Coal communities lead march to clean energy

Among those celebrating SolarReserve’s winning tender to build a 150MW solar tower and molten salt storage plant in the South Australian town of Port Augusta are the members of local lobby group, the Repower Port Augusta Alliance.

PAcoal

And rightly so. The community-based group has spent the last five years campaigning for solar thermal to replace the region’s old coal-fired power plants, which were shut down by Alinta Energy in May last year.

“This is a huge people powered win for our community and South Australia,” said Repower chair and former coal plant worker, Gary Rowbottom, in comments on Monday.

“We thank Premier Weatherill and the South Australian government for listening to our community’s overwhelming call and backing this innovative, job-creating solar technology that locks in Port Augusta as an energy powerhouse for SA once again,” Rowbottom said.

But Port Augusta is not the only former coal community to be embracing – and even leading – the shift to renewable energy generation and jobs.

In northern Queensland, for example, the transformation of the Collinsville coal-fired power station into a 42MW solar farm is underway, with the backing of the Clean Energy Finance Corp.

CEFC large-scale solar lead Gloria Chan said in May that the green bank was particularly excited about the Collinsville project’s potential to showcase how old power station sites could be repurposed for renewable generation.

“Since our program’s launch in September 2015, the large-scale solar sector has transformed,” Chan said. “Solar has become a progressively cost-competitive energy source and we are now at the tipping point of seeing Australian utility-scale solar projects becoming commercially viable without grant funding.”

And just last week, another 200MW of large-scale solar generation was locked in for the former coal hub, with Edify Energy reaching financial close on its 150MW Daydream solar farm and 50MW  Hayman solar farm, both near Collinsville.

Back in South Australia, just 12km from Port Augusta, Reach Energy – which is headed up by the former head of the owners of the recently closed Hazelwood brown coal generator in Victoria – is building the first 220MW of the 300MW Bungala solar farm. The project is said to be “battery power ready.”

And 15km west of Port Augusta, a 212MW wind farm is being built by Nexif Energy at Lincoln Gap.

Meanwhile, the Aurora solar tower and molten salt storage plant SolarReserve has been contracted to build in Port Augusta takes the coal to renewables transition to another level. As we have reported, it will be the biggest solar thermal plant with storage in the world, and is expected to create 700 jobs during construction, 50 ongoing jobs, and create numerous local manufacturing opportunities.

“The Port Augusta story is a stark example of the transition of the South Australian economy, with the closure of a dirty coal fired power station, and now the commissioning of this world leading renewable energy project,” said SA Premier Jay Weatherill on Monday.

“This is a massive game-changer for the energy market in this country… And it has the lovely side-benefit of making sure that there is a transition for the people of Port Augusta from old coal to new renewable,” he said.

“It’s a great jobs story,” said SolarReserve CEO Kevin Smith in comments on Monday.

“We see a workforce in the Port Augusta area that have real power plant experience, and this is a real power plant – it’s got a full steam cycle steam turbine on the back end, so we need qualified constructors and operators in order to keep this going and competitive.”

“And that’s exactly one of the reasons why we chose the Port August area, because it has that experienced workforce.”

But Port Augusta, like Collinsville, is also a great community health story. Just this week, new data has revealed that Australia’s coal power plants emit more air pollution than those in China, Europe and the US; have lower emission standards; and fail to use readily available pollution reduction technology.

This pollution – which has been linked with higher rates of asthma, chronic lung disease and lung cancer – is, of course, the most damaging to communities living close by. But it can also travel 100km or more, according to the medical group Doctors for the Environment Australia.

“Why are we permitting these plants to emit more than 30 toxic substances to the air we breathe?” asked DEA spokesperson Dr David Shearman, in a statement on Tuesday.

“It’s high time that both state and federal governments get their act together and make the transition to clean power sources such as wind, solar and other alternatives.”

DEA says the closure of power plants should be based on the level of pollutants, putting Victoria’s Latrobe Valley and NSW’s Hunter Valley high on the agenda: “Yallourn and Loy Yang in Victoria; Mt Piper, Liddell, Bayswater, Eraring and Vales Point in New South Wales; Tarong in Queensland,” it says.

Port Augusta and Collinsville are just the tip of the iceberg.

Comments

8 responses to “Coal communities lead march to clean energy”

  1. john Avatar
    john

    It is good granted.
    Now look at the price of energy they can deliver.
    Not during the day but as well during night.
    If this can deliver a price of energy lower than the incumbents then game over.
    Mind this is the first build so I would expect their cost to be higher than followers.

  2. Brunel Avatar
    Brunel

    I am happy for the solar thermal tower – but am just wondering how many MW did the Port Augusta coal power station produce before it shut down?

    1. Sophie Vorrath Avatar
      Sophie Vorrath

      I believe Playford A was 90MW, Playford B 240MW and Northern was 520MW

      1. Cooma Doug Avatar
        Cooma Doug

        I have a description of something and you might find it interesting.
        When the fossil fuel. supporters are talking about clean coal solutions, its like that moment when you are renovating and decide to put “star wars” wall paper through your home.

        If the minister Friedenberg was to read some of your posts, it would be like the moment when you realise the mistake. You would hate that crazy uncle who talked you into the renovation and sold you the wall paper….so ugly and expensive.

    2. John Saint-Smith Avatar
      John Saint-Smith

      It is easy to confuse the ‘nominal’ design output of power stations and the actual average output in the months leading up to their planned closure. By the time they were shut down, their output had been replaced by new gas generators, renewables and power from Victoria.
      Tony Abbott tried to create a scare campaign around the closure of Hazelwood, by overstating its nominal capacity 1600 MW, not 2000 as he claimed, and once again, it wasn’t operating at full capacity at the time of its closure, so the forecast catastrophic loss of electricity supply failed to eventuate.

      Who would have guessed the coal obsessed former PM would have been so remiss?

  3. Just_Chris Avatar
    Just_Chris

    How much energy will a 150 MW plant generate?

    1. Alan S Avatar
      Alan S

      Given Port Augusta’s average daily irradiation level of 5 peak sun hours, I assume 750 MWh per day.

  4. Miles Harding Avatar
    Miles Harding

    Another piece of the iceberg is Collie in Western Australia, which faces a similar future. The last coal fired power station is scheduled to close in 2029(?), giving the region few years to effect a sustainable transition.

    Like other coal communities looking to the future, it is clear that the time to act is now and steps must be taken immediately if there is to be a chance of a smooth transition.

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