The Liddell Power Station near Muswellbrook officially shut down one of its four coal-burning units on April 1, signalling the beginning of the station’s indefinite closure in 2023.
AGL plans to turn off the other three units on April 1, 2023, ending the power plant’s 50 years of service.
Liddell Power Station produces around 8,000-gigawatt-hours of electricity which is enough power for approximately one million average Australian family homes.
Production from Liddell and Bayswater Power Station meet approximately 35 per cent of the electricity needs of NSW.
Nature Conservation Council Policy and Advocacy Director Dr Brad Smith said the closure of Liddell Unit 3 was another milestone on the road to a cleaner future.
“Thousands of people in this region have been forced to breathe polluted air for far too long. There is still a long way to go, but this is a good start,” Dr Smith said.
“Air quality in Muswellbrook has breached national standards every year since reporting began.
“With Liddell closing, next year may be the first year that Muswellbrook residents will be able to breathe healthy air.”
Dr Smith said retiring the station was equivalent to eliminating the exhaust pipe emissions of two-thirds of the cars in NSW and would help the government meet its climate goals.
The NSW Government have a clear objective of halving emissions by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 under the NSW Climate Change Policy Framework.
The NSW Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap also sets out a 20-year plan to deliver the generation, storage, firming and transmission infrastructure needed to provide clean, cheap and reliable power in the future.
Additionally, the Federal Government only recently approved the gas-fired power station in Kurri Kurri and is providing up to $600 million in equity to support its construction after setting a target for an extra 1,000 megawatts of dispatchable energy needed following the Liddell closure.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison asserted that NSW electricity prices would rise by 30 per cent if energy companies did not fill the gap.
The new gas-fired power station is a key feature in the Morrison Government’s plan to transition into renewable energy, providing an on-demand and reliable energy source while the conversion to wind, solar and hydrogen energy continues over the next decade.
The Labor Government also announced its support of the Kurri Kurri gas-fired power station, but only if it ran on green hydrogen fuel by 2030.
Last month, Origin Energy announced it was bringing forward the closure of its Eraring power station on the shores of Lake Macquarie by seven years to 2025.
Dr Smith said the early closure would prevent the emission of up to 87 million tonnes of carbon pollution, more than the annual emissions of 167 countries, including Austria, New Zealand and Greece.
“The five coal-fired power stations in NSW must all close by 2030 to meet our climate goals,” Dr Smith said.
“NSW must now build wind and solar farms, transmission lines and batteries faster than ever to keep reducing prices and ensure a smooth transition to a clean grid.
“While the closure of Liddell Unit 3 is of enormous symbolic significance, it will also improve the reliability of the grid because Liddell has been plagued by frequent breakdowns.
“But it is a momentous watershed in the Hunter and Central Coast’s communities’ journey to a clean-air future and a carbon-free energy sector.”
Hayley McMahon