No more brown-coal-fired stations will be shuttered, Victorian Liberal leader says

Victorian Liberal leader Matthew Guy has said the party will not be shuttering any power plant fuelling the power requirements of the state should Coalition win the government. He said the brown-coal-fired stations fulfilling the electricity needs of the state would be kept.

The news comes in the wake of the closure of Hazelwood brown-coal power plant, an incident that Guy told party faithful was a “dark day in our state’s history.” Speaking last week, he added he would make certain the Loy Yang and Yallourn power stations would continue operating should be become premier.

The Hazelwood power station was shuttered on Friday. The closure came after the plant had operated for more than 50 years, affecting the employment of as many as 750 people. Several of these workers have not worked in any other industry. The plant’s 400 permanent staff and 350 contractors will likely be reemployed at the Loy Yang A coal mine.

Commissioned in the 1960s, the eight-unit power plant ran on brown coal dug from the surrounding Latrobe Valley. Until its closure was announced by French energy company Engie last November, the plant was responsible for supplying 22 percent of the state’s power requirements.

“I will not allow our coal resour­ces to be wasted, I will not allow such economic advantages to Victoria to be kept in the ground for the sake of ideology. We should be powering our state through the 21st century,” Guy said, speaking at the Liberal Party’s state council.

However, the party supports the government on a moratorium on conventional gas exploration until 2020. The policy has been described by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull as “reckless.”

Guy said the owners of the brown-coal plants would receive the support they want. The party will “have a conversation” to understand their requirements to remain open, Guy said. He added that the Coalition will take into account repealing the gas moratorium if it won government.

The party is in support of a moratorium until 2020 as a “study” will be conducted in the interim. “Victoria can’t have a situation where we run out of gas,” Guy said. “It is crazy that we are in a state today which has legislated to ban conventional exploration for decades. Now it is going to be banned by the Andrews government, we may well run out of gas.”

“It is crazy that we are in a state today which has legislated to ban conventional exploration for decades,” he added. “Now it is going to be banned by the Andrews government, we may well run out of gas.”

Source: YouTube/ABC News (Australia)