Australia's largest coal-fired power station to close seven years early

An Australian coal-fired power station at Singleton (illustrative image).

AFP - SAEED KHAN

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1 min

In Australia, companies are moving faster than the government in terms of energy transition.

Today, the electricity producer announced that it plans to close the country's largest coal-fired power plant seven years early at a time when renewables are becoming an increasingly important part of Australia's energy mix. .

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With our correspondent in Sydney,

Grégory Plesse 

Australia 's largest

coal-fired power plant

and one of the country's highest greenhouse gas-emitting industrial sites is set to retire early.

Its owner Origin Energy is planning its closure for 2025, seven years earlier than initially planned.

Coal, the most polluting source of energy on the planet, would be less and less profitable according to Origin, which evokes the very strong rise in power of renewable energies.

This is the paradox of Australia, a country which per capita emits on average three times more greenhouse gases than in the G20 countries, but which at the same time is developing solar, wind or water at a breakneck pace.

Renewable represents 35% of the Australian energy mix

Solar energy

production

has thus increased by more than 40% over the past year and more than 20% of Australian homes are already equipped with photovoltaic panels.

While coal remains the main source of electricity in Australia, the share of renewables broke a new record in the last quarter of 2021, now representing nearly 35% of the Australian energy mix.

A share that could still grow in the future, since like Origin, all the other electricity producers in Australia plan to close their last coal-fired power plants in operation several years in advance.

►Also read: Climate change: Australia refuses to leave fossil fuels

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  • Energies

  • Australia

  • Environment