Workers would start to leave, plant maintenance would begin to wind down and coal supplies – now about 5-6m tonnes a year – needed to be secured. The government, though, has little time to secure a deal with Origin. O’Reilly declined to comment on how the demise of the coal cap would affect Eraring’s fortunes. “One of the biggest challenges facing NSW is ensuring we can keep the lights on while managing the biggest change in energy mix” in the shortest time in the state’s history, Minns said in comments accompanying O’Reilly’s “check-up” report. The premier, Chris Minns, indicated he favoured keeping Eraring open during his pre-election campaign, a stance the then incumbent Perrottet government balked at matching. Coal prices were a “material X-factor” for Eraring and making the fuel more expensive would inevitably affect the underlying competitiveness of a plant that provides more than one-fifth of NSW’s power. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundupĪ NSW department official said the government doesn’t expect the end of the $125/tonne cap to influence Origin’s decision, in part because coal only sets prices in the wholesale electricity market a “minority” of the time.īut one industry insider said every intervention altered the behaviour of market players. To soften the blow to miners, the government will scrap a price cap on coal from July, making it more likely Origin will demand support to keep Eraring’s turbines turning. However, Mookhey’s ability to drive a hard bargain was undermined by a separate decision, announced Wednesday, to raise an extra $2.7bn in coal royalties over four years.
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