Extend life of Eraring power station if needed, says NSW MP

Lake Macquarie independent Greg Piper has urged the next state government to not be ‘bloody minded’ about extending the life of the nation’s largest power station.

Lake Macquarie independent MP Greg Piper. Picture: AAP

Lake Macquarie independent Greg Piper has urged the next state government not to be “bloody-minded” about extending the life of the nation’s largest power station, as NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet appears to have backflipped on his position on Eraring.

Mr Piper, the 30-year, environmentally minded MP whose electorate encompasses the coal-fired power station, said he was unconvinced the state’s clean-energy transition was at a point of allowing Eraring to close at the scheduled date of August 2025.

“If we need to extend it, we definitely should extend it,” he said. “If we go to a situation where we have brownouts or blackouts, that will cause even more harm. We should still be working towards renewables. But if we’re not there, we should not be so bloody-minded.”

With polling suggesting neither side will be able to form a majority government, Mr Piper and fellow crossbenchers could play a pivotal role in determining who forms government after Saturday’s election.

Delays to both Snowy Hydro 2.0 and the Kurri Kurri generator have left the next NSW government facing a reliability shortfall from 2025-26, with the Liddell coal-fired power station set to close in April and Origin Energy-owned Eraring two years later.

The Australian Energy Market Operator warned in its February update the delays had heightened the risk of an energy shortfall in NSW out to 2027-28,

Mr Piper’s comments came as Mr Perrottet appeared to backflip on his earlier position about the future of the nation’s biggest coal-fired power station. He now says he is “open” to extending the life of Eraring, weeks after he contradicted Treasurer Matt Kean, after he told The Australian the state government was prepared to take the “necessary steps” to ensure there was sufficient energy to meet demand.

Pressed on whether extending the life of Eraring, which accounts for 25 per cent of the state’s power needs, would be ruled out, Mr Kean at the time said: “Of course we’re not ruling things in or out.”

But the same day, Mr Perrottet seemed to put a line through extending the life of Eraring. “We have our energy road map. (Intervening in Eraring is) not part of our plans – we have an energy road map that’s delivering $32bn of private sector investment to ensure we have a long-term, reliable and clean-energy future. That’s our plan,” he said.

But on 2GB on Thursday morning, Mr Perrottet denied he had ever undermined Mr Kean.

Presenter Ben Fordham asked: “On Eraring, you have said you wouldn’t entertain the prospect of extending the lifespan.”

“No I did not,” Mr Perrottet replied, before going on to say he was “open” to keeping it open

Opposition Treasury spokesman Daniel Mookhey attacked the government’s inconsistency as emblematic of the problems facing the Coalition. “As it applies to Eraring, the government has flipped, it flopped and it’s flipped again. The government’s policy is unintelligible; no one knows what their actual intention is,” he said.

Saying “all options” needed to be on the table to deal with the energy shortfall foreshadowed by AEMO in 2025-26, Mr Mookhey called on the government to detail if it had engaged in conversations with Origin Energy over extending Eraring.

NSW Labor leader Chris Minns has previously flagged he would be open to intervening in Eraring to prevent blackouts, even going as far to say he would consider buying the power station, if necessary.

“What I would say is I’m not going to rule out keeping it open, I will not allow the lights to go out in NSW,” he said.