Hazelwood FAQs

Hazelwood is jointly owned by French company ENGIE (72 percent) and Japanese company Mitsui & Co. (28 percent). ENGIE decided to close Hazelwood because it committed to “making climate a priority” by signing onto the COP 21 Business and Climate Summit. 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Kocher said the company was ‘reviewing its remaining coal plants one by one and would close those with the most outdated technology.’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 percent of the company, and has also committed to strong action on climate change. 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. Environment Victoria has been campaigning to replace Hazelwood with clean energy like wind and solar for over a decade.

2010: Protestors closed down portions of the CBD in Melbourne at a demonstration organised by Environment Victoria to call for the replacement of Hazelwood Power Station.

International efforts to curb climate emissions and shift to renewable energy, combined with a growing realisation that coal is a technology past – is causing many coal fired power stations in Australia to shut their doors.

The transition from coal is inevitable. What Australia needs is a nationally led coal closure plan to provide more certainty and notice to communities near power stations and help drive efforts to diversify regional economies, rather than leaving it too late, which is what has happened with each closure so far.

ABOVE: A failure to plan is a plan to fail … At the 2017 Sustainable Living Festival ex-CEO Mark Wakeham joined Mark Richards (a ex-worker at Hazelwood power station), Olivia Kember (head of Policy at The Climate Institute) and Ben Davison (Chief of Staff at the ACTU) for the ‘Beyond hazelwood’ panel discussion.

In 2014, the coal mine attached to Hazelwood Power Station caught fire. The fire burned for 45 days, covering Morwell and surrounding areas in toxic smoke and ash.

The evidence heard at the first inquiry into the Hazelwood mine fire found that mine rehabilitation is the best way of preventing coal mines from catching on fire. Unfortunately, rehabilitation works aren’t happening fast enough. Only small areas are rehabilitated each year, leaving vast expanses of open-cut coal exposed, increasing the risk of fire and increasing the amount of coal dust being blown onto nearby communities.

Mine rehabilitation across the Latrobe Valley will also create hundreds of secure jobs. Our report ‘Preventing the Preventable’ estimates it could create between 450-600 long-lasting jobs in the Latrobe Valley.

The rehabilitation bonds are paid by the mine operators to the government, to cover the full cost of rehabilitation works if the company fails to meet their obligations. Since the second Hazelwood Mine Fire Inquiry, the bonds have now been set to match the companies’ own estimates of rehabilitation costs, but actual costs could be much higher. The most recent estimates are that it will cost $439 million to rehabilitate the Hazelwood mine – significantly higher than its bond of $73 million.

This means Victorian taxpayers might be forced to foot the bill if mine operators don’t deliver on their rehabilitation obligations.

ENGIE is under a legal obligation to rehabilitate the mine site, an effort which is unprecedented in size in Australia. Mining companies need to be held to account for this essential component of their operations.

While Australia has enough excess electricity generation capacity to cover the closure of Hazelwood, it is vital Australia has a strategy to transition away from coal, starting by closing the most polluting power stations.

‘Leaving it to the market’ is not the best option for cutting climate pollution (if the lost capacity from a less polluting plant is taken up by a more polluting plant, emissions could actually rise). Having no plan also means there is no way of knowing for sure where or when the next power station retirement will occur, fuelling speculation and anxiety. This makes it harder to plan for proper economic diversification and life after coal.

It is now widely accepted – by NGOs, unions, the energy industry, analysts – that a government-led plan is needed to manage the phase-out of coal-burning power stations, as part of a comprehensive plan to deal with global warming. Polling shows that the vast majority of Victorians support such a plan.

The Australian Energy Market Operator has estimated that meeting the current (very weak) federal climate targets will require the closure of 8700 MW of coal-burning power stations before 2030. The Climate Institute estimates that we need to close one Hazelwood-sized power station a year from now until the early 2030s.

For more details on the need for a plan to phase out coal power stations and to provide transition support for workers and communities, see our submission to the Senate Inquiry into the Retirement of Coal-Fired Power Stations.

If you also think a coordinated approach to our energy and climate challenges is preferable to economic and environmental chaos – then sign our petition calling for a national plan on coal closure.