Australian carbon payout to coal generators in doubt-paper

Sept 5 (Reuters) - The Australian federal government will not pay the country's top polluting brown coal-fired electricity generators compensation to shut down after negotiations with their owners broke down, the Australian Financial review reported on Wednesday.

The paper said government talks with Hazelwood, which is owned by International Power GDF Suez, and Yallourn, which is owned by TRUenergy, failed to agree on a price acceptable to both sides.

TRUenergy is a wholly owned unit of Hong Kong-listed power utility CLP Holdings, which has planned to float its Australian unit in November.

Sources familiar with CLP's plan told Reuters last month that the initial public offering could be pushed back to the first quarter of 2013 and that the company was also weighing other options to finance its operations in Australia.

Australian Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson is expected to disclose the outcome of talks with power generators over contracts for closure on Wednesday, the paper reported.

In March, Australia's Climate Change Department said Hazelwood, Yallourn and Loy Yang A power station will share A$760 million in government cash grants to help them curb greenhouse gas emissions.

According to the plan, Yallourn W power station was to receive A$257.5 million, Hazelwood power station A$265 million, and Loy Yang A$240 million.

The paper said negotiations have been complicated by the fall in international carbon prices, which increased the value of coal power stations.

Australia introduced a carbon tax on July 1 and plans to move to a floating carbon price from July 2015 as part of its efforts to fight carbon emissions and combat global warming.

Australia accounts for just 1.5 percent of global emissions but is the developed world's biggest per-capita carbon emitter, due to a reliance on burning coal to generate about 80 percent of the country's electricity. (Reporting by Mantik Kusjanto)