Tony Wolfe toiled at a coal-fired power station for more than 40 years to help keep the lights on across the nation.
But that does not mean he is a fan of coal.
Overlooking the power plant’s long shadows that fall across the Latrobe Valley’s rolling hills in Victoria’s east, Mr Wolfe dreams of a greener future.
“When I first started as a 15-year-old electrician we didn’t know the damage that coal was doing [to the environment],” Mr Wolfe said.
Mr Wolfe has since retired and now spends his days advocating for Australia’s renewable energy transition.He is not a fan of the Coalition’s election promise to build a nuclear reactor in his old workplace if it forms government.
And he thinks his fellow workers are being kicked around like an election football.
“I think coal workers have been used as a political toy,” Mr Wolfe said.
“If it had happened 30 years ago it might have ended up being part of our energy mix.
“I think we’re too late, we’re too far behind.”
Peter Dutton has promised to build the seven reactors over 25 years at a cost of about $331 billion.He said the proposal, with the first nuclear power plant operational by 2036, would be half the cost of the Labor government’s renewables approach.
This claim is at odds with the CSIRO and Australian Energy Market Operator which say nuclear would cost twice as much as renewable energy.Having worked at most of the Gippsland region’s power stations, Mr Wolfe has witnessed a lot of change.He is also well aware of the delicate relationship residents in the area have with brown coal.
“The workforce in the Latrobe Valley and the community is extremely proud of having produced electricity for Australia for 100 years,” he said.
“This region’s been built on coal.”
There were four major power stations in operation at the peak of coal-power production in the Latrobe Valley — Loy Yang A and B, Yallourn and Hazelwood.
Hazelwood was decommissioned in 2017, Yallourn is scheduled to close by 2028, Loy Yang A by 2035 and Loy Yang B by the mid-2040s. Mr Wolfe said he understood why they were being decommissioned.
“They’re becoming more unreliable, they’re requiring more maintenance, and we’ve worked out that there’s cleaner, cheaper, safer ways to produce electricity,” he said. Adding to the peculiarity of the region’s power struggles is the fact Gippsland is also home to Australia’s first declared offshore wind zone, a 15,000 square kilometre area in Bass Strait.
The Australian government has so far granted 12 feasibility licences for offshore wind projects.”We’re already at 40 per cent renewables in the grid, we need to continue that roll out,” Mr Wolfe said.
“The coal workers and the community have been used as toys in a game backwards and forwards where neither party has been able to commit to energy policy.”
Community divided
Andy McCarthy is no stranger to the energy debate, having established Gippsland’s first solar panel installation company in 2010.
He has since sold the business but vividly recalls being laughed at when he started selling the solar dream to Latrobe Valley residents.
