Electricity industry executives express shock, disbelief at Origin’s Eraring power plant closure
Shock, disbelief and “you’ve got to be F kidding” were the early responses from electricity industry executives after The Australian revealed the early closure of Eraring, the nation’s biggest coal plant.
It’s no secret that owners of coal plants are under immense pressure as ultra-cheap solar and wind rout the economics of running baseload plants 24/7.
Still, Origin’s decision to bring forward its retirement by a massive seven years to 2025 illustrates the much-hyped transition to clean energy will be rocky.
Eraring supplies a quarter of NSW’s power needs and its move will spark two key fears: that household electricity bills will soar as supply gets crunched and the entire grid will face fresh volatility as a reliable source of energy disappears.
There were already concerns about the loss of AGL Energy’s Liddell coal plant in April 2023 and the retirement of Eraring just over two years later will pose a serious risk to the stability of the nation’s power system.
Federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor will feel vindicated that the government is pushing ahead with its Kurri Kurri gas plant and Origin’s move, if sanctioned, may provide ammunition to fund more gas or hydro projects to avoid a supply gap emerging.
But it’s his NSW counterpart, Matt Kean, who will really feel the heat. Kean has embarked on a radical plan to move NSW’s power supply from coal to clean energy through five giant renewable zones.
The fear now is that not enough solar, wind and batteries will be in place when the big coal generators shut their doors. The NSW government has canvassed paying Origin to run Eraring until 2027 when those zones start to kick in or even buying Eraring back and running the station itself.
Neither option is a great look for his signature clean energy blueprint and Origin’s decision has landed Kean with a big headache.
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