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While the usual suspects, including the National Party, railed against the move, it has been welcomed by many in the clean energy industries, including think tank Climate Energy Finance (CEF). Its Director, Tim Buckley, said: “CEF prefers the Queensland government’s progressive royalty approach, which only applies in full less than once a decade or or even more infrequently, at times of coal export sector superprofits, but an increased share in NSW to guarantee a fairer return to public coffers is definitely a good start.” Read more

The director of the public interest think tank Climate Energy Finance, Tim Buckley, described the move as “politically courageous”. The think tank had been advocating for the introduction of a progressive coal royalty scheme, similar to what has been introduced in Queensland. Read more

Climate Energy Finance founder Tim Buckley said the northern state ran the preferred model, which delivered major windfalls at times of high prices while easing pressure on producers when prices were low. “(We have) long been calling for a progressive NSW coal royalty scheme to generate revenues for alleviation of cost-of-living pressures and energy poverty in the state, following the leadership of Queensland,” he said. Read more

The New South Wales (NSW) State Government has entered talks with Origin Energy to discuss extending the life of Australia’s largest coal-fired power station. The move comes after the nation’s grid operator flagged concerns of energy shortfalls over the next ten years as it retires 62% of its coal power fleet. Tim Buckley, director at the think tank Climate Energy Finance, was critical of the proposals for the Eraring plant stating: “The idea that a 50-year-old plant can just be extended without serious risk of catastrophic failure is ridiculous.” Read more

Climate Energy Finance director Tim Buckley prefers Queensland’s progressive approach over the flat NSW tax as it allows the government to participate in periods of super profits. “But an increased share in NSW to guarantee a fairer return to public coffers is definitely a good start,” he said. “The previous flat 6-8 per cent coal export royalty rate in NSW was long overdue for review and uplift. “It is imperative that the revenue generated is not used to subsidise the continued operation of coal power in the state, including the end-of-life Eraring coal power station due for closure in 2025, but applied to reduce cost of living pressures and support essential services, as per the government’s commitments made today.” Read more

Climate Energy Finance founder Tim Buckley said the northern state ran the preferred model, which delivered major windfalls at times of high prices while easing pressure on producers when prices were low. “(We have) long been calling for a progressive NSW coal royalty scheme to generate revenues for alleviation of cost-of-living pressures and energy poverty in the state, following the leadership of Queensland,” he said. Read more

CEF welcomes and applauds the politically courageous announcement by the Minns government in NSW today that it will increase the state’s coal royalties to generate a total of $2.7 billion for NSW over four years from 2024. Read more

What is the real cost to transition? The cost of retaining Eraring for an additional 1-2 years would be $200-$400 per year. Eraring has no long term supply locked in beyond 2025, therefore will pay export price parity for coal supply. Locking in coal infrastructure will slow down the transition to renewables. We need to accelerate the deployment of low cost, zero emissions, replacement capacity, not continue with an unreliable coal clunker. Coal subsidies will crowd out replacement capacity that would otherwise permanently solve the problem. Read more

There are concerns that current construction market pressures could delay the rollout of wind, solar, and battery projects needed to plug supply gaps when Eraring comes offline in 2025. “It’s sensible to look at what alternatives $200-$400m/yr provide for New South Wales citizens,” Tim Buckley. Read more

Energy analyst Tim Buckley contests O’Reilly and AEMO’s views on the ability of Eraring to boost electricity system reliability. “Extending the life of a coal clunker that is one of the oldest power plants in the electricity system is not a way to boost reliability.” Keeping Eraring open will generate around 9 million tonnes of additional CO2 emissions a year — around 2.8% of Australia’s total — and cost $1.2 billion to offset via the purchase of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs), a recent Nexa Advisory report found. Read more

The NSW government has decided there is a case for extending the life of the nation’s largest coal-fired power station to mitigate our energy risk. But the growing risk for NSW actually lies in relying on one near-moribund plant at Eraring in Lake Macquarie for 16 per cent of power generation. In 2022, forced outages at Australia’s ageing coal power fleet meant coal capacity fell way short of forecasts, crippling the national electricity market. Keeping this increasingly unreliable coal power generator on life support as it enters terminal decline, and paying its operator hundreds of millions in public subsidies to do so, is totally unjustified. Read more

The NSW government will “engage with Origin Energy” on a proposed extension of the life of Australia’s largest black coal-fired power plant. Tim Buckley, from Clean Energy Finance, said providing government subsidies to keep Eraring open could lead to more setbacks for future wind and solar projects. “Every time you extend a coal plant, you delay and defer expenditure on replacement capacity,” he told ABC Radio Sydney. “So these subsidies would be crowding out the replacement capacity that would permanently solve the problem,” he said. Read more