NEWS of a start date for Origin's battery storage facility at Eraring has prompted a reminder to stakeholders' of their obligation to ensure ash stores, old and new, are re-used.
Origin Energy Limited announced on Thursday that works on the first stage of a large-scale battery at the Eraring Power Station would start in coming weeks.
Eraring is Australia's largest power station, supplying around a quarter of NSW's energy needs, and Origin's only coal-fired generator.
The Coal-ash Community Alliance said the community was pleased to see Origin utilising the public infrastructure it bought from the government to transition away from coal-fired power generation. With that opportunity comes the obligation not only to manage the freshly produced ash, but also to invest in the productive use of the ash already stored, the alliance said, calling for a costed plan to empty existing ash dams.
The organisation's treasurer, Julia Stenton, called on Origin Energy executive Frank Calabria to meet with the community.
"We would like him to outline their plans to reuse the ash, preferably in commercially viable and environmentally safe ways," Ms Stenton said.
Alliance member Kim Grierson said it was also important for the NSW State Government to "come to the party" because they are also responsible for the ash.
"We need chemical analyses of the components of the ash stored in the dams, as a first step to reuse the many useful components in the ash and to neutralise the toxic elements," Ms Grierson said.
"There's a huge potential for a new industry to employ locals and reuse the ash in modern, processing facilities."
The Coal-ash Community Alliance says it expects the new Labor State Government and the Federal Government to implement all the recommendations of the NSW Upper House Inquiry into the 'Costs for remediation of sites containing coal ash repositories'.
"We are looking forward to working closely with all Ministers concerned and their departments," Ms Stenton said, including the new NSW Treasurer, Daniel Mookhey who chaired the inquiry.
Stage one of the project involves building a 460 MW battery storage system with a dispatch duration of two hours, anticipated to come online in the final quarter of the 2025 calendar year.
Origin will have the option to increase the battery to 700 MW and four hours dispatch duration in the future.
Origin chief executive Frank Calabria said approval of the Eraring battery was an important milestone for Origin, and a significant step in the company's strategy to lead the energy transition and accelerate renewable energy and storage in our portfolio.
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