The operation of the 2.88-gigawatt Eraring plant near Lake Macquarie has been extended by two years beyond the scheduled closure date of August 2025 its owner, Origin, had set two years ago.The operation of the 2.88-gigawatt Eraring plant near Lake Macquarie has been extended by two years beyond the scheduled closure date of August 2025 its owner, Origin, had set two years ago.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Stephanie Bashir, principal at Nexa Advisory, said the money would have been better spent accelerating approvals of wind and solar farms while helping more households to put solar panels on their roofs.
The Hunter Community Environment Centre, for instance, noted in a 2019 report that Eraring’s cooling towers released the daily equivalent of a one-in-40 year flood event into Lake Macquarie. The lake is the largest coastal estuary in eastern Australia, covering about 110km2.