Lights out: Ageing coal and summer blackouts

Baringa’s latest analysis, commissioned by the Climate Council, reveals that the ability of the coal generators in the Australian National Electricity Market (NEM) to reliably produce electricity has dropped off dramatically for plants at 40 years of age or older, and the majority of the coal capacity is already over 40 years old. 

The analysis also found that coal outages have been a primary driver of power outage warnings in recent years (particularly during summer), as well as contributing to price spikes.

Considering the ageing assets and ongoing reductions in technology costs, our projections show that most of Australia's coal generation will be replaced by renewables and firm technologies like storage within the next decade.

The Climate Council is a community-funded climate change communications organisation, providing authoritative, expert and evidence-based advice on climate change to the Australian community.

For more information, reach out to Peter Sherry or Jacqui Fenwick.