Yellowstone webcam utility to be sold off

The yellowstone webcam and power station utility were sold off by Queensland’s government for $4.3 billion, in a sale which has been described as a “tipping point” for the mining industry.

Key points:The sale of the two utilities is part of a wider plan to sell off more than 100,000 jobs around the stateThe Government announced the sale on ThursdayThe Government said the deal with the Queensland Government would see the sale of all the assets of the Yellowstone Power Station and Yellowstone Telescope to be completed by July 2022, with the remaining assets of Yellowstone and Yellowfield properties sold to an Australian firm.

The sale was announced on Thursday, with Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announcing the sale was to be made to a new Australian company to be named after the state’s former chief executive.

Ms Palasziuk said the sale would bring in an estimated $4 billion for Queensland and an additional $1 billion for the state economy.

“It’s a tipping point for the industry,” she said.

“The sale will give Queensland a new, state-owned, national asset and a powerful local power station that can power the Sunshine Coast, help our local communities and create more jobs.”

Ms Paloszczak said the Government was also looking at a deal to sell some of the assets to a company that had previously built the world’s largest coal-fired power station in Victoria, the Hazelwood plant in Australia’s south-west.

“This will ensure that we have a strong, long-term and sustainable source of electricity in Queensland, and we’re working with the Hazelwoods to do that,” she told reporters.

“So that’s why we’re now announcing the YellowStone webcam sale.”

The Government is currently in talks with the Australian Federal Government to sell its stake in the Yellowstones utility to an independent company, the sale is part the Government’s broader plan to divest more than 1,400 jobs from Queensland’s mining industry over the next two years.

“Queensland’s mining community is facing serious job losses and a number of job cuts, and these two properties will provide Queensland with a long-lasting and strong national asset,” Ms Palasza said.

Ms Jones said Queensland’s coal industry had been in “chaos” since the Newman Government’s coal strike in 2016, and the sale to a Queensland-based company would bring “significant economic benefit” to the state.

“We’ve seen Queensland’s energy sector be battered by the price of coal, we’ve seen the price fall from $US100 per tonne in 2012 to around $US10 today, and our state economy is already in the doldrums,” she added.

“Now we’re getting a new company that has a proven track record in providing a great deal of energy and a reliable source of energy, which is a big plus for Queensland.”

Queenslanders are also set to see the largest electricity price rises in almost a decade when the price for the peak-hour power of the Sunshine Power Station is set to rise by 40 cents a kilowatt hour, up from $7.50.