\n<\/p>\n
The co-owner of Queensland\u2019s biggest coal-fired power station in Gladstone has said it could close the plant in March 2029 \u2013 six years earlier than expected.<\/p>\n
The power station \u2013 one of the least reliable in the national electricity market \u2013 is seen as a critical part of the region\u2019s heavy industry, providing power to Rio Tinto\u2019s own aluminium smelter, as well as alumina refineries and LNG and cement plants in the region.<\/p>\n
Rio Tinto, the co-owner of Gladstone power station (GPS), said it had notified the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo) \u201cof the potential retirement\u201d of Gladstone.<\/p>\n
Aemo\u2019s expected closure year of the power station was 2035.<\/p>\n
Rio Tinto said: \u201cNo final decision has been made to retire GPS, which has operated since 1976, and there is potential to extend the life of the power station should market and other factors allow.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no immediate impact of this notification on GPS operations. Existing power supply contracts, including to Boyne Smelters Ltd, will remain in place until their scheduled expiry in March 2029.\u201d<\/p>\n
The company said between now and March 2029 it would \u201cengage with stakeholders on the energy market and on options for the future use of the site, which will inform the timeline and strategy for retirement of the facility\u201d.<\/p>\n
Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton\u2019s Clear Air column as a free newsletter<\/strong><\/p>\n The state\u2019s Liberal National government is due to announce its energy plan this month, but has already said it wants coal plants to run for longer \u2013 a reversal of the previous Labor government\u2019s plans to end reliance on coal power by 2035.<\/p>\n Queensland\u2019s premier, David Crisafulli, told reporters on Wednesday he had \u201cnot seen the reports\u201d of the closure, but was \u201coptimistic about the future of mining and manufacturing in this state, which is why we need an energy plan that is affordable, reliable and sustainable\u201d.<\/p>\n The treasurer and energy minister, David Janetzki, said the government was \u201cactively working with our government-owned corporations to prepare the network for the eventual closure of Gladstone Power Station\u201d.<\/p>\n Analysts Nexa Advisory said this month that Gladstone power station had seen an average of 4,200 hours of unplanned outages a year since 2020 \u2013 making it one of the worst performing plants in Australia.<\/p>\n \u201cQueensland\u2019s major industrial economy is at risk because of the Gladstone Power Station,\u201d said Stephanie Bashir, Nexa\u2019s chief executive.<\/p>\n \u201cAn industry which generates $6bn in economic output is relying on a power station that is offline for the equivalent of more than half the time.\u201d<\/p>\n Bashir said the state government needed to establish a firm timetable for Gladstone\u2019s closure while delivering a project to enhance the power grid in the region so renewables and energy storage projects could come online.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cThis is not about turning off coal tomorrow, it\u2019s about being honest about Gladstone\u2019s poor performance and planning for a secure, affordable and cleaner energy system.\u201d<\/p>\n Bashir speculated that Rio Tinto\u2019s announcement of a \u201cpotential\u201d closure could be a \u201cfishing for subsidies exercise\u201d \u2013 an attempt by the company to pressure the government for financial support to keep the plant running.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Sign up to Afternoon Update<\/span><\/p>\n Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what\u2019s happening and why it matters<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.<\/span><\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Rio Tinto would not comment on that claim.<\/p>\n Dave Copeman, the director of the Queensland Conservation Council, said Rio Tinto had \u201cmade it clear they can\u2019t keep their Gladstone operations and smelter globally competitive relying on expensive coal power\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe premier can\u2019t put his head in the sand any longer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe can\u2019t ignore that the failure to replace our ageing coal power stations is jeopardising regional Queensland communities by failing to plan for the necessary transformation of our energy system and economy.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s vital that governments are honest about the need to replace our ageing coal power stations, so that we get the planning right, build enough replacement renewable energy and set up new clean industries to future-proof regional economies.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t keep throwing billions of taxpayer dollars at failing and polluting coal, and cross our fingers and hope it will keep the lights on.\u201d<\/p>\n Gavan McFadzean, the climate and energy program manager at the Australian Conservation Foundation, said it was \u201cencouraging to see Rio Tinto transitioning its smelting assets in Gladstone\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cCrisafulli should stick to the climate and renewable targets he took to the state election.<\/p>\n \u201cThe market is moving. The Queensland government should not hold it back.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The co-owner of Queensland\u2019s biggest coal-fired power station in Gladstone has said it could close the plant in March 2029 \u2013 six years earlier than expected. The power station \u2013 one of the least reliable in the national electricity market \u2013 is seen as a critical part of the region\u2019s heavy industry, providing power to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[752,1083,15169,442,5237,5238,1664,11279,2537,637],"class_list":{"0":"post-25074","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-biggest","9":"tag-close","10":"tag-coalfired","11":"tag-early","12":"tag-fossil","13":"tag-fuels","14":"tag-power","15":"tag-queenslands","16":"tag-station","17":"tag-years"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}