Corporate welfare may keep the lights on. But backing Eraring power station will have other costs for the NSW government

‘Eraring is not the clunker that AGL’s Liddell plant was near its demise. But the 40-odd year old plant’s reliability without a major fault can’t be assured.’ Photograph: Peter Lorimer/The Guardian

The New South Wales government has bought itself an insurance policy worth as much as $450m to keep open a power station it couldn’t afford to have exit the grid.

But operating the 2880-megawatt Eraring plant up to four years beyond its scheduled August 2025 closure date will cost more than just the price of corporate welfare – there’s also the environmental and economic impacts to quantify.