Origin Energy’s Eraring power station staff to help build wind farms in NSW

Workers at Origin Energy’s Eraring power station will build NSW wind farms, batteries and transmission infrastructure under a plan worth up to $1bn.

Workers at Origin Energy’s ­Eraring power station will get jobs building wind farms, batteries and transmission infrastructure under a plan worth up to $1bn to establish a renewable energy manufacturing industry across NSW.

Responding to the closure of the nation’s largest coal-fired power plant, the state government will on Saturday announce a ­“future ­industries” package it says will support up to 3700 jobs across regional NSW.

Energy Minister Matt Kean said $300m would be invested over 10 years to deliver 500 jobs building hydrogen infrastructure, and a further 500 jobs would be ­created through the construction of wind farms, batteries and other technology, in a package worth several hundred million dollars.

The government has planned for an additional 2700 construction jobs to be created through the fast-tracked delivery of transmission infrastructure, which will be required to connect new sources of generation to the energy grid.

The package follows Origin Energy’s announcement on Thursday that it would close its 2880 megawatt facility seven years earlier than planned.

Officials at the company said this was due to increased economic pressure faced by coal-fired power generators from the shift to clean energy sources.

Mr Kean said the demise of coal-fired plants created an opportunity for job creation in the low-carbon economy.

“NSW also has some of the cheapest renewable energy in the world, which gives us a massive competitive advantage in producing clean fuels, chemicals and materials such as green steel, green ammonia and green hydrogen,” he said.

“Just as Tesla redefined the motor vehicle industry, I want NSW companies to pioneer new approaches to the energy transformation right across the economy.”

The early closure of Eraring, due for mid-2025, was privately conveyed to the NSW government in mid-2021 and immediately created a challenge for officials to close the gap in power generation expected to be left by the plant’s closure.

Secret discussions commenced with the company to try to keep the plant open. These included ­offers to subsidise Origin Energy’s costs and other proposals, which Mr Kean declined to confirm, citing confidentiality provisions.

The government bought itself time by making the offers, delaying the closure announcement while engineers and energy economists were engaged to find an ­alternative solution.

On Thursday it announced plans to underwrite the installation of a 700MW “super battery” that would release capacity and increase transmission through the state­ energy network.

Funding of $84m has also been set aside to bolster the state’s Consumer Trustee, which is still in the process of hiring staff and establishing its services. Its role is to tender for renewable energy generation and storage projects across NSW, among other duties.

Mr Kean and others have said power prices are expected to rise once Eraring exits the market. But the operator of Australia’s power grid said it was too early to know that with certainty.

“With the additional projects NSW announced yesterday, AEMO is comfortable that the lights will stay on if Eraring closes in 2025,“ said Daniel Westerman, chief executive of the Australian Energy Market Operator.

“In addition, we see a large pipeline of other projects underway or progressing well towards a final investment decision. AEMO has not modelled price outcomes in this reliability analysis.”

With Origin and AGL Energy announcing the early closure of flagship coal plants in the past fortnight, the focus is shifting to the longevity of those power stations remaining.