NQ jobs, cheaper power a step closer

2 FEBRUARY 2017: New jobs and lower power prices could come to North Queensland as momentum builds for a low-emissions coal-fired power generator in the North. My call for a clean coal generator in North Queensland has received a boost with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull supporting the technology and emphasising the need for affordable and reliable electricity.In North Queensland, we have the opportunity to embrace proven clean coal technology that will create real and sustainable employment while delivering lower power prices with fewer emissions. Townsville Enterprise Limited (TEL) released a report last year that found a coal-fired generator built at the mouth of a thermal coal mine in the north would be commercially viable and would also lower electricity prices.Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull yesterday called out Labor’s extreme emissions targets as a “sure recipe to deliver much more expensive and much less reliable power”. He said Australia was the largest exporter of coal and had invested $590 million since 2009 in clean coal technology but was yet to take advantage of that technology.Adani’s mine in the Galilee Basin was specifically mentioned in TEL’s report as a cost-effective and efficient location to build such a generator. Building an ultra-super-critical generator at the Carmichael mine would make a lot of sense because Adani was predominantly a power company. Adani’s focus is on generating and supplying electricity. Their move into coal mining is only to secure their fuel supply.I have sought discussions with Adani to consider building a clean coal generator that would use some of the coal produced at the Carmichael mine. But I am also calling on other thermal coal miners to put their hand up to link into the new technology. I visited an ultra-super-critical power generator operated by Adani in India (see photo) to see how reliable and affordable baseload power could be produced with 40 per cent fewer emissions. Adani has the runs on the board with this new technology, which will be instrumental in India’s push to bring affordable electricity to hundreds of millions of people.We have the technology, we have a Prime Minister making affordable and reliable electricity a priority and we have a report that shows how that priority can be delivered for North Queensland. The only obstacle is Labor’s alliance with the extreme greens and we have seen their extremist approach to emissions lead to the country’s most expensive and least reliable power in South Australia. A single storm blacked out the entire state of South Australia and we don’t want to see that happening here in Queensland.