Restart of Redbank Power Station

My wife and I have been witnessing the destruction of our beautiful native forests here on the mid north coast for the last few decades and wonder when sanity will prevail and it will cease.
The major political parties are now finally admitting the stupidity of continuing to burn fossil fuels with the climate crisis facing the planet proven beyond doubt.
Burning timber for electricity production is simply crazy and if this proposal is approved it will obviously increase the likelihood of greater land clearing which will be at the expense of our already threatened native animals.
For the sake of our country and the planet please stop this plan from proceeding.
Sincerely yours,
John and Sarah Manderson

Our business is based on the beneficial reuse of materials and we therefore support this project. We can envisage that a similar project in our State would be greatly beneficial to the environment and the economy. We hope that this exciting project gets the support that it deserves and therefore set an example for the rest of Australia.

I strongly support this application for its significant environmental and regional benefits. Transitioning from coal to biomass fuel, including waste wood and invasive plants, offers:
Positive environmental impact by utilising waste biomass.
Generation of green energy with net zero emissions.
Complementary role in addressing intermittency alongside solar and wind.
Enhanced regional energy stability and job creation.
With my background in renewable energy and greenhouse gas emissions, I strongly endorse this application.

I am in full support of the Redbank Power Station re-opening. I believe that Australia needs to move away from fossil fuel energy to more eco-friendly solutions to lessen the carbon emissions. Hopefully the other states will start looking at more sustainable energy solutions. Redbank will not only do this but create hundreds of jobs for the local community.

I support the proposal to help create a more sustainable future for Australian children for the following reasons:
• The restart of the Redbank Power Station using sustainable biomass fuel will increase the production of green baseload electricity in NSW.
• I understand that the proposal will be the first power station in the Hunter Valley to produce green electricity and completely move away from coal, which should be supported.
• The proposal will help to drive down emissions from the electricity generation sector and help achieve the NSW and Australian Government's target of net zero emissions by 2050.
• The proposal will result in minimal environmental impacts to local communities.
• The production of local fuel crops, by growing them on formerly mined land will help restore and bring these sites into productive use, with environmental and economic benefits.
• The proposal will create over 400 direct jobs for the Hunter region community, being critically important as coal mining in the region declines.

I support the project.

NSW is facing an energy crisis, and blackouts during peak usage periods remain a significant concern we need to explore all options for renewable energy and Redbank will be a great example of the use of biomass.
I believe that having a wide range of enegy sources will protect Australian households and industry into the future.
For example, if you look at Europe, some countries over dependance on one source of energy has had huge impacts of the generation of energy, namely Germany and Russian gas. By having a wide range of energy production will help alleviate this concerns.

If the NSW Government is serious about its commitment to the Net Zero Plan, this project must be implemented. The restart of Redbank – remodelled as a renewable energy generator – will provide NSW with a proven and reliable source of clean electricity. The NSW Government attests to the desirability of bioenergy – as of today (27 March 2024), the Energy NSW website states that “electricity generation from biomass, particularly agricultural waste, landfill and sewage gases, is well established. However, there is great potential to increase production during peak demand. Biofuels will play a major role in improving fuel security and reducing environmental impacts.” This project fulfils these twin aims. As a lawyer operating in the energy sector for several years, I have seen firsthand the limitations of some RETs, government inaction and leadership blunders (see, for example, the Government’s buy back of the coal-fired Vales Point). It’s high time the paradigm shifted. Moving forward with this project would propel NSW into a cleaner, greener future without compromising on grid stability.

It will help create more renewable energy, the very fact it will be run on bio mass shows less of greenhouse generation along with putting the bio mass to more effective use.

I believe this proposal should be rejected by the NSW Government because it seriously fails the test of sustainable development.

The proposal assumes that burning 850,000 tonnes of wood on site to generate electricity will result in no CO2 emissions, whereas it will result in the release of some 1.3 million tonnes of CO2 each year. There will be additional emissions from debris and soils at the clearing sites, and from processing and transporting wood products and other plant material. The fuel cost of transporting hundreds of thousands of tonnes of woody biomass to chipping/storage/collection sites will be significant and don't appear to be factored into any of the economic, transport or greenhouse gas discussion in the EIS.

The intent is to initially obtain at least 790,000 tonnes of feedstock each year from land clearing, primarily in western NSW. The proponent claims there are millions of hectares approved for clearing that have not yet been cleared. Creating this market will incentivize clearing (which is already poorly regulated), with at least 16,000 ha a year identified as needed.

There has been no assessment of the environmental impacts of the extensive land clearing proposed, including the loss of wildlife habitat, or the CO2 it will release. The Biodiversity Assessment Report for the EIS only addresses the impacts on biodiversity from the development at the Redbank site and fails to address the biodiversity impacts of sourcing material from land clearing and growing crops. This is outrageous given that we are facing a biodiversity crisis. For this reason alone, the proposal and EIS should be rejected.

We’re in a climate crisis, and we must de-carbonise the economy immediately. Burning carbon (plants) for electricity creates CO2 (and incidentally, CH4 and N2O which are many times more destructive). In fact, it’s worse than burning coal because it emits 50% more CO2 per MWh of energy produced than coal. In 2019, 800 scientists from across the world signed a petition condemning burning biomass for electricity. The claim of ‘carbon neutral’ (or ‘near zero carbon’) is also fallacious because it ignores the time it takes to replace the burned carbon, by the vegetation growing back. The time lag from CO2 emission to recapture can be decades – and we don’t have that time. Furthermore, there’s no intention to replace that vegetation.

There’s no limit to the amount of forestry sawmill ‘waste’ the power station can burn and this could lead to a potentially unregulated source of forest wood.

Investment in this project (whether public or private) undermines investment in genuine renewables such as solar and wind and that is what State and Federal Governments should be incentivizing.

Yours sincerely
Les Mitchell
Port Macquarie NSW

I strongly believe we need to protect our environment for future generations, a key part of which is decarbonisation of our energy generation processes. Renewables such as wind and solar are clearly the optimal solution however, their generation is intermittent, and therefore they are not necessarily suitable for base load power. My understanding from reading about the opinions of various stake holders across the globe, the path forward will not be linear, and will require a mix of solutions to achieve the ultimate goal. It seems that in relation to base load power, fossil fuels are likely to be with us for some time, unless we look at alternatives. My initial reaction to this project was that the use of biomass seems like a backward step however, from an energy transition perspective it makes a lot of sense. Since the biomass used will have sequestered carbon during the growth phase, and simply releases that carbon during the energy generation process, it stands to reason that it is carbon neutral. This seems far superior for our environment, compared to extracting (at great effort, and environmental risk), fossils fuels formed millions of years ago, and releasing excess carbon into our atmosphere. I believe this project can form part of the solution for the energy transition here in Australia, and I am therefore supportive of the project.

Please find submission attached.

I wish to lodge my support for the restarting of Redbank power Station

See attached a letter of support for this project.

This project needs to happen asap in regards to the safety and supply of base load power to nsw customers, it’s a no brainer to restart existing infrastructure !

Not only is this initiative an excellent oppertunity for employment it provides a green solution for energy production of which is greatly needed in Australia! The on going increases in the cost of electricity to consummers and the increase in supply demand from industry and now the push for electric vehicles has brought Australia to a point of an urgent need for Electrical energy generation. The Green agenda to shut down coal fired power plants again reinforces the need for this project to go ahead and it has my full support as it should for every Australian.

I wholeheartedly support Verdant Earth Technologies Limited's proposal to rejuvenate the Redbank Power Station using sustainable biomass, excluding native forestry residues, to produce near net zero CO2 emissions and green electricity.

This initiative not only aligns with the urgent global call for renewable energy solutions and carbon footprint reduction but also serves as a pioneering model for converting traditional power facilities into sustainable energy sources.

By prioritizing eco-friendly fuel sourcing and targeting significant CO2 emission reductions, the project promises to contribute substantially to environmental conservation, stimulate local economic growth through job creation, and position the region as a leader in the renewable energy sector.

I urge the approval of this forward-thinking and beneficial proposal for a greener and sustainable energy future.

I believe New South Wales is in strong need of firming capacity within the grid. Redbank Power Station represents a unique opportunity for the NSW Government to progress towards their 2030 renewable energy targets in line with their primary objectives under the Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap.

Further, as per the NSW State commissioned O'Reilly 'Electiricity Supply and Reliability Check-up', bioenergy has been identified as a key component of NSW energy generation mix. Given the increasing lack of bankability of wind / solar and retirement of coal, bioenergy (particularly a station that is retiring their coal licence and avoiding burning native forestry + ready to begin generation within a year) should be seen as critical to supporting the NSW electricity market.

I think this project would add to the local economy and society in general. It is in line with Australia's drive to sustainable power generation, utilises facilities already existing and has a feed source that is considered an invasive plants. Further to this it will provide much needed stable baseload power and in future provide Hydrogen fuelling station to supply local industry.
The project studies I have read provide extensive detail and has local support now that they removes waste trees as fuel source - which I would have considered an acceptable fuel source regardless - yet the company has listened to feedback and adjusted its design accordingly.
In my opinion I believe this project should be restarted and supported as a state critical infrastructure

Thank you

NSW is facing an energy crisis, and blackouts during peak usage periods remain a significant concern. By 2025, the energy market will have a supply gap of 191MW, and the generation and storage technologies that can be built and commissioned within this timeframe are limited.