“At EnergyAustralia, we’re already constructing Australia’s first carbon offset energy station,” says a smiling tradie in hi-vis overlooking a building web site.
The road is from EnergyAustralia’s new TV advert that has been showing in prime time slots accompanied by Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 basic tune, Don’t Cease.
The corporate stated the advert marketing campaign would showcase “how the main power retailer and generator is supporting cleaner, inexpensive and dependable power.”
However what's a “carbon offset energy station” anyway and is it completely different from some other energy station?
The ability station in query – Tallawarra B – is beneath building close to Wollongong in New South Wales and shall be a fast-start plant that may burn fuel and, because the advert stated, be “hydrogen-capable”.
However in actuality, what EnergyAustralia is doing in constructing a “carbon offset energy station” is establishing a daily fossil gasoline energy station, then understanding what the emissions are, after which shopping for some carbon offsets.
To know how unimpressive that is, take into consideration how you may make the identical declare about anything you selected to assemble like, for instance, a diesel generator.
So long as its emissions, you'll be able to magically flip it right into a “carbon offset diesel generator” by means of the acquisition of carbon credit.
“Offsetting ought to solely be used as a final resort, and to not justify initiatives that ought to be prevented,” stated Dr Megan Evans, an professional in environmental offsets on the College of New South Wales in Canberra.
“That is an inappropriate use of offsetting, however it's more and more getting used as a primary resort, somewhat than a final resort,” she stated.
EnergyAustralia informed Temperature Test it will purchase government-accredited Australian Carbon Credit score Items for its offsets.
However Evans stated any advantages from shopping for offsets tended to not be realised till a few years into the long run, whereas burning fuel in an influence station releases emissions instantly.
“We must be slicing emissions now to remain inside carbon budgets, somewhat than beginning sooner or later.”
Hydrogen serving to?
What about including hydrogen to the fuel at Tallawarra B. Will that make it much less polluting?
EnergyAustralia stated the ability station was designed to simply accept fuel combined with 5% “inexperienced hydrogen” by quantity.
Dr Fiona Beck, an professional within the rising hydrogen financial system on the Australian Nationwide College, stated including this a lot zero-emissions hydrogen would solely scale back emissions from the plant by about 1.6%.
As this column has explored earlier than, some consultants say utilizing zero-emissions hydrogen within the energy sector is more likely to be one of many least economical makes use of of the liquid gasoline.
An EnergyAustralia assertion stated the corporate would “provide to purchase 200,000kg of inexperienced hydrogen for 10 years from 2025” and would examine including extra hydrogen to the combination sooner or later. The “residual” emissions from the ability station would then be offset, the corporate stated.
Taking Beck’s evaluation, these “residual emissions” shall be about 98.4% of them.
Local weather champion?
Within the 45 second TV advert, a workers member makes a daring signoff. After strolling over the MCG turf, the workers member says: “whereas others simply discuss making a greater tomorrow, we’re really doing it.”
EnergyAustralia launched its promoting marketing campaign the identical week it was ranked forty seventh out of fifty in a Greenpeace “inexperienced electrical energy” information.
In keeping with information from the Clear Vitality Regulator, EnergyAustralia is the second highest company emitter of greenhouse gases within the nation, releasing 17.9m tonnes of carbon dioxide equal in 2019-20.
Glenn Walker, senior campaigner at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, stated the corporate was ranked so low due to its excessive annual emissions and since the corporate mines coal and plans to maintain burning it till 2040.
“EnergyAustralia talks about constructing a greater tomorrow, however that is simply blatant greenwashing,” Walker stated. “The ‘tomorrow’ they’re most contributing to is one among local weather chaos.”
EnergyAustralia stated the Tallawarra B “units a brand new benchmark for the way fuel turbines will be in line with NSW’s plan to be web zero by 2050 through the use of inexperienced hydrogen and offsetting residual emissions”.
The corporate was dedicated to being web zero by 2050, “to be out of coal by 2040, and to scale back our direct emissions by 60% by 2028-29 relative to 2019-20”.
The corporate had introduced the early retirement of its Yallourn brown coal energy station and had made commitments to pumped hydro, battery and fuel initiatives “designed to allow extra renewables to enter the system”.
“We're centered on a easy power transition for all, made potential by means of respectful and accountable actions,” EnergyAustralia stated.
Reserving CO2 storage?
A central plank of the data that power firms routinely announce to traders is how a lot fossil fuels they've of their reserves.
However this week oil and fuel firm Santos added one other metric to their “annual reserves assertion” – the quantity of CO2 storage capability the corporate has on its books.
The corporate’s managing director, Kevin Gallagher, introduced it had listed 100m tonnes of CO2 storage which associated to its $220m Moomba carbon seize and storage mission within the Cooper Basin in South Australia.
“This globally vital carbon storage capability reserving is one other tangible instance of Santos main the best way in establishing the foundations to help the power transition,” Gallagher stated.
Temperature Test understands the 100m tonnes of storage pertains to the annual 1.7m tonne capability of its deliberate Moomba mission – that means it will take 59 years to fill.
Although Santos has “booked” the storage, the corporate has solely saved 100 tonnes of CO2 throughout a trial, with the primary injection into the Moomba CCS mission not scheduled till the primary half of 2024.
Santos additionally reported that thanks primarily to a merger with one other power agency, its “proved plus possible” reserves had gone up by 80% to face on the equal of 1,676m barrels of oil.
Specialists at Local weather Analytics – a revered not-for-profit local weather science and coverage consultancy – informed Temperature Test that if bought and burned, these reserves would launch about 512m tonnes of CO2.
Santos has insisted its enterprise plans gained’t compromise its goal to achieve web zero greenhouse fuel emissions by 2040. That concentrate on excludes the emissions from the fossil fuels which can be burned after the corporate has bought them.
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