The New South Wales government has announced plans to extend the operations of Eraring, Australia’s largest coal-fired power station, for up to four more years.
This decision involves providing taxpayer subsidies to the plant’s operator, Origin Energy, for two years, with permits to run for an additional two years.
The move has drawn widespread criticism from environmental groups and experts, who argue that extending the life of the aging and highly polluting coal plant is a step backwards in the transition to clean energy.
Data shows that Eraring recorded an increase in emissions of five toxic pollutants in recent years, highlighting its negative environmental impact.
The decision threatens to increase energy bills and carbon emissions, undermining Australia’s climate goals.
While the government claims the extension is necessary to ensure energy security, critics argue that investing in renewable energy sources and storage would be a more sustainable and cost-effective solution in the long run.
The subsidies required to keep Eraring operational could cost taxpayers up to $150 million per year, according to estimates.
Overall, the decision to extend the life of Eraring has been met with a loud chorus of criticism from environmental advocates, energy experts, and local communities, who see it as a setback in the urgent need to phase out dirty coal power and transition to a clean energy future.
Tim Buckley, director of the think tank Climate Energy Finance, has been highly critical of the NSW government’s decision to extend the life of the Eraring coal-fired power station.
“The news that the NSW government has committed to pay up to $450m of public money to cover likely losses by coal operator Origin Energy to keep Eraring power station open to 2027, two years beyond its planned August 2025 closure date, is the devastating consequence of a decade of government planning failure.
“This is essentially Coalkeeper 2.0 – yet another massive coal subsidy funded by electricity users in NSW, with the NSW government committing to pay Origin to keep all four units of the 2.88 gigawatt (GW) Eraring open for another two years,” said Buckley.
He continued to state that it represented the decade-long failure of the NSW government to accelerate the evaluation and approval of key new replacement generation capacity ahead of the closure of coal power generation assets that are known to be at the end of their design life, putting at risk energy security for the people of NSW.
“Clean energy infrastructure projects have been left for years languishing in the development pipeline,” said Buckley.