Coal power generators are expected to further bring forward plant closures, adding urgency to $12.7 billion of priority transmission projects that are part of $320 billion of total spending needed by 2050 in new projects, maintenance and operations, the Australian Energy Market Operator says.

AEMO’s updated blueprint for the grid released on Thursday envisages 14 gigawatts of coal power generating capacity in the National Electricity Market will close by 2030, with no pulling back from the estimate in the draft for the 2022 Integrated System Plan released in December.