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According to its operator, the installation is no longer viable due to the falling cost of renewable energy. Result: the Eraring power plant will be decommissioned, seven years earlier than planned.
The CEO of Origin Energy believes that coal-fired power plants face unsustainable competition from cleaner and cheaper generation, such as solar and wind power.
Photo d’illustration/Getty Images via AFP
Australia’s largest coal-fired power station will close in 2025, seven years ahead of schedule, its operator said Thursday, saying the facility is no longer viable given the low cost of renewables. The island-continent is one of the largest coal producers in the world and this polluting fuel is an important source of export revenue for the country.
“Today we signaled the possibility of accelerating the closure of Eraring to mid-2025,” Frank Calabria, CEO of Origin Energy, told investors. “Coal-fired power plants are under increasing and unsustainable pressure from cleaner and cheaper generation, including solar, wind and battery power,” he added.
On Twitter, Origin Energy, the operator of the Eraring power plant, explained that it had set aside funds to redevelop the installation. According to the project, the plant should eventually house a large battery of 700 megawatts.
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The plant, which was originally scheduled to be decommissioned in 2032, includes four 720-megawatt coal-fired generators and one 42-megawatt diesel generator. It supplies Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales, with around a quarter of its electricity. The company has a 240 million Australian dollars (109 million euros) project to redevelop the plant and install a large 700 megawatt battery.
Origin is the latest Australian energy producer to announce the early closure of coal assets, despite the Conservative government’s insistence on supporting new projects in this area. For families “who depend on the Eraring Power Station for their livelihoods, today’s announcement creates uncertainty for the future,” said union representative Robin Williams.
A ‘disaster’ for Australia’s energy minister
Energy Minister Angus Taylor, who has championed the idea of public investment in new coal-fired power plants, said the early shutdown would be a “disaster”, with high electricity prices. This decision “threatens the reliability” of the energy supply at “accessible prices”, he said, promising to ensure that the plant is replaced by a structure of the same size.
A dying industry
“These decisions are entirely economic and closures inevitable,” commented Richie Merzian, an expert on climate and energy issues at the Australia Institute think tank. “Australian policymakers need to look following the (thousands of) workers in coal power regions, rather than selling false hopes trying to prop up a dying industry,” he added.
“Everything is aligned to continuously accelerate the energy transition towards renewable energies”, judged for his part Ariel Liebman, expert at Monash University (Malaysia), estimating that any surge in prices resulting from the closure would probably be short-lived. duration.
(AFP)