One of Australia's dirtiest power plants will be shuttered, its owner said Thursday, in a move hailed by environmentalists. After decades of belching pollution, the Hazelwood brown coal-fired power station in Victoria will close in March after French energy giant Engie decided it was no longer viable
Hazelwood—which supplies around 22 percent of Victoria's energy requirements and about four percent of the nation's—is 72 percent owned by Engie and 28 percent by Japanese trading house Mitsui. Paris said late last year that Engie—partly owned by the French government—was going to stop investing in the development of coal-fired power plants, the biggest source of man-made CO2 emissions. Read more