Alinta Energy to close two Australian coal-fired power plants early

• 8 years ago (2015-10-12)
• David Flin

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Alinta Energy, owned by the private equity firm TPG, has announced that it will shut the Leigh Creek coal mine in northern South Australia in November, and will close two ageing coal-fired power stations at nearby Port Augusta in March 2016. The closures will result in the loss of 400 jobs.

Alinta Energy has suffered heavy financial losses from the plants since taking them over in 2011 in a market hit by over-supply and weak wholesale prices.

The two power plants, the Northern and Playford B power plants, once supplied around 40 per cent of South Australia’s baseload power generation, but have been making increasing losses due to high levels of power supply in Australia’s national electricity market.

ANZ Banking Group has said that it will set strict rules on lending to the coal industry in order to bring the bank’s business into line with the growing momentum across Australia’s corporate sector of reducing carbon emissions.