'No formal decision' made to close Hazelwood power station: Frydenberg

Friday, 28 Oct 2016 07:05:40 | Patrick Wright

There is continued speculation about the future of the Hazelwood plant, Australia's dirtiest power station. (ABC News: Helen Brown)

Federal Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg says he understands no formal decision has been made to close the Hazelwood power plant in Victoria's Latrobe Valley.

Key points:

Josh Frydenberg travels to Paris to meet with ENGIE and France's environment minister
He says "no formal decision" has been taken by Hazelwood's two owners to close the plant
Mr Frydenberg "underlined" importance of looking after Hazelwood workers

Mr Frydenberg travelled to Paris this week to meet with French Environment Minister Ségolène Royal and the chief executive of ENGIE, a French company that owns 72 per cent of the Hazelwood station.

The remaining share is owned by a Japanese company, Mitsui.

Speaking from Paris after the meetings, Mr Frydenberg said despite continued speculation about Hazelwood's future, he could not pre-empt a decision by the plant's owners.

"We're very conscious at the Federal Government level of the heightened speculation about Hazelwood's future," he told 774 ABC Melbourne's Mornings with Jon Faine.

"But as for a formal response from the Federal Government and no doubt from the State Government, that will come when a formal decision is taken and, as I understand it, no formal decision has yet been taken by the two companies."

Workers should be looked after 'first and foremost'

Mr Frydenberg said closing Hazelwood would have "major ramifications and implications", including for 1,000 workers directly or indirectly employed at the plant.

"What has been underlined to those companies is the importance of looking after the workers first and foremost," he said.

Looking to the future

With coninuted questions about the future of the Hazelwood power station, the next generation has its eyes set on renewable energy.

Closing Hazelwood would also impact Australia's energy security and the environment, Mr Frydenberg said.

The plant currently provides 22 per cent of Victoria's electricity demand and supports about 5 per cent of the national electricity market, he added.

"When you take out the low-cost brown-coal-fired generation from the system, you ultimately replace it with something that costs more," he said.

"The environment will be impacted, too, because Hazelwood is the dirtiest fired power station in the country."

A Fairfax Media report in September suggested the plant would be shut down permanently in April 2017, but ENGIE said "categorically there [had] been no decision made".

The French Government is a part-owner of the Hazelwood station via its 33 per cent interest in ENGIE.

According to Environment Victoria, Hazelwood is responsible for 15 per cent of Victoria's annual greenhouse gas emissions and 3 per cent of national emissions.

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'No formal decision' made to close Hazelwood power station: Frydenberg

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Workers should be looked after 'first and foremost'

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