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STORY - PAGE 24 photograph dan pedersen
Return of SEC? LOY Yang B operator Alinta is waiting to hear more details of the Victorian government’s pre-election promise to target 95 per cent renewables by 2035, which signals the end of thermal coal in the state. It comes as Premier Daniel Andrews has announced heftier emissions reduction and renewables targets as part of the Victorian Labor’s sweeping plans to revive the State Electricity Commission. Mr Andrews announced the plan on Thursday, promising to bring back publicly-owned power and establish an office in Morwell if it is re-elected at the November election. The promise includes reducing emissions by between 75 and 80 per cent by 2035, and bringing forward net zero emissions by five years to 2045. There will be new renewables targets increasing to 65 per cent by 2030, and 95 per cent by 2035. The plan also includes the possibility of establishing a stateowned energy retailer. But it means Victoria could exit coalfired power by 2035, ushering in an earlier closure of Loy Yang B, which so
far had not made any official statements about early closure dates. Loy Yang B operator Alinta Energy had only learnt of the announcement as it was made on Thursday. Alinta chief executive, Jeff Dimery, said he needed to hear more details about how the government would manage the transition and support the company to invest in replacement generation. Mr Dimery said Alinta had taken “strong steps” to prepare for the transition, and had well-advanced renewables and storage projects in the pipeline. “Our immediate priority and focus will be supporting our employees at Loy Yang B, who will be understandably shocked by this announcement,” Mr Dimery said. The reforms mean that Labor will initially invest $1 billion towards 4.5 gigawatts of renewables to replace the capacity of Loy Yang A as it shuts in 2035. The government will hold a 51-per-cent interest in these renewables projects, with the rest invested from entities such as industry super funds, looking to jump on clean energy projects.
Mr Andrews promised to replace “every megawatt” of power from Loy Yang A with renewables. The Premier also warned that action must be taken to transform the state’s energy sector “if we want to keep the lights on”. He pointed to the failures of privatisation and accused big companies of gaming the energy market, which has pushed up power prices. “The wholesale market has been shut down twice this year and who benefits from that? The private companies that own these assets that should never have been sold,” Mr Andrews said. “Big energy companies want to offshore profits – we want to offshore wind.” The SEC was initially established more than 100 years ago in Morwell to oversee the state’s brown coal industry. But it was sold off in the mid-90s under the Kennett Liberal government. Mr Andrews said the sell-off resulted in $23 billion in profits going to private companies, but under the new plan, profits would go back to the state and be invested into new generation. “These companies are leaving, they made their money and are going.
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[Coal-fired power stations] are also not particularly reliable, they are most often broken down than not,” Mr Andrews said. “Unplanned outages a cynic may say are in the interest of a private company to have a shortage of supply, as that’s when the prices go up.” The government has outlined that the plan would deliver $9.5 billion in profits and support 59,000 jobs by 2035. Nationals Member for Eastern Victoria, Melina Bath, slammed the raft of promises which will force early coal closures and “destroy” all remaining Valley power jobs and associated industries. “Daniel Andrews has issued the death knell for Loy Yang B, while ensuring there will be no prospect of Loy Yang A staying on line even if it’s needed to sure up power supplies,” Ms Bath said. “Skilled jobs in the Valley associated with power generation will be directly impacted – it will cost Latrobe Valley thousands of jobs and change the landscape of our community.” The Victorian Liberals promised to unveil its own energy plan leading into the November 27 election.
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