Tallawarra B Aviation Safety
Petitioner:
Mr John Cleary
| Member:
Watson, Anna
| No. of Signatories:
436
| Date closed:
26/04/2023
To the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly,
Chinese owned Energy Australia has NSW Department of Planning & Environment (DPIE) conditional approval to build Tallawarra B, an Open Cycle Gas Turbine power station within the circuit area of Shellharbour Airport, adjacent to Lake Illawarra in the Illawarra region, south of Sydney.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) have determined that to be safe for aviation, the plume must never exceed 6.1 m/s vertical velocity at 700 feet altitude.
Specialist consultant Stacey Agnew’s peer reviewed modelling shows the plume reaching vertical velocities up to double the CASA determined maximum at 700 feet altitude. The modelling shows the exhaust plume exits the stack at 633.7 degrees C with an average stack exit velocity of 63.24 m/s, jet stream bursts up to 197 m/s (709 km/hr) and maximum velocities at 700 feet of 11.7 +/- 0.4 m/s.
This is a very significant, vigorous exhaust plume, not suitable for use within the circuit of an aerodrome. If the modelling is correct, this plume will create a very high risk of a fatal aviation accident in the Haywards Bay/South Dapto residential areas.
We request that Parliament require a CASA led peer review of an independent third-party testing of the actual plume during commissioning, to prove the safety of the plume prior to DPIE approval of Tallawarra B for operational use. This is the only way to ensure the plume is safe, and the only legitimate way to satisfy the aviation safety condition of approval.
