Australian coal mining firm Waratah Coal has put forward proposals for the construction of a new 700 MW supercritical coal fired plant in Queensland.
The firm’s Chairman, Clive Palmer, has announced that it would be seeking an amendment to a draft environmental permit for a proposed coal mining project in Queensland to include the power station as well as associated transmission lines, coal handling facilities, ash containment and water storage facilities.
The announcement came in the wake of a decision by former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to drop the country’s greenhouse gas emissions targets after a long-running debate in the country over the cost of clean energy.
In a statement, Palmer said that the Galilee power plant would be built on the mining lease for the Waratah’s Galilee coal project, approximately 30 km north of the central western Queensland township of Alpha. “I am putting my money where my mouth is by announcing this new station so we can power Queensland and help bring down energy costs which continue to escalate,” Palmer said.
He added: “Galilee power station will be developed as a contingent component of the overall [Galilee coal mining] project, providing power needs for mine operations, coal transportation and port operations, ready for export coal to Gladstone and future power needs for our proposed North Galilee coal mine development.”
Construction of the coal fired power plant could begin in June 2020. The first of its two units would be commissioned three years later, and the second unit six months after that.
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