Quote:
Originally Posted by casstony
I think the primary reason for Hazelwood's closure is the owner's global philosophy of moving away from coal and toward solar.
AFAIK, Hazelwood was still profitable and has been continually upgraded over the years; all coal fired power stations need continual maintenance and periodic upgrades due to the harsh processes which the equipment is subjected to.
It would have been better for the electricity supply and kinder to the local community to shut the station down in stages over several years, which was the original plan. There was no consultation with employees prior to the shutdown announcement so employees had no chance to plan for their financial future - not good corporate behavior. The decision to shutdown the plant was certainly made some months prior to the announcement but the bosses kept it quiet instead of giving the workers more time to plan.
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Boilers have a set life span, that is directed by the number of cooling and warming cycles. At the end of life, this accelerates. They already have part of the station effectively off line (if not actually decommissioned).
It wouldn't matter what the company's drivers were, when it is not able to be adequately maintained any more, it's time to close.
Sounds pretty crappy about the employees though. Losing your job is a pretty harsh thing to go through. You tend to get this with foreign owned companies. They don't have the same sense of community engagement that the SEC did.