Australia is still tracking towards a potentially disruptive gap between the closure of its biggest coal station and key grid stabilising technology.
The system operator of the nation’s eastern power grid warned the Eraring Power Station in NSW is due to retire before important infrastructure can be installed to ensure a “stable heartbeat”.
Australian Energy Market Operator expects the grid-regulating machines to come online by 2028, though acknowledges efforts to fast-track delivery in its 2025 transition system security plan.
Origin Energy’s Eraring station was set to close this year but was extended until 2027 after a deal with the NSW government.
AEMO chief executive officer Daniel Westerman said there was a risk of blackouts, at the extreme, but stressed relevant players were working hard to avoid security issues.
“The government, Origin and TransGrid – the transmission company – are all working very collaboratively to make sure that there is no disruption to consumers,” he told ABC radio on Monday.
AEMO has been calling for investment in synchronous condensers, big spinning machines that help the grid withstand shocks and disruption, since 2021 to coincide with the closure of ageing coal generators.
They are key pieces of kit in the shift underway to a renewables-powered electricity system rather than one dominated by emissions-intensive coal generation.
Ensuring an orderly exit from coal stations, which are getting old and unreliable, is viewed as an important “transition point” for AEMO to monitor closely.
Another is the rise of rooftop solar, now adorning four million homes, which can occasionally create issues when all generating in the middle of the day.
Batteries were among the tools flagged to manage the problem.
Households and businesses are increasingly embracing the storage technology due to government subsides.
Federal opposition energy spokesperson Dan Tehan said the energy minister, Chris Bowen, had “completely ended up with egg on his face”.
“His transition is failing, he’s wanted coal out of the system as quickly as he possibly could get it, and now we find out that we actually are going to need coal for longer,” he told Sky News.
Labor MP Tanya Plibersek said the report showed coal was old and unreliable and renewables were the cheapest form of new generation, and they need to be hooked up to the grid as fast as possible to keep the system stable.
“Of course, it would have been better if this process had started ten years ago, when the Liberals and Nationals were first warned that 24 out of 28 coal fired power stations were closing,” she told Seven’s Sunrise program.
Mr Westerman said all the stability issues laid out in the report were well-known, but the findings did underscore a need for investment.
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