Renewables will replace ageing coal plants at lowest cost, Aemo says

Australia’s energy market operator says the future of power generation in Australia will be renewables with storage, and gas, with those technologies able to replace the power currently supplied by coal generators at least cost.

Some 30% of coal power plants will be decommissioned in the next
20 years and it will be cheaper to replace them with renewables than
with new coal plants, Aemo says. 

A new forecast by the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo) notes 30% of Australia’s coal generators will approach the end of their technical life over the next two decades, and it says it is important to avoid premature departures if the looming transition in the national energy market is to be orderly.

But while some in the Turnbull government have been campaigning to bolt new coal-fired power into the system, backed with government subsidy or underwriting, Aemo is clear about where the future lies, and it is not with coal.

Read Katharine Murphy’s story from The Guardian - “Renewables will replace ageing coal plants at lowest cost, Aemo says.”