Government, Renewables

New Labor Government in NSW to prioritise state’s energy needs

On the back of Labor regaining power following the NSW election on 25 March, attention has turned to the state’s accelerated retirement of coalfired power stations and upscaled rollout of renewable energy.

NSW has a Labor Government in power for the first time in more than a decade, with Chris Minns (pictured above, left, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese) sworn in as the state’s 47th premier after a comfortable election victory.

New NSW Minister for Energy and Climate Change Penny Sharpe says the closure of coalfired power stations is high on her agenda, along with addressing spiralling household electricity bills.

However, with AGL’s Liddell Power Station, in the NSW Hunter region, closing in April 2023 – wiping 10 per cent from NSW’s energy capacity – Sharpe has stated “the number-one energy priority is to keep the lights on” across Australia’s most populous state.

That could mean the NSW Government buying back Eraring Power Station, south of Newcastle, and extending its operation beyond its planned closure date of August 2025 to preserve 25 per cent of the state’s power and avoid an energy shortfall for its 8.2 million people.

Delays to the 2GW Snowy Hydro storage project have heightened concerns of a potential energy shortfall across NSW during the next five years, meaning the new Labor Government has to hit the ground running in planning for the state’s energy needs until Snowy Hydro is complete at the end of 2027.

Clean Energy Council chief executive Kane Thornton says he is looking forward to working with Premier Minns and his new government “to ensure NSW’s clean energy transformation accelerates, delivers on plans to drive the clean energy transition, and ensure we maintain strong private investor confidence in NSW”.

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