![Origin to close Eraring in 2030s Origin to close Eraring in 2030s](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/storypad-3ZMaZUzN3dKuM6vrzTJmtN/5c39eae6-b317-481e-9ab9-6be16d643a71.jpg/r0_2_1200_677_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
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ORIGIN Energy intends to shut its Eraring power station some time after 2030 as part of a global climate change agreement the company unveiled on Wednesday.
Origin’s announcement follows a similar pledge in April this year by its energy-sector competitor AGL, which said it would close its Bayswater, Liddell and Loy Yang power stations by 2050.
Eraring is Australia’s biggest black-coal fired power station, with a capacity to generate 2880megawatts of electricity, and employs more than 300people.
Origin bought Eraring from the state government in 2013 and AGL bought Bayswater and Liddell a year later after objections from the federal competition regulator delayed the sale.
Reports on Wednesday morning predicted that Origin would announce the Eraring closure at that morning’s annual general meeting, but the formal statement did not mention the station by name.
Instead, Origin announced it had signed up to ‘‘all seven initiatives’’ of a global ‘‘We Mean Business Coalition’’, joining a world-wide coalition of non-government organisations, businesses and institutional investors ‘‘committed to leadership on climate change’’.
The climate change pledge is organised by a London-based organisation, CDP, formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project.
With offices in 12 countries, it describes itself as ‘‘the world’s only global natural capital disclosure system through which more than 4500 companies from more than 80 countries . .. report, manage and share vital environmental information’’.
An Origin spokesperson said adhering to the seven-point plan meant that Eraring was likely to close when it reached the end of its technical life, which was expected to be in the early-to-mid 2030s.
Eraring began its working life in 1982.
Origin chief executive Grant King said the company had been preparing for a ‘‘carbon-constrained world for a long time’’ and would continue to play an active role in developing low carbon solutions.
Chairman Gordon Cairns said: “We acknowledge climate change and support meaningful global action to reduce carbon emissions to limit global warming to less than 2°C on pre-industrial levels.’’
AGL was initially applauded for its announcement in April, but some activists pointed out that its coal-fired stations would be at the end of their working lives by 2050 anyway.