Energy Brix power station

The Energy Brix power station is owned by Energy Brix Australia Corporation, a subsidiary of HRL Limited Group.

Background
The power station comprises a 20 megawatt generating unit, three 30 megawatt units and one 60 megawatt unit. Waste heat from the power station is used to dry coal used in briquette production. This reduces the electrical efficiency of the plant which has been assessed as having a "sent out thermal efficiency" of approximately 16.9%.

The power station was previously known as the State Electricity Commission of Victoria's Morwell Briquette and Power Station. A review of the Victorian power grid in 2003 states that the plant has a capacity to produce 1.2 million tonnes of brown coal briquettes from coal produced from the Hazelwood coal mine.

The power station is located near Morwell and in 2009 it was estimated to have emitted 1.59 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt CO2e);

Handout from carbon tax package
HRL received $27,721,819.72 of the $1 billion cash payments given out in 2011/12 to the operators of the most polluting coal-fired power stations. The cash was paid from the Energy Security Fund which was established as a part of the carbon tax legislation passed in 2011.

National Pollutant Inventory Data
The Australian's Government's National Pollutant Inventory lists emissions from the Energy Brix power station for 2008/2009 as being:

HRL threatens closure ... and wins federal funding
In early May 2012 HRL complained that the introduction of the carbon tax would force the closure of the briquette plant. "With the introduction of the carbon tax … the future of Victoria's only brown coal briquette manufacturer is expected to be unsustainable under a business-as-usual scenario," general manager Tony Ferguson said. The Age reported that Luke van der Meulen, the Victorian president of mining and energy for the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, said that that HRL had told workers that both its power station and briquette plant would stop production immediately in July if it was not successful in the contract for closure program, a federal plan to shutter 2000 megawatts of the most greenhouse intensive coal power stations in the country. The Age reported that "if it was successful, HRL had indicated it would manufacture briquettes until 2015 before shutting."

In June 2012 the Federal Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency Greg Combet and the Minister for Regional Australia, Simon Crean stated announced that it would provide "$50 million through a restructuring package to help the Latrobe Valley-based company maintain its production of briquettes for a limited period of time so that downstream users have the required time and certainty to switch to cleaner fuels, such as gas." The media release also stated that "importantly, the restructuring package will help ensure Energy Brix is better equipped to meet its obligations with respect to site rehabilitation and employee entitlements."

The decision was welcomed by HRL and its subsidiaries, Energy Brix Australia Corporation Pty Ltd, and Industrial Energy Pty Ltd

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