New South Wales energy minister Penny Sharpe has kept open the possibility of further changes to coal generator closure dates, as the state continues its race to build enough capacity to transition the country’s biggest state grid from fossil fuels to renewables.
Uncertainty over closure dates has been cited as a major reason for the struggle to get finance for new wind and solar projects, along with the almost total refusal of the country’s major utilities – who also own most of the remaining coal fired power stations in NSW and Victoria – to invest in or contract with new wind and solar.
NSW has already negotiated two extensions to the closure date for the country’s biggest coal generator, the 2.8 gigawatt Eraring facility, and there is continued speculation in Victoria that the Yallourn coal generator will also be extended beyond its June, 2028 closure date, despite the insistence of its owners that this won’t happen.
Sharpe told the National Renewables in Agriculture conference in Orange on Wednesday that the share of coal in the NSW grid has fallen from 80 per cent of the state’s electricity needs 10 years ago to 50 per cent now, with four coal fired generators left after the closure of Liddell in 2023.
