Graph of the Day: Watch Australia’s biggest polluter power down

If you need a break from cyclone watching, we recommend heading over to is.hazelwood.online to witness the emissions from one of the world’s dirtiest power plants disappear before your eyes.

As we reported in yesterday’s Graph of the Day, the Hazelwood brown coal generator in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley – which is the biggest single polluter in Australia – began winding down its capacity on Sunday night with the closure of one of its eight units at around 2.30am Monday, and another later in the morning.

As the two snapshots taken from the website show (you can click on the images to enlarge them), at the time of publication the process was more than half way there, with five units closed and three to go. The final unit is due to shut down sometime on Wednesday.

The mesmerising live infographic was put together by Embark Australia’s Simon Holmes à Court and web designer Steven Tan, using NEM data from the Australian Energy Market Operator, as well as data on Hazelwood’s carbon emissions, and reported 2013 figures (2014 was the year of the fire at the adjoining mine) on emissions of other pollutants (hydrochloric acid, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, lead, sulfuric acid, arsenic and the list goes on).

As the website also notes, Hazelwood is just the most recent of Australia’s ageing coal-fired power fleet to be retired.

“Since 2012 nine other coal-fired power stations have been retired: Wallerawang (1000 MW), Energy Brix (170 MW), Playford (240 MW), Redbank (151 MW), Anglesea (150 MW), Collinsville (190 MW), Munmorah (1400 MW), Northern (520 MW), Swanbank B (480 MW).”

Meanwhile, in renewables…