<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/hunter-valley-residents-want-to-see-sunsets-again-not-a-coal-plant-rebooted-as-a-wood-incinerator/>
"Hunter Valley residents have told a public hearing they have had enough of
hosting energy plants that burn things to generate electricity – and have no
desire to see an old coal-fired power station repurposed as a utility-scale,
24/7 “wood incinerator.”
The New South Wales Independent Planning Commission (IPC) on Monday hosted a
public meeting on the proposed conversion and restart of the dormant Redbank
Power Station in Warkworth using up to 700,000 dry tonnes a year of biomass as
a fuel source, instead of coal.
As
Renew Economy has reported, the controversial plan has been approved by
the NSW state government, but has been sent for independent review by the IPC
due to the huge number of public submissions (420), including 256 that opposed
it, during the assessment process.
The original Redbank power station, located between Maitland and Muswellbrook,
was opened in 2001 but shut down in 2014 after it lost its local supply of coal
tailings that it was burning to make electricity, and which made it the one of
the most polluting generators in the country.
The plant’s new owner Verdant Earth, formerly known as Hunter Energy, wants to
spend $70 million refitting the plant to burn biomass, with a rated generation
capacity of up to 151 MW, and to operate 24 hours per day, seven days a week.
Under Australian rules, burning wood waste counts as zero emissions on the
basis that the amount of carbon emitted from the burning is no different than
if the wood – or other biomass – rotted away on the ground.
Verdant and the project’s supporters argue the new plant will create jobs, help
smooth an increasingly renewable state grid, and create a “closed carbon
cycle,” where the carbon released through burning the biomass is reabsorbed by
vegetation replanted to be grown as fuel.
Opponents argue this is an unnecessary and backwards step in the shift to clean
energy, and point to the much maligned Drax power station in the UK, which
holds the title of its largest carbon emitter – and did even before the 2024
retirement of the UK’s last coal plant.
But the IPC hearing on Monday heard, too, from Hunter Valley residents that
have had a gut-full – or perhaps, a lung-full – of combustion energy in their
region and are keen to be able to start seeing improved health and perhaps even
the sunset again, instead of various layers of brown smog.
Concerns were also raised about the pollution from the scores of diesel trucks
that would be delivering the hundreds of thousands of tonnes a year of biomass
needed to fuel the around-the-clock plant."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
