Brown coal-fueled thermal power station
The Hazelwood Power Station is a decommissioned brown coal-fuelled thermal power station located in the Latrobe Valley of Victoria, Australia. Built between 1964 and 1971, the 1,600-megawatt-capacity power station was made up of eight 200MW units, and supplied up to 25% of Victoria's base load electricity and more than 5% of Australia's total electricity demand. It was a 'subcritical' pulverized coal-fired boiler. The station was listed as the least carbon efficient power station in the OECD in a 2005 report by WWF Australia, making it one of the most polluting power stations in the world. At 1.56 tonnes of CO2 for each megawatt hour of electricity, it was 50% more polluting than the average black coal power station in New South Wales or Queensland. Hazelwood emitted 14% of Victoria's annual greenhouse gas emissions and 3% of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions.
International Power plc purchased Hazelwood Power Station and the adjoining mine from the Victorian Government in 1996 with an expected 40-year life. In 2005, the Bracks government approved an environmental effects statement (EES) that allowed Hazelwood to relocate a road and a section of the Morwell River to allow access to an additional 43 million tonnes of coal in addition to that allowed under the mining licence boundaries set at the time of privatisation. This was estimated to provide sufficient coal for the plant to operate to at least 2030 (prior to decommissioning plans). The EES also capped its expected total greenhouse output at 445 million tonnes of carbon dioxide over its life, after which Hazelwood may have been made to cease operation.
Hazelwood was jointly owned by Engie with a 72% share and Mitsui &amp; Co with a 28% share. In 2014, Hazelwood employed 495 staff directly and on average 300 contractors. On 3 November 2016, Engie announced that the entire Hazelwood plant would be closed at the end of March 2017 giving five months notice of the closure. The power station closed in March 2017. When the power station closed, wholesale prices in Victoria were up 85% on 2016, according to the Australian Energy Regulator, and for the first time in almost a decade, the state relied on energy from interstate to meet its needs.
A 150 MW one-hour grid battery opened in June 2023.
History.
Development of the brown coal reserves at Morwell was started by the State Electricity Commission of Victoria (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 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.
Hazelwood relied on brown coal deposits from the nearby Morwell open cut mine. In 2003, the plant used of coal, while a further of coal was supplied from the Morwell mine to Morwell Power Station Energy Brix Australia 2.5 km North East of Hazelwood Power Station.
Privatisation.
Hazelwood Power Station and associated mine were privatised by the Kennett government in 1996 after many years of downsizing under a 'structural efficiency' model undertaken by the then state Liberal government. It was sold for A$2.35 billion, and it operated as 'IPR-GDF SUEZ Hazelwood', an Australian public company, which was owned by United Kingdom company, International Power (91.8% share)- part of the GDF SUEZ group - and the Commonwealth Bank (the remaining 8.2%). The business office was near Morwell, east of Melbourne. Prior to January 2011, IPR-GDF SUEZ Hazelwood had been known as International Power Hazelwood and Hazelwood Power before that.
After privatisation the new owners engaged in capital investment, with A$800 million invested in Hazelwood since 1996, such as replacement of boilers, rotors, turbines and the completion of an A$85 million project to reduce dust emissions by 80%. If Hazelwood had not been sold to private interests, activist groups say the SECV would have shut the station down in 2005.
EES approval.
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 ensured 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 that agreement.
The agreement required Hazelwood to reduce its estimated emissions by and capped its total greenhouse output at of carbon dioxide over its life, after which point it may have been made to cease operation. However, credits for investment in renewable energy and low emission technology were expected to allow the business to operate within the cap and extend its life. In spite of this, the station was still decommissioned.
Hazelwood's West Field development involved completing a new section of the Strzelecki Highway, replacing over 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.
Closure and decommissioning.
Hazelwood's coal supply would likely have run out around 2009 without the 2005 coal mine extension. This extension, and the associated environmental impacts, have led to significant criticism by environmental groups, and civil disobedience actions (see below).
During 2011 and 2012, the Australian Government considered a Contract for Closure program to complement the Clean Energy Act policy. Hazelwood would likely have been closed under this program had it been pursued. However, this program was scrapped in September 2012 and no plants were closed.
On 3 November 2016, Engie announced that Hazelwood would be closed by the end of March 2017, citing the company's transformational policy of investing solely in low-carbon and renewable energy, as well lower energy prices and oversupply within Victoria. In May 2016, CEO Isabelle Kocher said the company was reviewing its remaining coal plants one by one and would close those with the most outdated technology.
The largest shareholder in Engie is the French government, which owns 33% of the company. The French Environment Minister said Engie would 'disengage' from Hazelwood power station during a documentary that aired on French TV in May 2016. The Minister's response came after receiving a petition about the Hazelwood mine fire from Environment Victoria.
The decommissioning and rehabilitation of the site is estimated to cost at least $743 million, six times the previously predicted amount. This includes $439 million to rehabilitate the mine, and $304 million to demolish the plant and restore the surrounding area. This is in addition to $324 million payable by the owners for redundancy and leave entitlements over the two years after closure, bringing the total cost of closing the plant to almost $1.1 billion.
In the lead up to the closure, there was insecurity around the numbers of Hazelwood workers Engie would keep employing in the decommissioning and rehabilitation processes, the redundancy packages offered, as well as the future of other workers and the local community in and around Morwell directly and indirectly impacted by the closure of the power station.
On 27 March 2017, units #8, #6 and #4 were permanently shut down, followed by units #2, #7 and #5 on 28 March 2017, and units #3 and #1 on 29 March 2017. Unit #1 was shut down last at 4.56pm. It was chosen to be last because Unit 1 was the first Hazelwood generating unit to come into operation on 30 November 1964. Decommissioning of mine and power station plant and equipment was expected to take 12 months.
In a press release on the subject of the closure, Engie in Australia's Chief Executive, Alex Keisser, acknowledged the contributions of past and present Hazelwood employees, and the role the power station has played in the Latrobe Valley. "While Friday will be the end of an era and a very sad day for everyone who has had an involvement with Hazelwood over the past 52 years, it should also be a very proud day," Keisser said. "The decision to close Hazelwood was extremely difficult and was made only after we investigated all options to keep the business open. While it was state-of-the-art when it opened in 1964, it has now reached the end of its productive life, lasting far longer than anyone would have anticipated when its life began. Our employees past and present, as well as contractors, local suppliers and businesses, and the broader Latrobe Valley community have all played their part in ensuring that Hazelwood has been a key player in the nation's electricity system over that time. Victoria should be very proud that Hazelwood has continued operating for more than 50 years, producing the electricity that has under-pinned the state's economic development and well-being."
The eight chimneys at the power station were demolished on 25 May 2020. Reclamation works are being undertaken at the site to restore it. Replacement s for the electricity generation infrastructure that was on the site will not be built.
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 of CO2 per megawatt-hour of electricity generated in 2004 (official result was 1.55), which was a reduction of 6.6% from the 1996 levels of 1.66 Mt/TWh when the plant was privatised. This is still 50% more polluting than the average black coal power station in NSW or Queensland.
Hazelwood emitted up to 15% of Victoria's annual greenhouse gas emissions and 3% of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions before closure.
With a 60% increase in power generation since 1996, Hazelwood averaged up to of carbon dioxide each year and, after Loy Yang A Power station, was the second highest emitter in the Latrobe Valley until 2015.
Hazelwood had been the site of two carbon capture trials to lower its CO2 emissions (see below).
In late 2008, International Power stated the financial viability of the power station would be in question under a greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme (ETS), unless the company received significant compensation.
Water usage.
In 2005, of water was consumed per of power generated. Cooling water for the power station was 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. Within the mine, water was sprayed onto the coal surfaces to reduce the chance of fire and to suppress fugitive dust.
Public access to the pondage for sailing, boating and other recreational water sports is permitted. 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").
Pollutants.
In a 2007-2008 report, the National Pollutant Inventory (NPI) rated the power station's polychlorinated dioxins and furans as "high 100", hydrochloric acid as "high 87", oxides of nitrogen as "medium 57", particulate matter 2.5 μm as "low 21", and boron &amp; compounds as "low 15".
The 2005-2006 NPI data showed that Hazelwood released of boron and compounds into the air and into water. Also released into the air: hydrochloric acid, of oxides of nitrogen, of particulate matter 10 μm, and of polychlorinated dioxins and furans. Many pollutants are not measured.
Air pollution from the normal operations of Hazelwood alone had been estimated to kill at least 18 people a year in Gippsland, and make many more people sick. The Greenpeace report attributed 37 deaths in the south-east Gippsland region to pollution from