Vales Point Power Station on the edge of Lake Macquarie was meant to shut its doors in 2021, but now it's been revealed it won't shut until 2029 and its worth $729 million more than it was bought for.
The coal-fired power station has certainly made plenty of money since it was bought in November 2015 for just $1 million by Sunset Power who are operating the station under the old Delta Electricity name.
At the time of the sale, the ABC reports the Berejiklian government played down the sale of the power station because they believed it was worthless.
Now the massive jump in price has been referred to the Auditor-General.
The power station is quite large, responsible for 11 per cent of the state's electricity, but it's also one of the biggest pollutants in the country emitting 10 million tonnes of pollution each year.
Greens Energy Spokesperson Adam Bandt believes it needs to be shut down, but the flip flopping of energy policy in government is making that impossible.
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| Vales Point Power Station Image Wikipedia |
"There is so much chaos in the electricity market and the electricity system under this government. People are clinging to these old assets no matter how polluting and how near the end of their life they are."
With no firm renewable energy policy from the government, Adam Bandt said everyone is clinging onto their old assets which are increasing in value, making companies more money, but the consumer's power bills more expensive.
"Now these coal-fired power stations are being rewarded for running their plant into the ground and staying open even longer and that's in large part because the government has made the whole of this area so uncertain that we haven't had the new investments in renewables that we need,"
He also adds the power station is only going to get older and start to struggle to operate, particularly in the heat.
