Biomass plant set to power up in NSW’s Hunter Valley
The former Redbank coal plant in NSW’s Hunter Valley is to be repurposed into a biomass fuels power station.
The former Redbank coal plant in NSW’s Hunter Valley will be repurposed into a biomass fuels power station, with owner Hunter Energy planning to start supplying energy into the national electricity grid by early next year.
Hunter Energy plans to reuse waste wood products to create a biomass facility with an output of 151MW, enough to power up to 200,000 homes, as it seeks to reboot the former Alinta-owned facility, which closed in 2014.
Although the company had previously held talks with neighbour Yancoal to reuse coal tailings from its Mount Thorley Warkworth mine, the project now plans to operate solely on biomass to qualify for the government’s large scale generation certificates.
In the commissioning phase of the project, some 265 jobs would be created, with 55 permanent roles. Hunter Energy chief executive Richard Poole, a former investment banker and director of Cascade Coal, said it would cost $50m to convert and restart the project, compared with $450m to replace the plant.
Redbank was reported to be the fifth most polluting coal station when it closed six years ago, but Mr Poole said the plant aimed to deliver baseload power at net zero emissions.
Bark, sawdust and straw were typical wood waste materials used and qualified as a carbon-neutral energy source, he said.
“As a plant grows, it synthesises and absorbs carbon dioxide, which then gets released as we burn it, so it’s a closed cycle loop,” said Mr Poole, the major shareholder in Hunter Energy.
“Eventually, we would hope to have some short rotation crops where we can be growing and burning supplies.”
Talks have been held with a local supplier, and Hunter Energy said it could also use timber if the NSW government adopted bushfire hazard-reduction programs.
Mr Poole took over the chief executive role from James Myatt, who started as Caltex’s general manager of energy strategy in October and remains a non-executive director.
Mr Myatt was a co-founder of energy retailer Australian Power and Gas, which was sold to AGL in 2013. Mr Poole was a shareholder in that company.
Hunter Energy lobbed a proposal last year to the government’s underwriting generation scheme when it was still being envisaged as a coal project, but failed to make the shortlist.
Talks were held last week with the NSW government to gauge their appetite to help fund the project, with the company suggesting it could qualify for support under stimulus measures as the economy reboots after COVID-19.
“We went up as a coal-fired generator to the underwriting scheme, but frankly there is a lack of political will to support coal. If you’re a politician you’d far rather be supporting 100 per cent biomass,” Mr Poole said.
“NSW is asking for shovel- ready projects, and we’re sitting here with one now.”
Hunter Energy has hired Foster Stockbroking as an adviser, although it conceded the pandemic may slow the timeline for funding the development.
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency was instructed this week to develop a bioenergy “road map” by federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor, with a report due later this year on how to boost the energy source and its potential job opportunities.
The agency has previously provided more than $118m to help fund Australian bioenergy projects from areas such as waste, biogas, biomass and biofuels.