Hazelwood Power Station, Victoria
Encyclopedia
Hazelwood Power Station, in the Latrobe Valley
, Victoria
, Australia
is a brown coal
fueled base-load power station built between 1964 and 1971. The power station is of 1,600 megawatt (1,470 net) capacity, and supplies up to 25% of Victoria's base load electricity
and more than 5% of Australia's total energy demand. Hazelwood produces 2.8% of Australia's CO2 emissions and 0.057% of World emissions. The station was listed as the least carbon efficient power station in the OECD in a 2005 report by WWF
Australia.
International Power purchased Hazelwood from the State Government in 1996 with a 40 year life. The Bracks Labor Government subsequently approved an environmental effects statement in 2005 that allowed Hazelwood to move a road and a river to access the
coal allocated to Hazelwood at the time of sale. There is an estimated 500 years of easily accessed coal reserves remaining in Victoria's Latrobe Valley.
Hazelwood directly employs 540 people and at least another (full-time) 300 contractors, with hundreds more employed during major outages.
In late 2008, the owners of Hazelwood, International Power, said the financial viability of the power station would be in question under an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), unless the company received significant compensation.
(SECV) in 1949 as the 'Morwell Project', which included the Morwell open cut mine, and the Morwell briquette works. The Morwell Interconnecting Railway linked the power station and briquette works to the Yallourn open cut mine
until 1993.
Hazelwood Power Station was approved in 1959, and was to consist of six 200 MW generating units, giving a total of 1,200 MW of generating capacity. The first unit was to enter service in 1964, and the sixth in 1971. Growing electricity demand saw a review carried out by the SECV in 1963, with commissioning of the generating units moved forward to 1969. Additional capacity was provided when in 1965 two additional generating units at Hazelwood were approved, to be commissioned in 1970 and 1971 respectively.
in 1996. It was sold for $2.35 billion, and it operates as 'International Power Hazelwood' (IPRH), an Australian public company, which was owned by UK
company, International Power plc (91.8% share) and the Commonwealth Bank Group (the remaining 8.2%). The business office is near Morwell
, 150 kilometres east of Melbourne
. Prior to January 2003, International Power Hazelwood was known as Hazelwood Power.
Privatisation resulted in new capital investment, with $800 million invested in Hazelwood since 1996, such as replacement of boilers, rotors, turbines and the completion of an $85 million project to reduce dust emissions by 80%.
If Hazelwood had not been sold to private interests, activist groups say the SEC (State Electricity Commission) would have shut the station down in 2005.
deposits from the nearby Morwell open cut mine
. In 2003, 17.2 million tonnes of coal was excavated by International Power Hazelwood for use by the plant which generated 12,000 gigawatt-hours. The company supplied a further 1.6 million tonnes of coal to Energy Brix Australia.
Before privatisation the power station was due to be decommissioned by the SECV by 2005, as had older plants at Newport and Yallourn
. However Hazelwood had its mining licence realigned by the Victorian Government along with EES approvals to move a river and a road on 6 September 2005. This agreement ensures security of coal supply to the plant until at least 2030 by allowing access to 43 million tonnes of brown coal deposits in a realignment of Hazelwood's mining licence boundaries that were originally set in 1996. Hazelwood returned over 160 million tonnes of coal to the State Government as part of the agreement.
The agreement requires Hazelwood to reduce its estimated emissions by 34 million tonnes and caps its total greenhouse output at 445 million tonnes of carbon dioxide over its life, after which point it may be made to cease operation. However credits for investment in renewable energy and low emission technology will allow the business to operate within the cap and extend its life.
Hazelwood's West Field development involved completing a new 7.5 km section of the Strzelecki Highway
, replacing over ten kilometres of the Morwell River
from an old concrete pipe into a natural open channel riverine setting, and acquiring privately owned land which was earmarked for future coal supply. Environment Victoria
, Greenpeace
and Australian Conservation Foundation
opposed the development approvals, while business groups such as Minerals Council of Australia, VECCI, Aust Industry Group and Institute of Public Affairs welcomed the Government's decision.
photobioreactor
plant was established at Hazelwood in the early 2000s by Energetix, a division of the Victor Smorgon Group. The plant houses algae that feed on emissions from the smoke stacks, which are then harvested and turned into biofuels. The technology Hazelwood is using was developed at MIT and is licensed from Greenfuels. The trial was successful and has now concluded. Commercial application of the technology could see over 1000 hectares of photobioreactors be built which will turn 5% of Hazelwood's emissions into biofuels.
With a 60% increase in power generation since 1996, Hazelwood now averages up to 16.0 million tonnes of carbon dioxide
each year (the second highest emitter in the Latrobe Valley), which is 3 % of Australia's total carbon dioxide emissions, and 9 % of Australia's total CO2 from electricity generation.
Australia's biggest carbon capture pilot plant, and one of the largest of its type in the world,
has been built at Hazelwood capturing up to 25 tonnes, or 0.05%, of CO2 per day.
Public access to the pondage is permitted for sailing, boating and other recreational water sports. Cichlids and other tropical fish that were released into the lake by the public have established populations, including Convict cichlids (Cryptoheros nigrofasciatus) and the African cichlid spotted tilapia (Tilapia mariae). Other fish include carp
, goldfish
(Carassius auratus), Gambusia (Gambusia holbrooki), and the native short-finned eel (Anguilla australis) and Australian smelt (Retropinna semoni).
rated the power station's polychlorinated dioxins and furan
s as "high 100", hydrochloric acid
as "high 87", oxides of nitrogen as "medium 57", particulate matter 2.5 μm as "low 21", and boron
& compounds as "low 15".
2005-2006 NPI
data showed that Hazelwood releases 100,000 kg of boron and compounds into the air and 5,200 kg into water. Also released into the air: 7,700,000 kg hydrochloric acid, 27,000,000 kg of oxides of nitrogen, 2,900,000 kg of particulate matter 10 μm, and 0.015 kg of polychlorinated dioxins and furans.
Many pollutants are not measured.
among power industry workers was found to be seven times the national average. (Victorian State Government study, 2001). Latrobe Valley power industry workers die 15 years younger than the national average.
The power stations of the LaTrobe Valley used asbestos
widely in their construction. The substance was banned in Victoria in 2003. However, it's estimated that 146,000 employees and contractors, who worked in SEC plants from 1921 to the 1980s, were exposed to it. Between 1976 and 2008, $52.6 million has been paid to former SEC employees by the State Government insurance authority, and a further $369 million is expected to be paid out by the Victorian Managed Insurance Authority to former employees.
In June 2010, the EPA
confirmed it was investigating reports asbestos could be in one of Hazelwood Power Station's smoke stacks. A former worker claims to have lost his job after speaking out about asbestos at a health and safety meeting. Speaking to The Express (Fairfax paper) he said, "It is not just in the stacks, it's everywhere, the place is riddled with it, Hazelwood has no duty of care to its workers or the public." Another worker, trained in asbestos identification, said for years Hazelwood management had ignored workers' concerns. International Power Hazelwood spokesperson Neil Lawson has responded, "It is well documented that there is still an amount of contained asbestos material which is being progressively and safely removed by specialised licensed contractors during major plant outages and maintenance activities." The same newspaper subsequently reported comments by the EPA that the Hazelwood business had no case to answer and that asbestos fibres were not present in smokestacks.
The Australian Conservation Foundation
have put the $400 million 2005 Hazelwood expansion in context by comparing it to Victoria's five-star energy efficient homes standard, which is expected to save 200,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases per annum. The ACF reason that Hazelwood's operations cancel out that benefit every four days. ACF Executive director Don Henry
has said he would follow formal objections with legal action to prevent the grant of new coal to IPRH. Most of the West Field coal reserves were allocated to Hazelwood in 1996 in the privatisation process.
Environment Victoria
have pushed for alternative baseload generation through: biomass energy, wave energy, geothermal energy, new combined cycle
gas fired generation plants, new cogeneration
facilities, or increased imports of baseload electricity from interstate. In January 2005, the Clean Energy Future Group
together with Environment Victoria released the report "Toward Victoria's Clean Energy Future", a plan to cut Victoria's Greenhouse gas emissions from electricity by 2010. It largely focused on cleaner alternatives to Hazelwood, and warned that continued support of coal-fired power development would lock the State into CO2 emissions that would dwarf any current proposed measures for reducing emissions.
Greenpeace
has pushed for a target of 20 % clean energy for Victoria by 2020, allowing Hazelwood to be retired, and to invigorate the La Trobe Valley as a clean energy hub.
In June 2009, an anonymous letter purporting to come from the US-based Earth Liberation Front
was sent to the home of the CEO of the power station, Graeme York. The letter threatened to harm property, but did not threaten physical harm against any individuals or animals, despite being portrayed as such in commercial media. ELF media spokesperson Jason Crawford defended the letter, but was unable to confirm that it had been sent by his organisation. The ELF letter was publicly condemned by Greenpeace, whose activists had engaged in nonviolent direct action at the plant six weeks earlier.
In late 2009, in response to the "Switch Off Hazelwood—Switch on Renewables" protests, the state of Victoria introduced penalties of one years' imprisonment for trespass, and two years' imprisonment for damaging, interfering, tampering, or attaching something to electricity infrastructure. This was legislated in the Electricity Industry Amendment (Critical Infrastructure) Act 2009 (Vic). The legislation has been criticised for criminalising non-violent civil disobedience, and has been compared to the lockdown powers of the Major Events Act 2009, which has been reportedly used to intimidate and disperse peaceful protesters in NSW.
6 November 2008
28 March 2009
21 May 2009
In preparation for the rally, around 250 Police officers were stationed around the perimeter of the station. Authorities erected several kilometres of semi-permanent fencing in contrast to the previous years rally, before which only temporary fencing was erected.
The march to the station began at 11am and upon reaching the station's grounds, participants heard speeches from several speakers including Australian Greens
Eastern Victorian upper house candidate Samantha Dunn and Beyond Zero Emissions' Mark Ogge. The event was MC'ed by Rod Qantock.
Following speeches, participants then built the largest ever human-made mock Solar Thermal plant.
Latrobe Valley
The Latrobe Valley is an inland geographical region and urban area of Gippsland in the state of Victoria, Australia. It is east of the City Of Melbourne and nestled between the Strzelecki Ranges to the south and the Great Dividing Range to the north – with the highest peak to the north of the...
, Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
is a brown coal
Lignite
Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, or Rosebud coal by Northern Pacific Railroad,is a soft brown fuel with characteristics that put it somewhere between coal and peat...
fueled base-load power station built between 1964 and 1971. The power station is of 1,600 megawatt (1,470 net) capacity, and supplies up to 25% of Victoria's base load electricity
Base load power plant
Baseload is the minimum amount of power that a utility or distribution company must make available to its customers, or the amount of power required to meet minimum demands based on reasonable expectations of customer requirements...
and more than 5% of Australia's total energy demand. Hazelwood produces 2.8% of Australia's CO2 emissions and 0.057% of World emissions. The station was listed as the least carbon efficient power station in the OECD in a 2005 report by WWF
World Wide Fund for Nature
The World Wide Fund for Nature is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States...
Australia.
International Power purchased Hazelwood from the State Government in 1996 with a 40 year life. The Bracks Labor Government subsequently approved an environmental effects statement in 2005 that allowed Hazelwood to move a road and a river to access the
coal allocated to Hazelwood at the time of sale. There is an estimated 500 years of easily accessed coal reserves remaining in Victoria's Latrobe Valley.
Hazelwood directly employs 540 people and at least another (full-time) 300 contractors, with hundreds more employed during major outages.
In late 2008, the owners of Hazelwood, International Power, said the financial viability of the power station would be in question under an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), unless the company received significant compensation.
History
Development of the brown coal reserves at Morwell were started by the State Electricity Commission of VictoriaState Electricity Commission of Victoria
The State Electricity Commission of Victoria was a monopoly electricity generation, transmission and supply utility located in Victoria, Australia...
(SECV) in 1949 as the 'Morwell Project', which included the Morwell open cut mine, and the Morwell briquette works. The Morwell Interconnecting Railway linked the power station and briquette works to the Yallourn open cut mine
Yallourn Power Station, Victoria
Yallourn Power Station was a complex of six brown coal fuelled power stations built progressively from the 1920s to the 1960s. Located in Victoria's Latrobe Valley, the complex was situated beside the Latrobe River, with the company town of Yallourn located to the south west...
until 1993.
Hazelwood Power Station was approved in 1959, and was to consist of six 200 MW generating units, giving a total of 1,200 MW of generating capacity. The first unit was to enter service in 1964, and the sixth in 1971. Growing electricity demand saw a review carried out by the SECV in 1963, with commissioning of the generating units moved forward to 1969. Additional capacity was provided when in 1965 two additional generating units at Hazelwood were approved, to be commissioned in 1970 and 1971 respectively.
Privatisation
Hazelwood Power Station and associated mine were privatised by the Kennett governmentJeff Kennett
Jeffrey Gibb Kennett AC , a former Australian politician, was the Premier of Victoria between 1992 and 1999. He is currently the President of Hawthorn Football Club. He is the founding Chairman of beyondblue, a national depression initiative.- Early life :Kennett was born in Melbourne on 2 March...
in 1996. It was sold for $2.35 billion, and it operates as 'International Power Hazelwood' (IPRH), an Australian public company, which was owned by UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
company, International Power plc (91.8% share) and the Commonwealth Bank Group (the remaining 8.2%). The business office is near Morwell
Morwell, Victoria
-Transport:The main form of transport in Morwell is the automobile. The Princes Freeway now bypasses the town to the south while the old Princes Highway which once passed through east-west through its centre is now Princes Drive and Commercial Road. The highway connects Morwell with other...
, 150 kilometres east of Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
. Prior to January 2003, International Power Hazelwood was known as Hazelwood Power.
Privatisation resulted in new capital investment, with $800 million invested in Hazelwood since 1996, such as replacement of boilers, rotors, turbines and the completion of an $85 million project to reduce dust emissions by 80%.
If Hazelwood had not been sold to private interests, activist groups say the SEC (State Electricity Commission) would have shut the station down in 2005.
Coal supply
Hazelwood relies on brown coalLignite
Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, or Rosebud coal by Northern Pacific Railroad,is a soft brown fuel with characteristics that put it somewhere between coal and peat...
deposits from the nearby Morwell open cut mine
Surface mining
Surface mining , is a type of mining in which soil and rock overlying the mineral deposit are removed...
. In 2003, 17.2 million tonnes of coal was excavated by International Power Hazelwood for use by the plant which generated 12,000 gigawatt-hours. The company supplied a further 1.6 million tonnes of coal to Energy Brix Australia.
EES Approval
Yallourn Power Station, Victoria
Yallourn Power Station was a complex of six brown coal fuelled power stations built progressively from the 1920s to the 1960s. Located in Victoria's Latrobe Valley, the complex was situated beside the Latrobe River, with the company town of Yallourn located to the south west...
. However Hazelwood had its mining licence realigned by the Victorian Government along with EES approvals to move a river and a road on 6 September 2005. This agreement ensures security of coal supply to the plant until at least 2030 by allowing access to 43 million tonnes of brown coal deposits in a realignment of Hazelwood's mining licence boundaries that were originally set in 1996. Hazelwood returned over 160 million tonnes of coal to the State Government as part of the agreement.
The agreement requires Hazelwood to reduce its estimated emissions by 34 million tonnes and caps its total greenhouse output at 445 million tonnes of carbon dioxide over its life, after which point it may be made to cease operation. However credits for investment in renewable energy and low emission technology will allow the business to operate within the cap and extend its life.
Hazelwood's West Field development involved completing a new 7.5 km section of the Strzelecki Highway
Strzelecki Highway
Strzelecki Highway is a short 55 kilometre highway that connects the towns of Leongatha, Victoria and Morwell, Victoria, through the major junctions of South Gippsland Highway and Princes Freeway....
, replacing over ten kilometres of the Morwell River
Morwell River
The Morwell River is a river of Gippsland in southeastern Victoria, Australia. It arises in the Strzelecki Ranges and flows in a northerly direction close to the townships of Boolarra and Yinnar to Morwell. The lower section of the river has been diverted around open-cut coal mines by channels and...
from an old concrete pipe into a natural open channel riverine setting, and acquiring privately owned land which was earmarked for future coal supply. Environment Victoria
Environment Victoria
Environment Victoria is Victoria’s leading independent environment group. Established in 1969 as the Conservation Council of Victoria, Environment Victoria was set up by Victoria's community conservation groups to provide a single unified voice for Victoria's environment. Today, Environment...
, Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
and Australian Conservation Foundation
Australian Conservation Foundation
The Australian Conservation Foundation is an Australian non-profit, community-based environmental organisation focused on advocacy, policy research and community outreach.-History:...
opposed the development approvals, while business groups such as Minerals Council of Australia, VECCI, Aust Industry Group and Institute of Public Affairs welcomed the Government's decision.
Bio-Algae trial
A trial algaeAlgae
Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelps that grow to 65 meters in length. They are photosynthetic like plants, and "simple" because their tissues are not organized into the many...
photobioreactor
Photobioreactor
thumb|upright|[[Moss bioreactor|Moss photobioreactor]] with [[Physcomitrella patens]]A photobioreactor is a bioreactor that incorporates some type of light source to provide photonic energy input into the reactor...
plant was established at Hazelwood in the early 2000s by Energetix, a division of the Victor Smorgon Group. The plant houses algae that feed on emissions from the smoke stacks, which are then harvested and turned into biofuels. The technology Hazelwood is using was developed at MIT and is licensed from Greenfuels. The trial was successful and has now concluded. Commercial application of the technology could see over 1000 hectares of photobioreactors be built which will turn 5% of Hazelwood's emissions into biofuels.
Decommission
The power station would not have had access to its purchased coal from 2009 unless approvals to move road and river infrastructure were granted under the 2005 West Field EES process. The Labor Government approved the EES in 2005 so IPRH could access its coal reserves and operate its business until 2031. However, there is major support for the decommission of the facility.Environmental impacts
CO2 emissions
The station was listed as the least carbon efficient power station in the OECD nations in a 2005 report by WWF Australia. The WWF reported that the power station produced 1.58 tonnes of CO2 per megawatt-hour of electricity generated in 2004 (official result was 1.55), which was a significant reduction of 6.6% from the 1996 levels of 1.66 Mt/TWh when the plant was privatised. This CO2 per megawatt-hour reduction is now over 10% based on performance to 2009.With a 60% increase in power generation since 1996, Hazelwood now averages up to 16.0 million tonnes of carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
each year (the second highest emitter in the Latrobe Valley), which is 3 % of Australia's total carbon dioxide emissions, and 9 % of Australia's total CO2 from electricity generation.
Australia's biggest carbon capture pilot plant, and one of the largest of its type in the world,
has been built at Hazelwood capturing up to 25 tonnes, or 0.05%, of CO2 per day.
Water usage
1.31 megalitres of water was consumed per gigawatt hour of power generated in 2005. Cooling water for the power station is supplied by the Hazelwood Pondage, built for this purpose in the 1960s. The pondage is supplied with water from the Moondarra Reservoir and runoff pumped from the adjacent mine. At the mine, water is sprayed onto the coal to reduce the chance of fire and to suppress dust.Public access to the pondage is permitted for sailing, boating and other recreational water sports. Cichlids and other tropical fish that were released into the lake by the public have established populations, including Convict cichlids (Cryptoheros nigrofasciatus) and the African cichlid spotted tilapia (Tilapia mariae). Other fish include carp
Carp
Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. The cypriniformes are traditionally grouped with the Characiformes, Siluriformes and Gymnotiformes to create the superorder Ostariophysi, since these groups have certain...
, goldfish
Goldfish
The goldfish is a freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae of order Cypriniformes. It was one of the earliest fish to be domesticated, and is one of the most commonly kept aquarium fish....
(Carassius auratus), Gambusia (Gambusia holbrooki), and the native short-finned eel (Anguilla australis) and Australian smelt (Retropinna semoni).
Pollutants
In a 2007-2008 report, the National Pollutant InventoryNational pollutant inventory
National Pollutant Inventory or NPI is an Australian pollution database of emissions managed by the Australian Government on behalf of the Australian States and Territories...
rated the power station's polychlorinated dioxins and furan
Furan
Furan is a heterocyclic organic compound, consisting of a five-membered aromatic ring with four carbon atoms and one oxygen. The class of compounds containing such rings are also referred to as furans....
s as "high 100", hydrochloric acid
Hydrochloric acid
Hydrochloric acid is a solution of hydrogen chloride in water, that is a highly corrosive, strong mineral acid with many industrial uses. It is found naturally in gastric acid....
as "high 87", oxides of nitrogen as "medium 57", particulate matter 2.5 μm as "low 21", and boron
Boron
Boron is the chemical element with atomic number 5 and the chemical symbol B. Boron is a metalloid. Because boron is not produced by stellar nucleosynthesis, it is a low-abundance element in both the solar system and the Earth's crust. However, boron is concentrated on Earth by the...
& compounds as "low 15".
2005-2006 NPI
National pollutant inventory
National Pollutant Inventory or NPI is an Australian pollution database of emissions managed by the Australian Government on behalf of the Australian States and Territories...
data showed that Hazelwood releases 100,000 kg of boron and compounds into the air and 5,200 kg into water. Also released into the air: 7,700,000 kg hydrochloric acid, 27,000,000 kg of oxides of nitrogen, 2,900,000 kg of particulate matter 10 μm, and 0.015 kg of polychlorinated dioxins and furans.
Many pollutants are not measured.
Asbestos
The rate of mesotheliomaMesothelioma
Mesothelioma, more precisely malignant mesothelioma, is a rare form of cancer that develops from the protective lining that covers many of the body's internal organs, the mesothelium...
among power industry workers was found to be seven times the national average. (Victorian State Government study, 2001). Latrobe Valley power industry workers die 15 years younger than the national average.
The power stations of the LaTrobe Valley used asbestos
Asbestos
Asbestos is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals used commercially for their desirable physical properties. They all have in common their eponymous, asbestiform habit: long, thin fibrous crystals...
widely in their construction. The substance was banned in Victoria in 2003. However, it's estimated that 146,000 employees and contractors, who worked in SEC plants from 1921 to the 1980s, were exposed to it. Between 1976 and 2008, $52.6 million has been paid to former SEC employees by the State Government insurance authority, and a further $369 million is expected to be paid out by the Victorian Managed Insurance Authority to former employees.
In June 2010, the EPA
Environment Protection Authority (Victoria)
EPA Victoria is a statutory authority that reports to the Victorian Parliament through the . Its purpose is to protect, care for and improve the environment for the benefit of the Victorian community.-Overview:...
confirmed it was investigating reports asbestos could be in one of Hazelwood Power Station's smoke stacks. A former worker claims to have lost his job after speaking out about asbestos at a health and safety meeting. Speaking to The Express (Fairfax paper) he said, "It is not just in the stacks, it's everywhere, the place is riddled with it, Hazelwood has no duty of care to its workers or the public." Another worker, trained in asbestos identification, said for years Hazelwood management had ignored workers' concerns. International Power Hazelwood spokesperson Neil Lawson has responded, "It is well documented that there is still an amount of contained asbestos material which is being progressively and safely removed by specialised licensed contractors during major plant outages and maintenance activities." The same newspaper subsequently reported comments by the EPA that the Hazelwood business had no case to answer and that asbestos fibres were not present in smokestacks.
Criticisms and responses
Australian Conservation Foundation
The Australian Conservation Foundation is an Australian non-profit, community-based environmental organisation focused on advocacy, policy research and community outreach.-History:...
have put the $400 million 2005 Hazelwood expansion in context by comparing it to Victoria's five-star energy efficient homes standard, which is expected to save 200,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases per annum. The ACF reason that Hazelwood's operations cancel out that benefit every four days. ACF Executive director Don Henry
Don Henry
Donald Hugh Henry is the Executive Director of the Australian Conservation Foundation . Henry has led the ACF since 1998, helping it to become a strong advocate for the environment by promoting solutions through research, consultation, education and partnerships. In 2008, Henry won the Equity...
has said he would follow formal objections with legal action to prevent the grant of new coal to IPRH. Most of the West Field coal reserves were allocated to Hazelwood in 1996 in the privatisation process.
Environment Victoria
Environment Victoria
Environment Victoria is Victoria’s leading independent environment group. Established in 1969 as the Conservation Council of Victoria, Environment Victoria was set up by Victoria's community conservation groups to provide a single unified voice for Victoria's environment. Today, Environment...
have pushed for alternative baseload generation through: biomass energy, wave energy, geothermal energy, new combined cycle
Combined cycle
In electric power generation a combined cycle is an assembly of heat engines that work in tandem off the same source of heat, converting it into mechanical energy, which in turn usually drives electrical generators...
gas fired generation plants, new cogeneration
Cogeneration
Cogeneration is the use of a heat engine or a power station to simultaneously generate both electricity and useful heat....
facilities, or increased imports of baseload electricity from interstate. In January 2005, the Clean Energy Future Group
Clean Energy Future Group
The Clean Energy Future Group is an Australian collaboration of environmental groups aiming to promote renewable energy use in Australia.-Environmental Organisations:*Australasian Energy Performance Contracting Association ,...
together with Environment Victoria released the report "Toward Victoria's Clean Energy Future", a plan to cut Victoria's Greenhouse gas emissions from electricity by 2010. It largely focused on cleaner alternatives to Hazelwood, and warned that continued support of coal-fired power development would lock the State into CO2 emissions that would dwarf any current proposed measures for reducing emissions.
Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
has pushed for a target of 20 % clean energy for Victoria by 2020, allowing Hazelwood to be retired, and to invigorate the La Trobe Valley as a clean energy hub.
In June 2009, an anonymous letter purporting to come from the US-based Earth Liberation Front
Earth Liberation Front
The Earth Liberation Front , also known as "Elves" or "The Elves", is the collective name for autonomous individuals or covert cells who, according to the ELF Press Office, use "economic sabotage and guerrilla warfare to stop the exploitation and destruction of the environment".The ELF was founded...
was sent to the home of the CEO of the power station, Graeme York. The letter threatened to harm property, but did not threaten physical harm against any individuals or animals, despite being portrayed as such in commercial media. ELF media spokesperson Jason Crawford defended the letter, but was unable to confirm that it had been sent by his organisation. The ELF letter was publicly condemned by Greenpeace, whose activists had engaged in nonviolent direct action at the plant six weeks earlier.
In late 2009, in response to the "Switch Off Hazelwood—Switch on Renewables" protests, the state of Victoria introduced penalties of one years' imprisonment for trespass, and two years' imprisonment for damaging, interfering, tampering, or attaching something to electricity infrastructure. This was legislated in the Electricity Industry Amendment (Critical Infrastructure) Act 2009 (Vic). The legislation has been criticised for criminalising non-violent civil disobedience, and has been compared to the lockdown powers of the Major Events Act 2009, which has been reportedly used to intimidate and disperse peaceful protesters in NSW.
Protest and civil disobedience at Hazelwood
11 August 2005- Around 50 student environmentalists and Greenpeace volunteers unfurled a "Quit Coal" banner outside the plant while 12 activists occupied the brown coal pit, with some locking themselves to coal dredging equipment.
6 November 2008
- A group of 7 people protesting against Australia's inaction on climate change walked onto the site of the Hazelwood power station and stopped the conveyor belts which carry coal from the mine to the power station itself.
28 March 2009
- A group of around 30 people took part in a rally at the power station ahead of the 2009 Earth HourEarth HourEarth Hour is a global event organized by WWF and is held on the last Saturday of March annually, asking households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights and other electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change...
. Two protesters chained themselves to a conveyor belt, briefly disrupting the supply of coal between the Hazelwood mine and the power plant. Three people were charged by Victoria Police for unspecified reasons.
21 May 2009
- 14 GreenpeaceGreenpeaceGreenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
members entered the site and temporarily shut down coal production after chaining themselves to an excavator from 7am onwards. All seven were later charged by Victoria Police.
September 2009 rally
13 September 2009- A large mass civil disobedience rally, the largest of its kind at any Australian power station, was undertaken by a network of organisations under the banner Switch Off Hazelwood. Around 500 people participated, with many camping nearby on the previous night. The rally was supported by organisations and groups including the Australian Conservation FoundationAustralian Conservation FoundationThe Australian Conservation Foundation is an Australian non-profit, community-based environmental organisation focused on advocacy, policy research and community outreach.-History:...
, Environment VictoriaEnvironment VictoriaEnvironment Victoria is Victoria’s leading independent environment group. Established in 1969 as the Conservation Council of Victoria, Environment Victoria was set up by Victoria's community conservation groups to provide a single unified voice for Victoria's environment. Today, Environment...
and the Australian GreensAustralian GreensThe Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, is an Australian green political party.The party was formed in 1992; however, its origins can be traced to the early environmental movement in Australia and the formation of the United Tasmania Group , the first Green party in the world, which...
. Many of the participants were families. In the week before the rally, a community meeting entitled "Clean energy or coal: What future for Latrobe jobs?" was held in the nearby town of Morwell.
- Organisers liased with Victoria police prior to and during the demonstration and publicly declared intentions to undertake "peaceful civil disobedience" by entering the grounds of the power station to place symbolic decommission notices on the plant building. The organisers also distributed guidelines asking participants to use "peaceful protest tactics" and held a number of trainings on civil disobedienceCivil disobedienceCivil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is commonly, though not always, defined as being nonviolent resistance. It is one form of civil resistance...
and nonviolenceNonviolenceNonviolence has two meanings. It can refer, first, to a general philosophy of abstention from violence because of moral or religious principle It can refer to the behaviour of people using nonviolent action Nonviolence has two (closely related) meanings. (1) It can refer, first, to a general...
prior to the event.
- Police responded by installing a temporary perimeter fence around the plant, with police helicopters and mounted police patrolling the site on Saturday evening. On the Sunday, police contingencies included a large number of officers on foot deployed within the perimeter fence. Many were issued with handheld video recorders and digital cameras and filmed people attending the rally. Police also deployed personnel in dingies in adjacent pondage lakes.
- The rally began at 11am with speeches from Australian GreensAustralian GreensThe Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, is an Australian green political party.The party was formed in 1992; however, its origins can be traced to the early environmental movement in Australia and the formation of the United Tasmania Group , the first Green party in the world, which...
Senator Scott Ludlam, Dave Sweeney from the Australian Conservation Foundation, author David Spratt and Melbourne based paediatrician Merryn Redenbach, amongst others, with several speakers stressing that protesters had no argument with police or plant workers and emphasising the organising group's calls for new wind turbine, solar water and insulation manufacturing capacity to be developed in the Latrobe valley.
- The group then marched to the front of the power station, where several participants, including some dressed in mock Carbon Police outfits, climbed temporary fencingTemporary fencingTemporary Fence is used where building a permanent fence is either impractical or unneeded. Temporary fencing is used when an area needs barriers for the purposes of public safety or security, crowd control, theft deterrent, or equipment storage. Its most common use is as construction hoarding for...
in an attempt to issue a "Community Decommission Order" to the power station.
- Part of the crowd advanced on the temporary fencing and some participants and police clashed. 22 people were arrested during the rally, many for trespassing after climbing the temporary fence. One person was also charged with assault after a police officer was allegedly "thrown backwards" while trying to stop a protester who was running towards the plant gates after scaling a temporary fence. It is unknown how many protesters will be officially charged.
- Supporters of the protest said that nonviolent direct action and civil disobedience was necessary because other avenues to achieve change, such as petitions, letters, rallies and community meetings, had been explored and exhausted. Environment groups had also lodged application to have the impact of greenhouse gas emissions considered in the Environmental Effects Statement which approved the expansion of Hazelwood's coal fields in 2005.
- The rally was featured in the main group of lead items on every Victorian television and radio news broadcast that same evening, and in Newspapers the following morning.
October 2010 rally
Another rally took place at the station at 11am on 10 October 2010. Approximately 150 people attended, protesters were well behaved and there were no arrests., most travelling on the train from Melbourne. The rally coincided with the International Day of Climate Action (10/10/2010). There were two training sessions held prior to the rally for participants in non-violent direct action, these occurred 18 September and 2 October at Trades Hall, Melbourne.In preparation for the rally, around 250 Police officers were stationed around the perimeter of the station. Authorities erected several kilometres of semi-permanent fencing in contrast to the previous years rally, before which only temporary fencing was erected.
The march to the station began at 11am and upon reaching the station's grounds, participants heard speeches from several speakers including Australian Greens
Australian Greens
The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, is an Australian green political party.The party was formed in 1992; however, its origins can be traced to the early environmental movement in Australia and the formation of the United Tasmania Group , the first Green party in the world, which...
Eastern Victorian upper house candidate Samantha Dunn and Beyond Zero Emissions' Mark Ogge. The event was MC'ed by Rod Qantock.
Following speeches, participants then built the largest ever human-made mock Solar Thermal plant.
Carbon capture plant
In July 2009, International Power opened a carbon capture and storage demonstration plant at Hazelwood power station. The process takes emissions from the power station smoke stacks, extracts and uses a chemical process to turn it into calcium carbonate. The resulting solid can then be stored above ground or sold to industry. This process will capture 25 tonnes or 0.05% of daily emissions from the plant.External links
- HPS at Environment Victoria
- Official Site
- Hazelwood, CARMA database entry
- Images of the September 2009 Rally