The Climate Council has serious concerns about the proposed gas power station in Kurri Kurri, NSW.
As we continue to feel the impacts of climate change amid the growing consensus that no new fossil fuel infrastructure can be built, we are extremely concerned that this proposal will add a large amount of unneeded new fossil fuel capacity to the electricity grid when we need to be phasing out fossil fuels. We also do not believe the justification provided for this project in the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is backed up by evidence.
This submission will:
- Explain the urgent need to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and bring to an end new development of fossil fuels, based on the latest science,
- Critique the justification for this project and outline the authoritative evidence that new gas power station capacity is not needed,
- Explain how gas drives up power prices, and
- Question the reliability of gas power stations.
The Climate Council finds that there is no case to build a large gas power station and recommends that the department should reject this EIS. If Snowy Hydro is intent on building 750MW of new dispatchable capacity, they should submit an EIS for a similarly sized battery or pumped hydro project. This would help reduce New South Wales’ emissions, improve grid security and put downward pressure on electricity prices.
Or download the full submission here
