Rising electricity prices, the prediction of power interruptions and chronic water shortages must force the State Government to stop its reliance on coal-fired power stations.
That's the warning from the NSW Greens, who accused the Government of living in "coal fantasy land" yesterday after proposed changes to water-allocation rules for the Bayswater and Liddell power stations in the Hunter Valley.
Premier Morris Iemma announced on Friday that 40 billion litres of water from Glenbawn Dam would be kept as a "strategic reserve" to protect power generators against the drought.
Bayswater and Liddell power stations, which source water from Glenbawn Dam and the Hunter River, would be granted easier access to the river in another move to ensure power supplies.
Greens MP John Kaye said the health of the Hunter River was being sacrificed. It was inevitable the drought would result in restrictions on how power stations operated.
"The hard reality is that coal-fired power stations require large amounts of water," Dr Kaye said. ". . . the only cure is to move to technologies that are not water dependent.
"Wind generation, solar photovoltaic panels and energy efficiency take almost no water to operate.
"Hot-rocks geothermal, biomass and solar thermal use some water, but can be designed to be less thirsty than coal."
NSW Energy Minister Ian Macdonald, who met fellow energy ministers in Melbourne on Friday, said it was a high priority for the state to secure water stocks for power generation.
A spokesman for Mr Macdonald said yesterday that NSW was "leading the way" in exploring cleaner coal technologies and pressing for a national emissions trading scheme.
Dr Kaye said the Government was locked into a vicious cycle of droughts and water shortages.
"If yesterday's Ministerial Council on Energy meeting had put the security of supply to consumers ahead of their loyalty to the coal corporations, they would have confronted the realities of fossil-fuel generation," he said. "Building new coal-fired power stations would not only increase our vulnerability to water shortages but also add to greenhouse gas emissions, leading to more frequent and severe droughts.
"Their failure to act is committing this state to a future of rising power prices, frequent interruptions to supply and reducing water available for agriculture and environmental flows."
The water crisis in the Hunter will be in the spotlight next weekend when Greenpeace hosts a rally at Anvil Hill, the proposed site of a coalmine. Source: The Sun-Herald
