TheLatrobe Valley 2100 Coal Resources Project was commissioned by the Victorian Government Department of Primary Industries under the Australian Government's Regional Minerals Program (RMP). The aim of the RMP projectis to present strategies and recommendations to avoid, mitigate, manage and action any issues and/or impediments that may impede the future development of the brown coal resources and encourage investment to the period 2100.
Latrobe Valley brown coal has been the primary energy source for Victoria's electricity generation needs for the majority of the 20th century. However, brown coal's continued role as the state's primary energy source faces major challenges on a number of fronts, for example,community concerns about greenhouse gas emissions from the combustion of brown coal, population growth and urban and rural development all pose significant challenges, which will require careful planning to ensure Victoria's rich energy endowment continues to provide major community benefits out to 2100 and beyond.
Brown coal resources in Victoria, and in particular the Latrobe Valley, are vast and sufficient to meet energy demands well into the future. For example, within the Gippsland Basin, the Latrobe Valley contains 53,000 million tonnes of 'economic' coal. To put this into perspective, the region annually produces 65 million tonnes of coal for electricity generation and conversion to briquettes and char. At this rate of annual usage there is over 800 years of economic prosperity in the region through brown coal mining and value added activities.
The RMP project established a range of likely brown coal demand scenarios, identifiedthe land requirements in the Latrobe Valley to 2100 and the associated planning changes necessary to protect the highest value coal resources for future use.
It is anticipated from the findings that new brown coal technology will be more efficient, emit lower levels of greenhouse gases, use less water,and that new projects can achieve environmentally acceptable impacts. Notwithstanding thatthe project did not discover any regional issue that would prevent the continued use of Victoria's brown coal resources it noted that each new project would have to meet contemporary environmental standards at the time ensuring low impacts on the Latrobe Valley.
Some changes to land zoning are recommended to protect access to high value coal resources and to remove inappropriate zonings from land not presently required for coal mining purposes. These recommendations need to be confirmed by local councils and the Victorian Government following appropriate community consultation.
The RMP project also found that the major infrastructure services that presently exist in the region are adequate for present use and are capable of meeting future requirements. However, if new technology development results in high demand for rail services some augmentation may be required.
A numberof recommendations dealing with land use planning and coal resource issues, rehabilitation issues, water use issues,and strategic planning issues will need to be addressed at thelocal and state government levels.
The RMP project commenced in April 2004 and was completed in November 2005.
To obtain a copy of the Report, please see the downloadable file below. The Executive Summary is also available.