A NEW ranking by the federal government’s Department of Climate Change has listed state-owned power generator, Verve Energy, as Western Australia’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases.
Operators of coal-fired power stations head the national list, which provides the greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption figures for 230 Australian corporations.
The data was reported under national greenhouse reporting laws introduced in 2007, which required corporations to report if greenhouse gas emissions exceeded 125 kilotonnes (the threshold for 2008-09).
NSW-based operation Macquarie Generation topped the national list.
The state-owned corporation, which is Australia’s largest electricity generator, produced 25 million tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2008-09.
Delta Electricity, which also is based in NSW, was next on the list with 22mt.
In all, 30 companies with major WA operations made the list, including Alcoa, Wesfarmers, Rio Tinto and Woodside.
Verve produced nearly 11mt of greenhouse-gas emissions in the 2008-09 period.
Woodside, as operator of the North West Shelf venture’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant at Karratha, was second on the list for WA, with emissions of just more than 8mt.
While Woodside is a large emitter as a result of the energy used extracting and liquefying gas, the LNG it exports is considered a clean fuel.
Other large emitters in WA to be included on the government’s list include Alcoa of Australia, which operates three alumina refineries in WA as well as an energy intensive aluminium smelter in Victoria, and Cockburn Cement owner Adelaide Brighton.
Verve sparked controversy late last year when its plan to spend $100 million refurbishing the Muja A/B power station was not formally assessed by the Environmental Protection Authority.
Verve intends to upgrade the station so that it can be brought back online on a semi-permanent basis. Muja is one of WA’s oldest and least efficient coal-fired generators.
State Labor environment spokeswoman Sally Talbot said the publication of the list was a wake-up call for industry and expected there would be increased public pressure for significant improvement in this area.
