Australia is preparing for a radical shift to renewable energy. The country, which is one of the world's leading coal exporters and so far laggard in environmental protection, shut down its oldest coal-fired power plant on Friday. The Liddell power station, located about a three-hour drive north of Sydney, is one of a series of aging coal-fired power plants set to close in the coming years.

Built in 1971, Liddell supplied about 10% of the electricity consumed in New South Wales, Australia's most populous state. It will take two years to destroy it, says its operator, AGL, according to which the site can then be used for a clean energy project, such as a hydrogen power plant. "More than 90% of the plant's materials will be recycled, including 70,000 tonnes of steel, which is more steel than the Sydney Harbour Bridge," the company said.

"A fairly rapid gradual withdrawal"

For decades, coal has provided most of Australia's electricity, but plants like Liddell's have quickly become unreliable "wrecks", Mark Diesendorf, a renewable energy expert at the University of New South Wales, told AFP. Inefficient, polluting and expensive to maintain, these coal-fired plants would run counter to Australia's climate goals if they continued to be used.

Australia has long been one of the world's largest producers and exporters of coal and, over the course of governments, has resisted pressures to reduce coal activity. But the centre-left government, elected last year on a promise of climate action, has pledged that 82% of Australia's electricity will come from renewable sources by 2030. This is a radical change: while top performers such as Norway generate more than 90% of their electricity from renewable sources, Australia currently produces only about 30%. "The plans call for a fairly rapid phase-out," Diesendorf said. "These plants should have already been shut down and there is no economic argument for replacing them with new coal-fired plants."

On track

Under mounting public pressure, many Australian fossil fuel companies prefer to shut down old coal-fired power plants rather than keep them running. Liddell was originally scheduled to close in 2022, but AGL says it has kept it in service until April to ensure "system reliability." Australia's largest coal-fired power station, Eraring in New South Wales, is set to close in 2025 and a handful more will follow over the next decade. These closures will test whether renewable energy is able to bridge the gap, climate finance expert Tim Buckley told AFP.

A government report released on Friday says Australia is on the right track. Australia's energy market operator has found that record levels of renewable electricity generation – mainly solar – are already driving down emissions and electricity prices for households. Australia, bathed in sunshine and with sparsely populated and windswept coastlines, has all the natural ingredients to become a renewable energy superpower, according to Tim Buckley.

'A real contradiction'

For the expert, the most difficult thing will be to find a way to store this energy and transport it over the vast distances between Australian cities. "The chances of everything going well by 2030 are close to zero," he admits. While this is going well, Australia faces enormous challenges in reaching its goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. Over the past decade, a "climate war" has dominated Australian politics, repeatedly undermining attempts to reduce carbon emissions.



In 2020, researchers found that 8% of Australians denied the existence of climate change, more than double the global average. Transport accounts for 19% of Australia's emissions, one of the only advanced economies without energy efficiency standards, which the government has committed to rectifying soon. While Australia is banking on renewables for its domestic market, it continues to rely on fossil fuels to boost its export economy: dozens of new coal mines, oil fields and gas projects are being planned. "By continuing to develop gas fields and coal mines for export, we are lagging terribly behind," says Mark Diesendorf. "It's a real contradiction."

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