Vales Point owners pocket another $62m dividend from coal generator bought for $1m

The owners of the Vales Point coal fired generator in New South Wales pocketed another $62 million in dividends in the last financial year, reaping another windfall from the ageing coal plant that they bought for just $1 million just five years ago.

The $62 million dividend paid to the joint owners – coal barons Trevor St Baker and Brian Flannery – follows a $30 million dividend the previous financial year and comes just months after Vales Point was awarded an $8.7 million grant from the federal government, so far the only money paid out from energy minister’s stalled Underwriting New Generation Investment Program, which the industry says has stifled investment elsewhere.

The accounts for Sunset Power, the immediate parent company of Vales Point, lodged with the corporate regulator ASIC shows that its net profit (not including abnormal gains or losses), fell slightly in the latest financial year to $141 million, from $156 million.

The carrying value of the coal generator, currently due to close at the end of this decade, was also written down by $113 million as a result of the falling price of wholesale electricity, driven largely by the increase in solar and other renewables, and the falling output at the plant.

There was little further commentary on the performance of the coal plant in the annual accounts, but plenty of commentary from environmental groups after their publication – most centred on Taylor’s decision to award the grant.

“Other coal power station owners have refurbished their turbines with their own money — only Trevor St Baker’s company is seeking government handouts to refurbish its coal-fired power station,” Nature Conservation Council campaigns director Brad Smith said in a statement,

“Voters must be wondering why Angus Taylor is providing taxpayer handouts to wealthy coal barons like these. It’s outrageous that Sunset Power International made a $141 million profit while seeking a taxpayer handout of $8.7 million to maintain their aging power station.

“This deal is not only bad for taxpayers, it is bad for the climate.”

St Baker last week threatened to sue the NSW Coalition government over its new renewable energy roadmap, which lays out plans to replace the state’s ageing fleet of coal generators and seeks to create several renewable energy zones and up to $32 billion in investment in new wind and solar and long duration storage.

Vales Point also played host to a “caravan for coal” featuring the former resources minister Matt Canavan  and the former National leader Barnaby Joyce. Their call for a new coal fired generator to be built in the Hunter Valley was echoed by the current resources minister Pitt, and renegade Labor MP and local member Joel Fitzgibbon.

St Baker, meanwhile, will emerge as the sole owner of the Vales Point coal generator after agreeing to buy out the Flannery take held by the holding company Esprey Pty Ltd. No details of that transaction were released.

See also: Rooftop solar claims its biggest victim yet – Australia’s newest coal generator.

And: Queensland budget delivers $500m renewables fund, as coal plant revenues slump