New South Wales residents have been told there will be no disruption to electricity levels when Liddell Power Station shuts down later today.
The coal-fired station in the Upper Hunter region will shut down today after 52 years in operation.
Energy Minister Chris Bowen said earlier in the week that renewable energy feeding into the grid would compensate for the loss of Liddell.
He said the Australian Energy Market Operator had assured him there would be no disruption.
”You need to replace places like Liddell before they go out of the system and that is the entire focus of all of the energy work we are doing,” Bowen said.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions said today the closure emphasised the need for a national strategy to help protect workers.
“The Liddell closure has seen the Mining and Energy Union negotiate with owners AGL to ensure no worker faced a forced redundancy, but other closures throughout Australia have not been well planned or managed,” the ACTU said.
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The station had no forced redundancies, with 50 per cent of its workforce going to work at the Bayswater facility and others retiring or taking other opportunities in the seven year winding down process.
Attention now turns to the planned 2025 closure of Eraring on Lake Macquarie.
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“An independent, statutory National Energy Transition Authority will ensure the shift to renewable energy happens with workers, not to them, and delivers good jobs and economic opportunity,” ACTU president Michele O’Neil said.
“Done properly, the transition to net zero, along with investment in renewable energy, can create hundreds of thousands of good jobs, support healthier and more equitable communities, and generate a renewed national prosperity.”
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