Why you must speak out now!

LAST week we had AGL announcing that it would be closing the Loy Yang A power station in the Latrobe Valley, 10 to 13 years ahead of schedule, before the end of 2035.

Set aside the loss of 600 jobs in Gippsland, for a moment, and how they will be replaced, it means the state will lose a whopping 2200MW of generating capacity, 30 per cent of the state’s total, while the Loy Yang Mine provides approximately 50% of the coal needed to generate electricity in Victoria.

No one would mind that if we had assurances about what happens next.

But all we’ve had by way of reassurances, that the state will have sufficient power generating capacity, at a reasonable price, is the Federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen and the State Minister for Energy, Environment, Climate Action and Solar Homes Lily D’Ambrosio self-congratulating themselves over the plan to put hundreds if not thousands of wind turbines off the coast of Gippsland.

At this stage, they’re set to ring Wilsons Promontory National Park and dominate the beaches from the 90 Mile Beach in the east to Waratah Bay, and from Inverloch, to Kilcunda, Cape Woolamai and the penguin beach on the Summerland Peninsula.

Star of the South, the most advanced of these turbine projects, with an estimated 200 turbines, each of 350 metres high, is slated to produce 2200MW per annum, the same as Loy Yang A. But wind turbines average only 42% of their potential, meaning that there are times when they produce no power, or next to nothing.

So, when there’s a cold snap in Melbourne, the rooftop solar isn’t doing much, the wind isn’t blowing, and you’ve got heaters blaring and industry all over Victoria trying to kick into gear – what happens?

We either buy power at extortionate rates from interstate or we have increasingly regular brownouts across the state! What’s that going to do to jobs, industry and growth in Victoria? We’ll be exporting even more of our manufacturing and importing more of the things we need than we do now.

So, apart from the warm and fuzzy notion of putting up some window dressing around our magnificent Gippsland coast, to appease the insatiable climate change lobby, what’s the plan? If there is one, the general public doesn’t know what it is.

AGL didn’t even want to close Loy Yang A early, if you read their statement to the ASX last week, they felt pressured to do so.

AGL Chair, Patricia McKenzie, said: “We have listened to our stakeholders – in particular, our shareholders, as well as government and energy regulatory authorities. Their views were an important consideration as we reviewed the company’s strategic direction after withdrawing the demerger proposal.”

Two things:
If you have any reservations whatsoever about the Federal Government’s plan to locate hundreds of massive wind turbines along the Gippsland coastline, you must make your feelings known by next Friday, October 7 on the government website. Type in ‘Gippsland offshore wind submissions’, go to the Department of Industry’s ‘Consultation Hub’ at https://consult.industry.gov.au/oei-gippsland and hit the ‘feedback’ tab.

And setting aside the freak out over Fukushima, we also need to have a proper debate about nuclear energy (pumped hydro being unlikely here).

Notwithstanding the fact that there hasn’t been a new nuclear plant ordered in the United States since 1978, the next generation of nuclear power plants is much safer, more efficient, produces much less waste and guarantees a closed environmental loop.

So much so that even the Green German Government is realising the only reason it can consider closing down its nuclear reactors is because the baseload power is still being provided by dirty coal and gas.

The whole thing is a crock, embroiled in fashionable politics and misinformation, and if we continue the way we’re going, Victoria will be more of an economic cot-case than it already is, and Gippsland will bear more than its fair share of the impact.