed plant being built on the the site of the nearby Liddell power station, which is slated for closure in 2022. At Delta, which supplies about 11 per cent of NSWs power, RBC is thought to have run a process to sell either 50 per cent or 100 per cent, with Mr St Baker originally keeping open an option to retain his stake. Cooking with gas: How bad for your health is it, really? When there are renewable energy alternatives available, like the Star of the South project, that will generate clean energy and create local jobs, there is no excuse for building more, big polluting coal projects that pollute our air and make our communities sick, Ms Rivers said. The announcement today by Original doesnt change Vales Points position, said the spokesperson. A licence granted last year exempts the operators of the Vales Point plant, recently sold to Sev.en Global Investments, from nitrogen oxide pollution standards. AGL Energy announced it would move the. Commercial interest has been registered in 24 solar energy projects; 13 onshore and seven offshore wind energy projects; 35 large-scale batteries and eight pumped hydro projects. NSW EPA Chief Tony Chappel said the exemption, coupled with the requirement to cut emissions strikes the right balance between safeguarding environmental health and supporting NSWs need for reliable and affordable energy. The future of NSWs coal-fired power plants is under increasing threat from cheap renewable energy, which this week forced Victorias Yallourn coal plant to bring forward its closure date as analysts warn the end may come even sooner. 15 December 2021. One is electrolysis that uses electricity to split water, which can be powered by renewables in an emissions-free process and is known as green hydrogen. Origin Energys 2000 MW Liddell plant will close in early 2023. . POWER magnate Trevor St Baker is expected to lodge a proposalwith the Federal Government today for a new Hunter or Central Coast coal-fired power station with a Chinese joint venture partner. (Delta Electricity have also flagged the possibility of the proposed plant being built on the the site of the nearby Liddell power station, which is slated for closure in 2022. Billionaire Trevor St Baker will reignite plans for a 20-year extension of NSW's Vales Point coal power station amid fears the early closure of Origin Energy's giant Eraring plant may lead to market volatility and higher prices. In its home market, it runs two coal power generators and two combined heat and power plants. Vales Point provides 11% of NSW electricity. Energy Australia will close the Yallourn power station in Victoria's Latrobe Valley in mid-2028, four years ahead of schedule, and build a giant battery instead. The black coal burned at Vales Point is more expensive than Yallourns brown coal, Mr Everett said, but Vales Point could be run with more flexibility to quickly ramp output up or down to better match demand limit production costs. Vales Point was commissioned in 1978, and its two turbines generate 1,320 megawatts of electricity, accounting for 11 percent of NSWs energy. Andy Saunders 1 year ago John John 1 year ago Andy Saunders 1 year ago 4), for a total of 875 MW. The facility is old, dirty, and poorly maintained. Goldman Sachs said Vales Point, backed by energy mogul Trevor St Baker, was facing closure potential. At home, the National Energy Resources Australia is offering $1.7 million in seed funding for hydrogen business to set up industry hubs, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation has a $300 million fund for hydrogen projects - including those powered by fossil fuels, and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency has $70 million available for green hydrogen projects. Delta said it did not make financial sense to proceed with the upgrade with the smaller grant amount, given ongoing uncertainty in the energy market and the looming closure of the power station, currently slated for 2029. All rights reserved. It is also gearing up to invest more in the business as it seeks approval for a license to allow mining to continue until 2029. The other legacies of coal power include environmental and community impact that cannot be ignored as the closure of power stations take place in NSW. Were working to restore it. We will continue to invest in the station both for ongoing energy needs and for system security, said the spokesperson. The study also criticized the absence of air pollution monitoring within 25 km of Eraring and the nearby Vales Point power station. Energy entrepreneur Trevor St Baker and coal investor Brian Flannery will sell their Vales Point coal-fired power station in NSW for several hundred million dollars to a private Czech firm in what represents a further upheaval in the fast-changing sector. The Vales Point coal-fired power station near the shores of Lake Macquarie, in NSW.James Whelan Goldman Sachs said Vales Point, backed by energy mogul Trevor St Baker, was facing "closure potential". Delta Electricity knocked back in February a $9 million government grant to upgrade one of the plants turbines. The proposal isin response to Federal Energy Minister Angus Taylors call in September for fair dinkum baseload power generation after the Federal Government lost a public battle with generator AGL over the closure of Liddell power station in 2022. It also followed a dramatic increase in fine particle pollutionconfirmed by Vales Points own data in 2017. In 2022, an air pollution exemption granted to Vales Point power station by the NSW EPA was successfully challenged by environment and legal groups, who argued that community health impacts of toxic air emissions - including childhood asthma and premature deaths were - being ignored, pointing out that Vales Point routinely breach NSW air protection laws. In a letter obtained by RenewEconomy, Delta told the department that the funding was below the amount of funding the company had requested and left the company carrying too much of the cost. The big energy companies are also feeling the pressure from the Morrison government over the proposed closure dates for older coal-fired power stations. In public comments this week, the current owner of Vales Point, Trevor St Baker, indicated that Sev.en may seek to keep the station open beyond its current closure date of 2029, saying the company had shown a commitment to the sector and an ambition to expand, both in Australia and globally. In 2010, a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project at Delta Electricity's now mothballed Munmorah power station was set for expansion, after receiving US$28 million in funding. This site uses "cookies" to give you the best experience on this website. Significant places & items of interest in the, New South Wales Environment Protection Authority, "NSW government sells Vales Point power station for $1m", Australian Financial Review (Subscription Required), "Vales Point power station privatisation put before auditor-general", "Plunging energy prices sink Vales Point power station", "St Baker and Flannery cash in on Vales Point coal plant in sale to Czechs", "Vales Point Power Station emission exemption application open for public comment", "New Vales Point pollution controls don't go far enough for environment groups", "Environment & Heritage | POEO Licences, Application and Notice Detail", "Strict new operating limits for Vales Point Power Station from 1 January", Electricity Commission of New South Wales, EnergyAustralia (state government enterprise), Sydney County Council (Sydney Electricity), List of power stations in New South Wales, Newcastle and Suburban Co-operative Society, Walsh Island Dockyard & Engineering Works, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vales_Point_Power_Station&oldid=1112958126, Coal-fired power stations in New South Wales, All Wikipedia articles written in Australian English, Infobox mapframe without OSM relation ID on Wikidata, Thermal power station articles using Infobox power station, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2021, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, New England County Council (New England Electricity), North West County Council (North West Electricity), Northern Riverina County Council (Northern Riverina Electricity), Northern Rivers County Council (Northern Rivers Electricity), Peel-Cunningham County Council (PCCC Electricity), Shortland County Council (Shortland Electricity), Southern Mitchell County Council (Southern Mitchell Electricity), Southern Riverina County Council (Southern Riverina Electricity), Southern Tablelands County Council (Southern Tablelands Electricity), This page was last edited on 29 September 2022, at 00:23. Proponents of renewable energy and some business leaders haveraised concerns that financial supportfor hydrogen production powered by fossil fuels could artificially prolong the operation of the nations ageing fleet of coal-fired power stations, or create demand for gas which would be better directed to wind and solar projects. It leaves the Morrison governments UNGI program has still having supported no new generation investments, despite being first announced in October 2018, and announcing a dozen shortlisted projects more than two years ago. Delta has been contacted for further comment. Mr St Bakers proposal was also raised as the Federal Government approved the controversial Wallarah 2 underground coal mine north of Wyong, leading critics to warn the government could kiss goodbye to the Liberal-held Central Coast seat of Robertson because the community strongly opposes amine in the regions water catchment.