Approvals for dormant power stations

The state government has given environmental approval for three power stations, two of which are in doubt.

The ruling by Environment Minister Donna Faragher relates to the new Coolimba power station, the expanded Bluewaters power stations and the refurbished Muja power station at Collie.

The Aviva Corporations proposed 450 megawatt Coolimba Power Station was shelved after it was passed over for a critical baseload supply contract with retailer Synergy.

In October last year, Aviva said it would seek a buyer to take on the $1 billion Coolimba proposal after Synergy chose to procure new supplies from state owned generation sibling Verve Energy. Aviva had been relying on a contract with Synergy to make the project bankable.

Griffin Energy's proposed Bluewaters 4 and Bluewaters 4 power plants at Collie were given conditional approval in March.

But this project is also in doubt in the wake of Griffin's $1 billion collapse.

If the projects go ahead they will have to introduce strict greenhouse gas abatement programs.

Ms Faragher re-confirmed that reducing greenhouse gas was best addressed through a national approach and the timing and details was a matter for the Federal Government.

The state government has given environmental approval for three power stations, two of which are in doubt.

But Ms Faragher considered it appropriate for proponents to implement greenhouse gas abatement programs to address carbon emissions, prior to the introduction of a national approach.

Consistent with advice from the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), a greenhouse gas abatement program will require the power stations to achieve continuous improvement in net greenhouse gas emissions through the adoption of advances in technology and process management.

This includes consideration of carbon capture and storage and the use of new technologies to improve the efficiency of the generator units.

"To ensure transparency, the abatement program will be reviewed every year and the proponents will engage an independent specialist to undertake an audit every second year to confirm best practice standards and technologies are being adopted," said Ms Faragher.

"These will be publicly available, allowing the community the opportunity to assess the proponent's performance.

"These decisions provide a consistent approach to greenhouse gas emissions and place the onus on the proponents to identify best practices in greenhouse gas abatement."