Activists celebrate closure of AGL Liddell power plant

Environmental activists are celebrating the closure of AGL's Liddell power plant, which will begin shutting down completely this week after the company deemed it too outdated to continue operating.

However some fear the closure will create further turbulence within Australia's energy market, with no guarantee of how it will be replaced.

Federal opposition spokesman for Climate Change and Energy Ted O'Brien said shutting down the Muswellbrook plant, in NSW's Hunter region, will strip ten per cent of the state's total energy generation capacity.

He challenged the Albanese Government to reveal its plans to replace coal fire power stations as they are progressively phased out between now and 2035.

"The Coalition supports an orderly transition towards a cleaner energy future, but you don't demolish 80 per cent of the nation's baseload energy capacity without a replacement ready to go," Mr O'Brien said.

Greenpeace Australia Pacific head of advocacy and strategy, Glenn Walker, said coal-fired power stations like Liddell will be replaced by large amounts of wind and solar energy, coupled with big batteries.

By the end of this month, three of Liddell's remaining seven power units will be decommissioned, resulting in 1260MW less electricity in the NSW grid.

The shutdown was initially flagged by AGL in 2015 after the operator found the plant had "reached the end of its technical life".

"Despite the initial protesting from small-minded politicians and commentators, this announcement helped spur a massive four-fold increase in renewable energy production in NSW, meaning dirty Liddell will be replaced by clean energy," Mr Walker said.

Mr O'Brien said the Coalition's proposal to replace Liddell with the 660MW Kurri Kurri gas power station was being undermined by the current government's insistence it should run on 30 per cent green hydrogen.

"Labor's plan for Kurri Kurri to run on 30 per cent hydrogen is neither achievable nor costed, and its pig-headed refusal to accept that reality only heightens the risk of the lights going out," Mr O'Brien said.  

Mr Walker said companies like AGL, along with government, could lead Australia's green energy transition. 

"The lesson from Liddell should be that companies like AGL and politicians alike need to show courage and get on with the job of cleaning up our dirty energy system," he said.

"AGL's remaining coal burning power stations in Victoria and New South Wales are equally unreliable polluting clunkers. The sooner they are shut down the better it will be for the climate and the health of local communities,"