Philip Hopkins
42 POSTS
Coal cancellation
A drive to establish new industry and jobs using Latrobe Valley's brown coal in non-energy ways is effectively dead after the state government stopped funding research into the work, a decision denounced as "folly" and "ideological madness" by local leaders. Australian Carbon Innovation at Federation University, which since 2011 has been researching the non-energy use of brown coal that does not produce greenhouse gas emissions, will close on June 30 after the government pulled the plug on funding.
Radial Timber taking on power
Radial Timber in Yarram, with a strategy already in place for its mainstream timber operation, has embarked on a new approach to using its wood waste that takes the company deeper into the heart of the sustainable, circular economy. Radial has installed a pilot plant that uses pyrolysis technology; organic material, in this case wood residues, is burnt at high temperatures without oxygen to produce biochar, a stable solid that is rich in carbon and can fertilise and endure in soil for thousands of years.
Farmers attack energy fast-track
The state government’s new policy to fast-track renewable energy projects by accelerating planning approvals has been strongly attacked by Victoria’s peak farming body and one of the state’s leading planning experts. The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) said the policy was a slap in the face after years of sham consultation with farming communities, while the RMIT Emeritus Professor of Environment and Planning, Michael Buxton, said it would lead to “terrible decisions”, with wind and solar farms being “placed in the wrong location".
VicGrid study area released
VicGrid has released its study area for the new transmission infrastructure through South Gippsland that will transport energy from offshore wind into the Latrobe Valley (LV) electricity grid. The study area starts about six kilometres from the coast near Giffard and travels north-west past Stradbroke West, to Willung, across to Flynns Creek and on to the Loy Yang power station.
Interstate farmers unite in the face of transmission lines
Victorian and Tasmanian farmer peak bodies have produced a policy for developers who want to build infrastructure, such as transmission lines for renewable energy, across their farmland. They warned that since the year 2000, Australia’s available arable land had been reduced by 15 per cent, much of it lost to infrastructure development and urban sprawl. The policy has been released as Gippsland farmers face plans for pipelines and transmission lines across their land as part of the state government’s energy policy, which aims to link offshore wind farms to the Latrobe Valley energy network.
Experts query wind plans costs and timing
The state government is accelerating planning approvals for renewable projects as several energy experts have predicted that Victoria's wind energy will be more expensive and will take longer to meet targets than the government has estimated. The Premier, Jacinta Allan, last week announced renewable projects will be eligible for an accelerated planning pathway under the Development Facilitation Program (DFP).
Liberals seek nuclear social licence
With the Latrobe Valley a possible site for a nuclear power station, the federal Opposition has upped the argument for nuclear as a possible way for the nation to lower greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining a reliable and cheaper energy supply.
More Opal jobs to go
About 40 salaried jobs at the Maryvale Mill will be gone by June as Opal moves to slash further positions across the company in a bid to stabilise its financial performance. The 40 are believed to be among about 220 salaried company-wide employees who will be made redundant, adding to the more than 300 workers who lost their jobs when Maryvale's white paper production plant was closed late last year.
Mill jobs likely to be lost amid transition
More jobs are likely to be lost at the Maryvale Paper Mill, where more than 300 workers have already been made redundant as the parent company Opal continues a major shutdown to transition to a packaging paper manufacturer. White paper production - the well-known Reflex copy paper brand - ceased before Christmas, 2023. "This unfortunate situation has led to more than 300 redundancies to-date at Opal," a company spokeswoman said.
Plans for Delburn
The Delburn Wind Farm developer, Osmi Australia, has allayed speculation that the project would be affected by the federal government's rejection on environmental grounds of the Port of Hastings as a construction site ... Delburn involves the construction of 33 wind turbines each about 250 metres in height on plantation forest land owned by HVP Plantations ... recently deployed new fire detection technology that it said was a first for Australia and the wind farm industry.
