Griffin steps up plans for more coal-fired power

West Australian
Tuesday 22/4/2008 Page: 11

Ric Stowe's Griffin Group hopes to have final environmental approvals by mid-2009 to build another two coal-fired power stations near Collie and will consider more in the future to meet the growing demand for electricity in WA. Griffin's two new 208 megawatt Bluewaters coal-fired units, which will cost up to $500 million each, will have to meet the highest level of environmental assessment after the Environmental Protection Authority ruled yesterday they would be subject to a full public environmental review.

The EPA released its assessment decision as Greens MLC Paul Llewellyn said he would introduce a Bill in State Parliament seeking to prevent any more conventional coal-fired power stations in WA. "We can't afford to approve more coal-fired power stations that will lock in high emissions for the next 30 years," Mr Llewellyn said. As The West Australian revealed last week, Griffin is seeking approval to build the two new coalfired power stations at its Coolangatta industrial estate near Collie, where the Stowe company is already building the first two Bluewaters units. Griffin hopes to sell that extra 416MW of power to State-owned retailer Synergy and big industrial customers.

The company also plans to build a second wind farm near Cervantes, capable of producing up to 130MW Griffin power generation chief Wayne Trumble said yesterday the two new Bluewaters units would include technology to remove sulfur dioxide and would be engineered to capture carbon when such technology became commercially viable. Mr Trumble said the new power stations would also be built so 15 per cent of the fuel could be provided by biomass.

He anticipated Griffin would have its environmental approvals in place by mid-2009, enabling construction of the third unit to begin by September next year. The public environmental review includes an eight-week public consultation period, which will help shape the recommendations the EPA will make to Environment Minister David Templeman. The process starts with a community meeting in Collie scheduled for May 7.

Mr Trumble claimed coal had a long-term future as a source of fuel for electricity generation in WA because as January's shutdown on North-West Shelf plant had illustrated, the State could not afford to be over-reliant on gas. He said while also pursuing plans for gasfired power generation and wind farms, Griffin would consider building more coal-fired power stations to keep pace with growing demand for energy.

Mr Llewellyn queried whether Griffin had complied with the conditions of its first two Bluewaters units, claiming it had not made public its greenhouse gas abatement program in the specified time. But Mr Trumble said Griffin's abatement plan was with the Department of Environment and Conservation awaiting approval.