Controversial plan to burn wood in shuttered coal plant rejected by planning commission

A proposal to restart a shuttered coal fired power station and burn biomass – mostly waste wood – in the Hunter Valley region of NSW has been refused by the NSW Independent Planning Commission, in a rare rejection.

The decision to reject the application by Verdant Earth Technologies to restart the Redbank Power Station at Warkworth was announced by the IPC on Monday.

The proposal had been referred to the IPC by the state government planning department because of an overwhelming number of opponents. Most came from outside the Hunter Valley, as did most of the supporters.

Verdant wanted to spend $70 million to restart the 151 MW Redbank facility, which had closed in 2014 after 13 years of burning coal tailings, which made it one of the most polluting power plants in the country.

Verdant, formerly known as Hunter Energy, said it wanted to burn 700,000 tonnes of biomass a year, initially sourced from “invasive native species” that would be provided by farmers, and eventually through plantation crops. It said it would provide “much-needed” baseload power for the grid, particularly as ageing coal plants close.

The NSW planning department said the project would provide benefits and was in the public interest, and was “approvable” subject to the IPC review.

However, environmental groups opposed the project, despite a decision by Verdant to drop its plans to burn native forest wood chips and residues.

Controversy rages around the burning of woody biomass for power generation, both here and overseas, with the most famous one being the Drax power station in the UK, which has already converted from coal to wood, is regarded by environmental groups as the biggest emitter in the country.

The IPC said it based its rejection on the fact that the proponent had not addressed “potential adverse impacts of the project relating to its fuel strategy” and that it will “establish a new commercial incentive to increase land clearing,” the impacts of which had not been assessed.

“[A]lthough sustainable clearing of INS serves an important role in supporting agriculture, the Commission cannot accept, without thorough assessment, that the large-scale additional actual clearing of INS required by the Project will have no flow-on environmental impacts,” it wrote.

The IPC also found that Verdant had not adequately addressed the potential risks of the intended transition to plantation crops, nor where it would source biomass if those plantation crops were frustrated or delayed.

The IPC said it received 591 unique submissions, of which 28 (4.7%) supported and 559 (94.6%) objected to the project.

Its decision was welcomed by the Nature Conservation Council of New South Wales (NCC), which said the IPP had made the right call in listening to experts.

“It’s a relief that this disastrous and illogical plan to burn woodlands and forests for energy has been firmly extinguished by the IPC,” sDr Brad Smith, NCC’s policy and advocacy director, said in a statement.

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