Independent Lake Macquarie MP Greg Piper has cautioned against closing Eraring Power Station before proven renewable baseload capacity is in place.
Mr Piper, whose support will be crucial to the new Labor government, is seeking meetings with Premier Chris Minns and Brookfield Asset Management energy regarding their respective plans for the 2800 megawatt coal-fired generator.
Origin Energy brought forward the plant's closure by seven years to August 2025 last year. However, company chief executive Frank Calabria has since acknowledged it may need to remain open longer to support the clean energy transition.
The future of Eraring took another twist this week when Origin signed a $18.7 billion takeover deal with Brookfield Asset Management and MidOcean Energy.
Brookfield said while the company was keen to progress the closure of Eraring, it did not want consumers to be adversely affected.
Mr Piper said on Thursday that he believed the plant would be needed to ensure energy security for the foreseeable future.
"My view is that, while we're after a good environmental outcome, going into brownouts and blackouts in NSW will do more to damage to the progress of those outcomes than a considered withdrawal with sufficient dispatchable baseload power produced by renewables -that's what we want but we are not there yet," he said.
Mr Piper said his preference would be for the state or federal government to enter into a commercial arrangement to keep Eraring going as long as was needed rather than have the state government buy it back.
Premier Chris Minns said he was open to the idea of the government acquiring the plant during the election campaign.
"Prior to the election, Labor clearly outlined to voters that our priority will be to ensure affordable and reliable energy, and voters expect this government to act on that," a government spokesman said on Thursday.
The government sold Eraring to Origin in 2013 for just $50 million. It is likely it would be required to pay significantly more than that to buy it back.
"It would be an extraordinary thing for them to do (buy it back), but I'm happy to talk to Chris Minns about it," Mr Piper said.
"I'd imagine the price would not be in the state's favour. I'd be very cautious about it."
He also said he was keen to hear more about Brookfield's plans for coal ash recycling at Eraring.
"We have made some progress with Origin, but I really need to understand what Brookfield's intentions are because it's a massive resource if we can harness it. But if we can't harness it as a resource it becomes a massive burden," he said.
NSW Nature Conservation Council policy director Brad Smith said Eraring would create 13 million tonnes of climate pollution for every year it remained open.
"NSW already has a plan to replace Eraring, and forecasts show the reliability standards will be met, so we're calling for cool heads," he said.
"There are far better uses of public funds than bailing out Origin Energy to keep this power station polluting. Community, home, and grid batteries would all provide grid reliability and bring down energy bills without jeopardising climate action."
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