It’s an exciting time for our Environment team with a range of key initiatives underway across Stanwell’s sites.
As well as the day-to-day responsibilities of the team, some of the key projects the team is currently involved in include:
Acting General Manager of Environment and Assurance, Troy Cook, highlights some of the projects the team is working on and gives us an insight into their role at Stanwell.
Can you tell us a bit about your role and the role of the Environment team at Stanwell?
As Acting General Manager of the Environment team, my role is to effectively lead the environment function across Stanwell within the operations division. The position plays a key role in working with leaders across the business and the Environment team members, to identify improvements and establish processes which support the delivery of strong environmental performance and compliance.
Our role as the Environment team is to understand the environments in which we operate and to work alongside teams within Stanwell to mitigate the impact our operations may have on them. We work particularly close with the Community Relations team, so that we better understand the concerns or issues raised by local communities. We operate to strict internal standards and practices in line with local, national and international regulations, this includes our Environmental Authorities.
Our team is situated across three regions – northern (Stanwell Power Station, Mica Creek Power Station and hydro sites), southern (Tarong power stations, Meandu Mine and Swanbank E Power Station) and our Brisbane office. Our team members also continue to provide support to the hydro sites and Swanbank E Power Station which transitioned to CleanCo in October 2019. These teams ensure compliance objectives at each of our sites are met, and that continuous improvements and environmental initiatives are executed effectively.
Some of the key focuses and specialties provided by our team, include water and land management, corporate environmental governance and reporting, biosecurity measures, controlled burns, air quality management, and cultural heritage initiatives.
Our northern team is situated at Stanwell Power Station and includes Acting Environmental Manager Northern Operations, Shane Lubbe, and Environmental Advisor’s, Jodi Liddell and Kelly Thompson.
Our southern team is situated at Tarong power stations, Meandu Mine, and Swanbank E Power Station, and includes Acting Environmental Manager Southern Operations, Jayden Flint, Environmental Specialist, Paul Veivers, Environmental Advisor, Rhonda Baldock, and Environmental Graduate, Daniel White. Environmental Advisor, Juanita Legrady is located at Swanbank E Power Station.
Environmental Scientist, Scott Drysdale, is based in our Brisbane office and provides support to the broader team.
Can you share some of the projects the Environment team is currently working on?
The Environment team is currently supporting investigations into the co-firing of biomass for generation at our power stations. The benefit of this project is that it would offer a renewable and environmentally beneficial alternative to pure coal-fired generation.
Another key project our team is working on at the moment is the Tarong power stations water savings strategy. Stanwell is mindful of the current and future impacts of the drought on the South Burnett community, and is focused on how we can help to mitigate these impacts with respect to Tarong power stations’ operations.
Having access to reliable and economical sources of water is crucial for maintaining secure and affordable electricity for Queenslanders. That is why having a strategy for water savings, through such initiatives as beneficial reuse, is highly important for us.
Our Environment team is also implementing new ways of reporting our water use and water availability, by making the data more transparent to both the other teams at Stanwell and external stakeholders. This includes integrating our water balance model at Tarong power stations with the existing water balance model at Meandu Mine, to give a clearer indication of our total water availability.