The Australian power utility Origin Energy has decided to extend the operation of all four units of the 2,880 MW Eraring coal-fired power plant in New South Wales (Australia) from August 2027 to the end of April 2029 (Origin Energy press release, 20/01/2026). The company is justifying this choice by the need to support “secure and stable power supply”, in a context where it needs “more time for renewables, storage and transmission projects to be delivered”, while there is “uncertainty regarding the reliability of Australia’s aging coal and gas fleet”.
The black coal plant, located on the shores of Lake Macquarie, became fully operational in 1984. After its closure, the site will continue to host the Eraring Battery, which entered commercial operation in 2025 (stage one and three), with the final stages anticipated to come online in the first quarter of 2027. Once all stages are complete, the Eraring battery will deliver 700 MW/3,160MWh, providing an average of 4.5 hours of storage capacity in NSW.
At end-2024, Australia had 22.6 GW of coal-fired capacity, accounting for a fifth of the country’s capacity mix. Coal represented around half of total generation (46% in 2024).
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