N o matter where you are in the Latrobe Valley, you can see the smoke. The transmission lines that punctuate the region’s dairy farms and clusters of blue gums all lead to some of the country’s biggest coal-fired power plants, where the plumes of smoke soar from towers and hang over the communities around them. This valley provides most of Victoria’s electricity, but it’s been on the edge of a precipice.
Over the next 11 years, Loy Yang A and Yallourn are expected to be decommissioned. Residents know the writing is on the wall for coal, but confusion over what comes next is creating a deep chasm. Now the valley’s communities – and those of six other locations around Australia – are on a new energy frontline.
On Wednesday, the Coalition promised that, if elected to government, a part of the Loy Yang station would be one of seven sites to host a nuclear reactor . The announcement spread quickly down the valley. Some welcome it, seeing it as a lifeline for their dying community.
And then there are pockets of outrage. Wendy Farmer is an unlikely advocate for renewables, because coal is in her blood. She is a miner’s daughter; her father was a miner’s son.
Her husband worked at the Hazelwood plant before it was decommissioned in 2017 . The plant was infamous for two things – the 2014 fire that burned for 45 days and for being Australia’s dirtiest power station . But Farmer is helping lead a group of advocates for a healthier and more sustainable valley – an.
