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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 3 Hansard (9 March) . . Page.. 832 ..

MR SMYTH (continuing):

station will do for us. His question was: "How will it survive in a highly competitive market?". The answer is that it survives by using appropriate, modern technology which gives it the appropriate capability to interact in the new electricity market.

I think it shows a degree of ignorance on behalf of the Labor Party that they do not understand the advantages of gas-fired technology over black- and brown-coal-fired technology. It is important to put the following on the record. A gas-fired electricity generator brings significant benefits, including greenhouse gas emission reduction. Coal-fired generation will be replaced. The security of electricity supply will improve. It will have a smoothing effect on electricity price fluctuations. It is very important to understand that in the context of the new electricity market.

If the AGL/ACTEW partnership goes ahead on schedule by July 2000, it is expected that the partnership can construct a 90-megawatt open cycle gas plant by the end of the year 2001. This will bring benefits, and those benefits will be substantial. Natural gas-fired generators emit between 38 and 50 per cent less greenhouse gas than black or brown coal generators. Members have to remember that the majority of our power comes from Yallourn, which is generated from brown coal - one of the worst sources of electricity that we can rely on.

Given that our power largely comes from these coal-fired power stations, replacing this with some or all of the electricity from the gas-powered fire station would clearly make a very valuable contribution not only to the ACT's greenhouse gas reduction efforts but also nationally. Indeed, it is consistent with the Assembly's 1996 resolution which called for an ACT greenhouse strategy that would take account of gases emitted in the Territory and, in the case of electricity, those gases emitted elsewhere as a result of electricity consumption in the ACT. What we have here is the ability to purchase from a gas-fired generator, and we would offset those brown coal gas emissions.

ACTEW has advised that, based on projected electricity market conditions, this plant can be configured for peak or intermediately low plant times, and run for up to 4,000 to 5,000 hours a years. So it will produce somewhere between 360 and 450 gigawatt hours per annum. That will result in the reduction of some 55,000 to 68,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per annum compared to black coal. This is a real and quite tangible benefit. It is achievable. It represents a saving of 3 per cent on current emissions arising from electricity consumed in the ACT. So what we do is take responsibility for the greenhouse gas generated on our behalf, and we have an option that will allow us to reduce that.

If demand is sufficient, the plant can then be converted to a combined cycle plant, which would make it even more efficient and reduce emissions relative to black coal generation still further. In addition, the size of the plant can be increased by modules, which would lead to even greater generations and therefore an even greater reduction in emissions.

The gas-fired power station in the ACT region would also bring greater surety of electricity supply to local consumers. Currently we have the mini-hydro scheme on Stromlo, but we are almost completely reliant on power stations and transmission

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