Origin Energy LNG revenue soars, Eraring’s future open

Origin Energy may have to keep the country’s largest coal-fired power station burning for longer despite adding wind and big batteries to keep the lights on.

“We remain in discussion with the NSW government on the closure date for the Eraring Power Station,” the electricity and gas company said on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, liquefied natural gas revenue for the March quarter was seven per cent higher than the prior quarter, at $2.55 billion on higher volumes and prices.

“Australia Pacific LNG is performing well operationally, continues to be a major supplier to the domestic market, and recently marked the milestone of its one thousandth LNG cargo,” Origin CEO Frank Calabria said.

In the Energy Markets division, he said the company continued to make “significant progress” in the strategy to grow renewable energy and storage.

Yet Eraring provides a quarter of the power in a state that is still the nation’s largest electricity throwaway email generator, despite lagging on renewable energy targets.

Origin recently signed an agreement to acquire Yanco Delta, one of the largest and most advanced wind and storage projects in NSW.

Capable of powering more than 750,000 households, the $4 billion project is forecast to avoid up to 4.5 million tonnes of emissions a year by displacing coal generation.

Origin has also purchased renewable energy developer Walcha Energy, including its proposed Ruby Hills Wind Farm and Salisbury Solar Farm projects in the NSW renewable energy zone.

“We continue to progress large-scale batteries under development at Eraring and Mortlake power stations, and recently announced our first storage offtake agreement from the Supernode battery in Queensland,” Mr Calabria said.

Origin’s energy storage portfolio will increase to around one gigawatt of capacity once these batteries come online.