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Despite alarm in the finance press over the closure of coal plants, according to Tim Buckley, director of independent energy finance think tank Climate Energy Finance “forced outages at Australia’s ageing coal power fleet left the grid short of forecast coal generation capacity for nearly one-quarter of the year.” Keeping Eraring open would close the forecasted reliability gaps, yet there are concerns regarding the capacity of the ageing generator. And the cost to NSW taxpayers says Tim Buckley is likely to be north of $200m a year. Read more

Climate Energy Finance Director, Tim Buckley, said that the AEMO’s statement demonstrates that State and Federal Governments must move with urgency to expedite planned transmission projects, utility and distributed renewable energy generation, and storage. “While AEMO’s projections show that in the absence of accelerated delivery some gaps in reliability will arise over the coming decade, this is a result of the retirement of 62 per cent of Australia’s end-of-life coal power clunkers by 2033 – generators that are in any case increasingly unreliable and prone to unplanned outages that impact supply,” Mr Buckley said. Read more

Director at think tank Climate Energy Finance, Tim Buckley, said urgent action was needed from state and federal governments. “Accelerating the pace of energy transformation and transitioning our grid is critical to ensuring reliable energy supply and solving the current energy crisis,” he said. Read more

As Tim Buckley says, AEMO’s new Electricity Statement of Opportunities demonstrates yet again that state and federal governments must move to expedite planned transmission projects, utility and distributed renewable energy generation, and storage, and that notably, any risks to supply can be adequately addressed by renewable energy transition initiatives currently underway. Read more

Tim Buckley says Origin is simply bowing to the inevitable by shutting Eraring seven years ahead of schedule in August 2025. He says not only is Eraring one of the most exposed power plants to volatile coal prices — if not the most — it is also among the hardest hit by the influx of renewable energy on the system. This is because Eraring — like all ageing coal-fired power plants — needs to run more or less flat out around the clock. But amid a flood of green power — particularly during the middle of the day when solar output was highest — it was having to run despite the daily cratering of prices. “If I go and flood the NSW market with a shedload of solar, that’s going to gut Eraring, it’s going to gut Bayswater because they have zero flexibility,” Buckley says. It was not designed to be flexible. Read more

Tim Buckley told Utility Magazine “the leaked recommendation to extend Eraring’s life ignores the dual cost of living and climate crises smashing the people of New South Wales. The hyperinflation of fossil energy is driving these, handing windfall profits to multinationals as taxpayers and our environment wear the costs. Only an accelerated transition to cheap, deflationary firmed renewables will solve these twin crises.” Read more

Director of think tank Climate Energy Finance and author of The Lights will Stay On report on the Eraring closure, Tim Buckley, said that there are leaked reports that the NSW Electricity Supply and Reliability Review will recommend taxpayer subsidies to extend the life of Eraring coal power station beyond its expected closure date. Mr Buckley said that this would be a massive retrograde step, when the exact opposite is needed – implementation of an accelerated transition to firmed renewables. Read more

Tim Buckley from Climate Energy Finance says using taxpayer subsidies to extend the life of Eraring would be “a massive retrograde step,” when what is needed is the exact opposite – an accelerated transition to firmed renewables. Read more

Tim Buckley told Sky NewsDay that the Australia’s biggest coal power station, Eraring in NSW, can and should close on time in 2025, and the NSW government should not prop up its operator with $200-400m pa in public subsidies when this money should be invested in the energy transition, slashing power bills and addressing the climate crisis. Read more

“Leaked reports today that the NSW Electricity Supply and Reliability Review will recommend taxpayer subsidies to extend the life of Eraring coal power station beyond its closure date phased over 2025 would be a massive retrograde step when the exact opposite is needed – implementation of an accelerated transition to firmed renewables, Mr Buckley, who wrote the The Lights will Stay On report, said. Read more

It comes as clean energy investors and the former NSW energy minister Matt Kean blasted the proposal to keep Eraring open beyond 2025. Simon Corbell, the chief executive of the Clean Energy Investor Group, said delaying the closure of Eraring would create “significant downside risk for investors”. “This could result in less investment in new clean energy projects in NSW and will blow out our emissions target and budget. Australia cannot afford to have that at this time,” he said. Read more

Energy groups such as Climate Energy Finance, a think tank that advocates for a speedier transition to renewables, are critical of the proposal. A report by CEF in July estimated that keeping Eraring open at only half of its capacity would require the NSW government to pay Origin between $200 million and $400 million a year in subsidies. Read more