BY PETER HYSLOP
State member for Lake Macquarie Greg Piper says the community could be subject to "brownouts and blackouts" if not enough is invested in alternative energy sources before Eraring Power Station is closed in 2025.
The independent MP told 2NUR the closure can't happen if the state is not ready to make the switch.
"While it has a closure date ... we shouldn't be locked into that if we're not actually ready.
"We don't have ... confidence that we will have storage for base load power to be dispatched to the demand we can match now with a power station such as Eraring," he said.
Piper said the community would be "outraged" if power had to be cut to homes without sufficient capacity on the grid.
While he understands Origin, the operator, can't keep producing energy at a loss, he said it would be unacceptable for the government to buy it back.
"It would be an extraordinary proposition for the state to re-acquire this power station at this stage, it's been heavily compromised over the years ... the cost would be probably unacceptable," he said.
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| (Image: CSIRO) |
