Alinta approached NSW offering to retail Eraring electricity
Alinta Energy has approached the NSW government offering to sell electricity from the Eraring coal power station should the state government secure the extension of the plant’s operating life.
The power supplier and retailer said that rather than looking to own or operate the massive generator, the country’s biggest power station, it is interested in retailing the power from it should the government take it over.
Origin’s Eraring power plant may need to stay open beyond its slated closure date of August 2025. loomberg
It could also perform that function should the government come to an arrangement to underwrite the continued operation of the plant, Alinta said in a statement.
The statement comes after The Australian Financial Review reported that it is eyeing the Origin Energy-owned generator amid a belief that the transition to lower carbon energy will take longer than planned and that the coal power station will need to run for longer.
Origin currently plans to close the plant in August 2025 but the NSW government has been advised that it may need to run beyond that date as replacement supply projects fall behind schedule. “We have no interest in owning or operating Eraring, we did however recently tell the NSW government that if they decide to acquire or underwrite the plant’s extension in the market, we would be willing to retail the energy it produced to help bring down price for NSW customers,” Alinta said on Friday.
Alinta, owned by Hong Kong’s Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, is already an owner of a large coal-fired power generator, the Loy Yang B plant in Victoria,
The NSW government is expected in the coming weeks to outline its strategy for the 2880-megawatt Eraring generator after being advised by an independent
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