News: AGL Australia's AGL expects to exit coal generation by 2035, page-31

bit late to reply to your claim about pumped hydro being a net consumer... but here I am.

It is a misleading post on a number of fronts.
1. Round trip efficiency of a correctly built and configured PH setup is circa 70%... but the key thing about a BESS is that it isn't so much a generator outright - rather a time shifting device (storage) ... moving generation from when it isn't needed, to another time when it is needed.... to that end - a loss of 30% energy to charge the battery is IMO good
2. There is already periods where renewables are already generating surplus... NEM spot prices frequently go negative (and generators get curtailed) when solar is producing everywhere, all at once... this is when PH & other BESS setups recharge... when energy is its cheapest. Without storage, while coal power is still generating - PH & BESS are needed to help eliminate the lowest prices on the NEM... they will then export into the grid at the most profitable times... when prices are high - this help lower the peak price that occurs once the sun goes down.
3. It certainly will not take 20 play years to develop the base load equivalent of Loy Yang.... I will say it now - there is enough offshore wind in planning and development that will achieve that output and more... Star of the South alone is planned for 2.2gw and offshore wind capacity factors are typically 50%+ greater than their onshore counterparts (we average 30-35% capacity onshore) ... typical plan, development, build timeframes for a windfarm are 6-10 years... did I mention there is over 40GW (across 20 different developers - including Alinta for the Portland aluminum smelter) already at various stages of planning for Australia

DYOR