Australia switched off one of its largest coal-fired power stations after almost 52 years of operation as the country accelerates its transition away from fossil fuels.
(Bloomberg) — Australia switched off one of its largest coal-fired power stations after almost 52 years of operation as the country accelerates its transition away from fossil fuels.
The Liddell plant in the Hunter region north of Sydney, which used to produce enough power for about 750,000 homes, was switched off on Friday, utility AGL Energy Ltd. said. The company plans to build a large grid-scale battery on the site, part of a broader plan to turn the coal-producing region into a clean-energy hub.
“Today marks the end of one chapter for the site, but also the beginning of another with our plans to transform the site into the Hunter Energy Hub,” Chief Executive Officer Damien Nicks said in a statement.
Read: Australia Is Quitting Coal in Record Time Thanks to Tesla
Australia is in the middle of one of the world’s fastest shifts from coal — which currently generates more than half of its electricity — to a renewables-dominated grid. By the middle of the next decade most of its coal plants will have closed, and by 2040 close to 100% of its electricity will be generated by wind, solar and hydropower.
AGL was the target of a takeover last year by Canadian private equity giant Brookfield Asset Management and billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes, who wanted to shut its coal plants early and replace them with renewables. That bid failed, but Cannon-Brookes subsequently built an 11% stake in the company and drove a board and executive shake-up that led to a more ambitious emissions-reduction strategy.
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