Mystery surrounds Stanwell CEOâs exit
What is it about CEOs of coal-fired power companies? Two days after Brett Redman resigned from AGL Energy, the CEO of Queenslandâs largest coal-fired power company also bailed.
Apr 27, 2021 â 12.00am
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Brett Redman was not the only chief executive of a major coal-fired power generation company to resign last week and leave a sense of mystery and intrigue.
The day after the AGL Energy board of directors revealed Redman was leaving immediately, the board of Queensland government-owned, coal-fired power generator Stanwell Corporation said it had âreluctantlyâ accepted the resignation of CEO Richard Van Breda.
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Stanwell Corporation has formally announced it will move from fossil fuels to renewables in what will be a game-changer for the power industry in the country.
Touted as Australia’s third-largest greenhouse gas emitter and Queensland largest power generator, the news has been praised by conservation and environmental councils.
The Queensland Government-owned corporation operates three coal plants including Tarong, Tarong North and Stanwell just west of Rockhampton.
In a statement released ahead of the future energy summit in Gladstone on Wednesday, Stanwell CEO Richard Van Breda said the corporation must shift its focus towards new energy technologies.
21 April 2021
Queensland government-owned energy giant Stanwell Corporation says the company’s future must be in renewables and storage rather than coal, in a delicately-worded statement that rang an early death knell for the company’s two coal-fired power plants.
In a statement on Wednesday, chief executive Richard Van Breda gave few concrete details of exactly how the coal-heavy company – which suffered a $720 million plunge in profit last year – would transition away from coal.
But he made it clear he saw no future for coal beyond the lifespan of Stanwell’s two coal plants, which he said the company would use more “flexibly” over the course of the transition, potentially putting them in “standby” mode before they were retired altogether.
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