AsiaElec: Lights off at Eraring would not mean lights off statewide for NSW

In a report issued by Australia-based think-tank Climate Energy Finance (CEF) titled “The Lights Will Stay on: New South Wales (NSW) Electricity Plan 2023-2030” it was revealed that Australia’s most populous state could shut the doors at the nation’s biggest coal-fired thermal power plant (TPP) almost immediately, and at the same time take a significant step towards achieving ongoing local decarbonisation goals, whilst guaranteeing a stable power supply for the 8.2mn residents of the state.

Key to the claims made by CEF, however, would be the ongoing annual installation of around 1.2 GW of rooftop solar power in the state in addition to continuing annual rates of utility-level wind and solar project planning, also to the tune of around 1.2 GW each year by public and private authorities.

In theory, with both the installation and front-end loading numbers achieved between now and 2030, both Eraring, the 2.88-GW behemoth, and the 1.32-GW Vales Point CPP, also in NSW, could be closed with no noticeable effect; end-goals that would fall in line with the government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and recent striking moves to take the use of fossil fuels off the table altogether on the island continent. 

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