Australia’s biggest coal plant to close in 2025, seven years early

(The Energy Mix, 17 Feb 2022) Australia’s biggest coal-fired power plant is set to close in 2025, seven years ahead of schedule, and the energy minister in New South Wales says the state will have enough reliable, affordable electricity to keep the lights on—thanks in part to a new “super battery” the government plans to build.

Origin Energy, operator of the 2,880-megawatt Eraring facility, gave the required three years’ notice to the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) yesterday, Renew Economy reports. CEO Frank Calabria said the “proposed exit from coal-fired generation reflects the continuing, rapid transition of the [National Energy Market] as we move to cleaner sources of energy.”

Today’s energy market in Australia “is very different to the one when Eraring was brought online in the early 1980s,” Calabria added. “The reality is the economics of coal-fired power stations are being put under increasing, unsustainable pressure by cleaner and lower-cost generation, including solar, wind, and batteries.”

He added that Origin is planning to “repurpose infrastructure at the Eraring site, including the installation of a big battery with a capacity of up to 700 MW,” RenewEconomy writes. “To enable Origin to support the market’s continued transition to renewables, we intend to utilize the Eraring site beyond any retirement of the coal-fired power station,” Calabria said.

External link

The Energy Mix, 17 Feb 2022: Australia’s biggest coal plant to close in 2025, seven years early