An agreement has been reached to extend the operating life of a coal-fired power station in New South Wales by two years. The state government says extending the working life of the Eraring Plant in the Hunter region will give it more time to deliver renewable energy projects.
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00:00 Well, there has been mixed reaction to this news this morning from the New South Wales
00:05 government and Origin Energy that the Araring Power Station, the largest coal-fired power
00:11 plant in Australia, would remain open for an additional two years to August 2027.
00:18 Local environmental advocates here in the Hunter Valley and Lake Macquarie regions of
00:22 New South Wales have said they are disappointed at this news, saying that it's going to have
00:27 a big impact on climate change and they've said that it goes against plans from both
00:33 the state government and the federal government to wind back on fossil fuels energy and move
00:39 towards renewable energy.
00:41 But here on the ground this morning at the Araring Coal-Fired Power Station, many workers
00:46 here and other staff have welcomed the news, a lot of them obviously waiting for certainty
00:51 on what was coming next.
00:53 And the Mining and Energy Union have welcomed this news, saying that it gives workers here
00:59 a little bit more time to plan on what they will do after the power station closes.
01:05 We think that it gives people working at the power station a little bit more time with
01:09 respect to security of employment, but importantly it gives us the ability to put in place through
01:15 the Net Zero Hour Authority moves and some transition arrangements that will protect
01:20 workers and give them the ability to transition into alternative employment into the future.
01:25 Robyn Williams there from the Mining and Energy Union.
01:29 Well the staff and management here at Origin Energy and the Araring Power Plant, they've
01:33 said that this is a bit of a reward for the current staff who have had some months and
01:38 even years of uncertainty and seeing the original closure date that was in 2025 move closer
01:46 and closer.
01:47 So they've said today that a lot of workers here quite relieved at the news from the government.
01:51 I do want to say how proud I am of the people at site.
01:55 They've been going through a number of years of uncertainty now, their performance has
01:59 been outstanding, so that's very good.
02:02 And this announcement today provides two years of certainty, not only for our employees but
02:07 our suppliers and our customers, so that's received very well.
02:11 So of course there are targets in place at a federal level for reducing emissions that
02:16 come from power plants like the Araring Coal Fired Plant.
02:20 So the Australian government has committed to net zero by 2050 and there are also targets
02:25 in place for 2030 to reduce the emissions and bring online transmission and more renewable
02:33 energy infrastructure to the grid.
02:35 So this morning Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen said that those targets are still the
02:39 goal at a national level, but it is going to be required that some of these power generators
02:45 like Araring will remain online for a little bit longer while renewable infrastructure
02:50 is built.
02:51 You're going to see coal fired power stations closures announced, you're going to see sometimes
02:55 closures brought forward, sometimes them delayed.
02:58 This is not a delay, some people expected all four units to be delayed by five years,
03:02 that hasn't happened.
03:03 Two units by two years I think strikes a reasonable balance.
03:07 Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen there.
03:09 Well across the board though this morning here in the Hunter and Lake Macquarie it has
03:13 been a mixed bag of reactions to the news that the largest coal fired power station
03:18 in the country, the Araring Power Station, will remain operational until August 2027.
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