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P15 FEBRUARY 2022 ISSUE 010

OVOSOCIETY Bright futures imagined for Wangi Power Station site

Architecture students at the University of Newcastle have reimagined the historic Wangi Wangi Power Station site, with a giant gin distillery, a nightclub and a dive centre among eccentric ideas for its future.

Lake Macquarie City Manager Arts, Culture and Tourism Jacqui Hemsley said the Wangi Power Station Reimagined exhibition explored some unconventional approaches for the building’s redevelopment.

“The brief was simple – design new ideas for the power station to make it an exciting place for our community,” she said.

One design showcased in the exhibition uses the power station’s main building to house an amphitheatre-style circus,

The Wangi Power Station has lain idle for more than 30 years

while another sees it sealed and filled with water for unique scuba-diving experiences.

A different submission envisages a multi-level indoor baths, while another suggested converting the structure into a nightclub.

“Sealing the building up and turning it into a water tank for scuba diving is unlikely to ever happen, but seeing these concepts does help the imagination run wild about this site’s future,” Hemsley said.

“Designs presented by the students are in turn novel, thought-provoking and fascinating, and who knows – one day maybe we will see all or part of one of these ideas realised.”

Once a major supplier of electricity to NSW, the Wangi Power Station site operated between 1956 and 1986 and was once the largest power station in the state.

While it has since been abandoned, the site has avoided demolition after receiving state heritage status in 1999.

Since then, the site has been subject to proposals for redevelopment into residential and retail properties, with an EOI listing by its private owner in mid2021 attracting renewed interest in its future.

University of Newcastle Head of Architecture Associate Professor Sam Spurr said the exhibition was a “great example of how design projects can fire the public imagination and hopefully mobilise saving such an important site from dereliction”.

“It also shows the important role universities play in the community, and how students can participate in what’s happening in our region.”

The 12,000 square metre building is a rare example of industrial architecture, stretching 230m long with three 75m tall concrete stacks visible from around the lake.

The site has both R3 Medium Residential zoning and Zone B4 Mixed Use, meaning eventual development has potential to encompass a substantial residential, retail, commercial or even tourism premises.

The student works covering the redevelopment possibilities are currently on exhibition at Wangi Library Creative Hub, and will remain until March 31.

More information including exhibition opening hours can be found on the Lake Macquarie Library website.

Photo source: The Urban Developer

Maia O’Connor

Labor’s support of Kurri gas plant labelled a “climate cop-out”

Community representatives from Newcastle and the Hunter have called out the Labor Government’s unexpected support of the $600M gas-fired power station in Kurri Kurri, labelling it “a disappointing climate cop-out”.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese travelled to the Hunter Valley on February 1 with shadow climate change spokesman Chris Bowen to reveal a plan that would see a Labor Government, if elected, back the new gas-fired power station—a project that Albanese hadn’t previously supported.

Snowy Hydro Limited’s proposal to build the new 660-megawatt gas-fired power station in Kurri Kurri, situated 38km west of Newcastle, was approved by the NSW Government in December last year and is currently pending final approval from the Commonwealth.

Albanese said Labor would back the project but only if it ran on green hydrogen fuel by 2030.

Under Labor’s plan, Snowy Hydro Limited would run the power station on 30 per cent green hydrogen once operational, increasing to 50 per cent by 2025 and 100 per cent by 2030.

“The government’s proposal is a flawed project,” Albanese said.

“What we need to do is make it a project that provides sustainable jobs and that provides job security and energy security.

“Now, the cheapest form of clean energy is through renewables…the costs of producing green hydrogen will fall.”

Federal Member for Newcastle Sharon Claydon (ALP) said Novocastrians deserved a plan that maximised the benefits of new technology, cheaper energy and new job opportunities.

“Labor will ensure that the power plant at Kurri Kurri will have a future with a green hydrogen plant, guaranteeing a role for the station and its workers as well as affordable and reliable power for decades to come.

“Not only will this provide secure and sustainable jobs, but it will also help the Hunter region become a hydrogen hub for Australia and the world.”

However, the Greens candidate for the Federal electorate of Newcastle, Charlotte McCabe, said Labor’s support for the power station was “a disappointing climate cop-out” and not the right way to kick start green hydrogen in the Hunter.

“Albanese’s empty promises to eventually convert the plant to 100 per cent green hydrogen will double the construction costs to $1.3B and commits us to unnecessary gas power while we wait for green hydrogen technology to develop,” McCabe said.

“A green hydrogen plant would require entirely different planning approvals and would likely be located in a different place as we don’t have plans for the required transmission lines and electrolysis plants yet.”

McCabe said the power station was a project that wasn’t needed, “pushing up energy prices and delaying urgent climate action”.

“Newcastle and the Hunter desperately need political leaders who will step up to the challenge of moving from fossil fuels to a new, jobs-rich, green manufacturing and resource sector for our region,” McCabe said.

“It will only provide 10 permanent jobs when operational, and it will only operate two per cent of the time if it is required at all.

“It has been rejected as unnecessary by the electricity industry, who declined all offers to invest in it, and it will burn fossil fuels until at least 2030 – it is a $600M white elephant.”

Gas Free Hunter Alliance cocoordinator Fiona Lee said they welcomed Labor’s commitment to renewables but believed the money “should not be spent subsidising a new fossil fuel project”.

“Any power station that burns more fossil fuels like gas is just worsening climate change,” Lee said.

“You don’t get to transition away from fossil fuels by spending more money on them.

“We want to see the $600M or more of public money spent supporting and retraining workers, not a gas plant that will need expensive upgrades in a few short years.”

Kurri Kurri local Lynn Benn said they desperately needed a long term sustainable employment solution.

“The 10 to 20 ongoing jobs on offer at the Kurri Kurri gas plant are a drop in the ocean compared to the investment involved,” Benn said.

“People of the Hunter rely on fossil fuels and need retraining and support to rapidly transition away from these now insecure jobs.

“$600M or more would be better spent on future-focused jobs.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison asserted that NSW electricity prices would rise by 30 per cent if energy companies did not fill the gap left by the 2023 closure of the Liddell Power Station near Muswellbrook.

The new Kurri Kurri power station would be in addition to a 316-megawatt power station in the Illawarra, with both stations filling the government’s estimations of a 1000MW gap in generation capacity.

The Australian Energy Market Operator argued that no more than 200MW would be needed “to reduce the risk of load shedding and meet standards of reliability once Liddell closes”, but the government said this would only guarantee supply and not push down prices.

The project is also a key feature in the Morrison Government’s plan to transition into renewable energy, providing an on-demand and reliable energy source while the conversion to wind, solar and hydrogen energy continued over the next decade.

Federal Member for Newcastle Sharon Claydon (Far Left) with Labor leader Anthony Albanese speaking at Kurri Kurri on Tuesday, (Far right) Labor climate spokesperson Chris Bowen Photo source: Sharon Claydon MP Facebook

Hayley McMahon