From Watts Up With That?

Essay by Eric Worrall

“… after warnings the shift to renewable energy has fallen off track.”

NSW to pay Origin up to $225m a year to keep Eraring open

Ben Potter Senior writer
May 23, 2024 – 9.29am

The NSW government will extend the life of Origin Energy’s Eraring coal-fired power station for at least two more years until August 2027, at a cost of up $225 million a year, after warnings the shift to renewable energy has fallen off track.

Under the deal, Origin will seek to generate a minimum of six terawatt hours a year – about 3 per cent of total generation in the eastern states’ National Electricity Market – from the giant plant on the shores of NSW’s Lake Macquarie.

Origin will pay the government a fifth of any operating profits up to a maximum of $40 million a year should the plant operate at a profit during the extension period.

But if Eraring is run at a loss, Origin can call on the state to subsidise the plant’s operating and capital costs, capped at $225 million per annum.

Origin may run the plant until 2029 if it chooses but the state will not pay any compensation after August 2027.

…Read more: 

https://www.afr.com/policy/energy-and-climate/nsw-to-pay-origin-up-to-225m-a-year-to-keep-eraring-open-until-2027-20240523-p5jfxc

Just as well renewables are the cheapest energy ever, otherwise all these enormous subsidies for all different forms of power would be costing NSW taxpayers a heap of money.

I wonder if other coal plant operations will notice how easy it is to squeeze big money out of desperate, net zero obsessed politicians? Politicians who are barely beginning to wake up how badly they have stuffed up?

Just as well the government has decreed everything will be back on track by 2027.

Do I need a /sarc tag?