Three people are expected to be charged over a protest at the Hazelwood power station near Morwell in Victoria this morning.

The protesters were part of a group of around 30 people who took part in the protest ahead of tonight’s Earth Hour, calling for the nation to reduce its reliance on non-renewable energy.

Two protesters chained themselves to a conveyor belt, briefly disrupting the supply of coal between the Hazelwood mine and the power plant.

Lights in buildings across Australia will be turned off for an hour at 8:30pm to raise awareness of climate change.

But Louise Morris, one of the Hazelwood protesters, says every hour should be Earth Hour.

“If we’re serious about climate change, we actually need to be switching off coal and switching on renewables rather than just switching off our lights for one hour once a year,” she said.

“Hazelwood, which is one of the most polluting coal-fired power stations in the industrialised world, actually emits 5 per cent of our annual emissions.

“It really shows that [Kevin] Rudd has completely undersold Australia in terms of what we can do for climate change.”

A spokesman for the power station says the protesters are not interfering with the plant’s operation.