AGL Energy Limited (ASX: AGL) has announced it’s going to delay the closure of its power plants in New South Wales and South Australia to help keep the power during the summer.
AGL is one of Australia’s largest electricity generation portfolio owners and operators and the largest ASX-listed investor in renewable energy. As of 2018, AGL had more than 3.6 million customer accounts.
AGL’s Power Plant Moves
AGL Liddell
AGL has told the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) its closure schedule for the Liddell power station in NSW and the Torrens A power station in SA. AGL has confirmed a schedule that will help the national energy market with the critical summer months.
AGL had previously said that Liddell would be closed in 2022 after 50 years of operation where it will have reached the end of its technical life.
AGL still plans to close the first unit at the Liddell power plant in April 2022. But, after an independent engineering assessment, AGL has said that the remaining three units can close the remaining three units in April 2023 to support system reliability throughout the summer of 2022 – 2023.
AGL Torrens A
Torrens A, also more than 50 years old, was scheduled to have two of the four units mothballed by November 2019.
However, to help mitigate generation impacts across the system following the outage of Unit 2 at Loy Yang A and to ensure that the Barker Inlet Power Station is operationally stable prior to mothballing these units, AGL is seeking permission from the State Government to continue operating over the coming summer.
The first two Torrens A units will be closed in September 2020, a third unit will be closed in September 2021 and the final unit in September 2022.
AGL’s new 210MW gas-fired Barker Inlet power station will be operating from November 2019, providing capacity before Torrens A is retired.
Other Developments
AGL said it’s continuing to progress a series of power firming projects in NSW including the 100MW upgrade to the Bayswater power station, assessing the feasibility of 250MW of pumped hydro at Bells Mountain and seeking approvals for a 250MW gas power station at Newcastle.
In South Australia, AGL is currently investigating the feasibility of a 250MW pumped hydro plant at Kanmantoo and earlier this year delivered the 30MW ESCRI battery on the Yorke Peninsula as part of a joint venture with Electranet.
AGL didn’t disclose any financial or monetary information in this update, so it’s hard to say how it affects things. The share price is up around 0.3% in reaction this news. But, with such a regulated market, I’d rather invest in the solid and proven businesses in the free report below instead.
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