Trevor St Baker, who along with Brian Flannery, Managing Director of ASX-listed White Energy Company Limited, purchased Vales Point power station for $1M in 2015, has once again made The Australian newspaper’s Rich List, coming in at number 100 of a list of 150 people.
The Australian reports St Baker has seen his personal fortune rocket from a reported $675M last year to $1.31BN this year.
St Baker’s recent, stunning accumulation is thought to have come off the back of investments in the ASX-listed battery technology company Novonix and electric vehicle charging firm Tritium, as well as the sale of his energy retail company ERM to Shell.
St Baker’s interests in energy span the arc from fossil fuels to renewables.
In November 2015, the State Government sold Delta Electricity – which included the Vales Point power station and the collieries at Chain Valley Bay and Mannering Point, to Sunset Power International (owned by St Baker and Flannery) for $1 million.
Over the past five years, St Baker and Flannery have received $259M from their initial $1M investment in Vales Point.
Overall, the power station has made $492M in underlying before-tax profit in the last six years.
St Baker also owns the $50M St Baker Energy Innovation Fund.
More recently, Vales Point has come under the spotlight for issues surrounding potential pollution.
In February, the EPA said it had received a report from Delta that showed exceedances of PM2.5 particles at its monitoring station at nearby Wyee on seven days in January.
Delta is duty-bound to report such incidents to the EPA and said it had arranged for “calibration and assessment of the monitor”, saying “elevated humidity levels” were the most likely reason for the readings.
The equipment, it said, has since been recalibrated by a specialist contractor and results have been normal since.
According to the Department of Health, “PM2.5 (particles with a diameter of 2.5 micrometres or less) are so small they can get deep into the lungs and into the bloodstream. There is sufficient evidence that exposure to PM2.5 over long periods (years) can cause adverse health effects.
“Particle pollution mainly comes from motor vehicles, wood-burning heaters and industry. During bushfires or dust storms, particle pollution can reach extremely high concentrations.”
Meanwhile, environmental lawyers last month cautioned the NSW EPA that its decision to grant Delta Electricity a licence variation on pollution levels in December last year is “unlawful”.
“Air pollution limits in NSW are designed to control how much toxic pollution companies can pump into the air we breathe, but the EPA has handed Delta Electricity a free pass,” said Environmental Justice Australia lawyer Jocelyn McGarity.
Nicola Riches