Commonwealth of Australia Explanatory Memoranda Commonwealth of Australia Explanatory Memoranda[Index] [Search] [Download] [Bill] [Help]
2008
THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
SENATE
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Control of
Power Station Emissions) Bill 2008
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
(Circulated by authority of Senator Lyn Allison)
GENERAL OUTLINE
The purpose of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation
Amendment (Control of Power Station Emissions) Bill 2008 is to amend the
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
This private senator's bill sets an emissions standard of a greenhouse gas
emission intensity threshold that any new power station must comply with by
using a technology with less than 0.6 Tonnes of CO2 equivalent per Mega
Watt Hour (on a full fuel cycle basis).
This will have the effect of focusing the efforts of industry to use coal
or gas in a more efficient and clean manner. A full fuel cycle basis is the
emission-intensity at the smoke stack and not offset through planting trees
or buying carbon credits or other form of offset. Setting this greenhouse
emission intensity threshold will drive innovation and improvements on 100
year old technology currently used in Australian coal fired power stations.
To put this in perspective the average greenhouse intensity of NSW's
electricity between 1998 and 2003 was 1.05 TCO2 / MWh, ultra-supercritical
black coal technology used at Millmerrin Power Station in Queensland is
0.78 TCO2 / MWh, integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) is 0.72 TCO2
/ MWh, combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) is 0.43 TCO2 / MWh - the same
technology used at Swanbank - and gas fired cogeneration is 0.3 TCO2 / MWh.
Currently in Australia power stations must apply to State Environment
Protection Authorities and they must comply with State defined pollution
controls. Greenhouse gas emissions are currently not controlled. This
Bill requires power station approval to be referred to the Minister for the
Environment and only approved after sufficient evidence that the technology
to be used will result in an emission standard of not more than 0.6 Tonnes
of CO2-equivalent per MWh.
At such time that the power station is operating and if the emission
standard is exceeded the power station will be required to cease operation
until the emissions standard can meet the emission standard.
The coal fired power station emission standard in this bill would
complement, not interfere with, an emissions trading scheme.
Market schemes need to be supported and backed up by minimum standard,
below which activity is outlawed. If an emissions trading scheme is the
incentive, then standards are the stick and together they provide the push
and the pull that is needed to reduce carbon intensity.
This bill and the setting of minimum greenhouse emissions intensity for new
power stations is a commitment to and an unequivocal statement to investors
that new power stations must meet a minimum standard. A regulatory minimum
is the insurance policy on an emissions trading scheme. It closes the door
on any temptation on going back to the polluting clunkers that belong to
the 19th century technology. It would close the door on allowing
mothballed power stations like Hazelwood in the Latrobe Valley - the worst
of the worst of the greenhouse polluters - from coming back on line.