SYDNEY, Australia—Sun-soaked Australia's lofty renewable energy ambitions were given a harsh reality check on Thursday, as looming electricity shortfalls delayed the long-awaited shutdown of the country's largest coal-fired power plant.The hulking, heavily polluting Eraring power plant — about a two-hour drive north of Sydney — was slated for closure in 2025 but will be kept ticking over for at least two more years while renewables are ramped up.
But industry and a handful of conservative politicians are also calling for Australia to revisit a decades-old ban on nuclear power.Electricity lines near emission funnels for the Bayswater coal-powered thermal power station located near the central New South Wales town of Muswellbrook. AFP PHOTOAlthough Australia has 33 percent of the world's uranium deposits, nuclear power generation has been banned since 1998.