Bryce Eishold
Loy Yang B owner Alinta Energy says it will direct more of its community sponsorship back into the Latrobe Valley compared to the station’s previous owner ENGIE.
Alinta bought Loy Yang B power station – the region’s newest brown coal-fired power station – from ENGIE this year more than 12 months after it was put on the market. Loy Yang B general manager Tony Hicks said the company reviewed its community funding program after taking over the station and found many sponsorships under the previous ownership were focused outside of the Latrobe Valley.
“The funding that has been approved will be completely focused on the Latrobe Valley which was not the case previously,” Mr Hicks said in a statement.
“This Community Partnership Program will be focused on building on relationships within the Latrobe Valley community.
“This dedicated funding for the Latrobe Valley marks a significant increase in the community-spend for LYB.”
While Alinta Energy has set aside about $200,000 for community projects this year, ENGIE remains the greater contributor in terms of community sponsorship – committing to at least a quarter of a million dollars through its corporate responsibility fund.
However, it is down on previous years compared to $600,000 spent in the Latrobe Valley in 2014, 2015 and 2016, respectively, and $540,000 last year.
ENGIE manager for corporate social responsibility Simon Klapish said the company’s funding for community projects had historically delivered benefits outside of the Latrobe City municipality.
“For example, the ICE Meltdown Project supports people in need from the Latrobe Valley,” Mr Klapish said.
“Our support for Gippsland Power Football Club’s youth development program allows players living outside of Latrobe City to fully participate and enhance the overall community benefits, now and into the future.”
“ENGIE is proud to continue to support the Latrobe Valley community with at least $250,000 per year expected to be contributed for CSR initiatives throughout the life of the Hazelwood Rehabilitation Project.”
Yallourn Power Station owner EnergyAustralia sets aside about $80,000 a year for its local sponsorship program and said it had contributed more than $2.7 million to the community since the program was launched a decade ago.
“In addition to our community program, there’s the ongoing investments we make in our assets, much of which stays in the Latrobe Valley,” an EnergyAustralia spokesman said.
“For example, last year’s planned major outage at the power station provided a $30 million boost to the region’s economy in the form of labour, services and materials.”
EnergyAustralia also runs a two-round community grants program with $40,000 awarded to projects in the community.
“All told, since 2016 EnergyAustralia has contributed around $280,000 to the Latrobe Valley region through our grants and sponsorship program,” the spokesman said.
