$2.5bn on an unnecessary power station? That's good old pork barrelling | Tristan Edis

A commitment to build a coal-fired power station in Townsville makes no environmental or economic sense. But it might just make political senseThe Queensland Liberal-National Party (LNP) are promising that if they are elected to government they'll build a new coal power station in northern Queensland. And just this week Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced that if Queenslanders elected the LNP at the next state election, all Australian taxpayers would help fund it.It's important to note that this would involve a serious amount of taxpayers' money, because banks and power companies have made it clear they aren't remotely interested in funding such a plant. The coal plants the government seems to fancy (known as ultra-supercritical) tend to come in just one size - extra big. The last coal plant built in Queensland was a single supercritical pressure 750MW unit - the biggest in Australia. According to analysis for the Australian Energy Market Operator such a plant would cost taxpayers $2.5bn. That's half a billion more than the 2000MW Snowy 2.0. Continue reading...