I agree keeping Liddell open makes sense superficially.
However as more intermittent renewables come on stream, whatever the reason (but subsidies, conflicts interest and general board room virtue-signalling and timidity, with preponderence of independent non-executive directors, with a gender quota and mandatory reporting of m/f pay levels most impactful), means that fast response gas fired plant has a strong use-case.
The most suitable is probably the Watsila Smart (Recip) Generators but turbines provide mechanical more inertia, so that is also a factor. Wheter Snowy Hydro or a provate generator builds it remains to be seen. I can think of a few candidates. For a real left-field solution, we could do what Indonesia did and contract some Powerships. 500MW available in less than a year.
These were put forward for South Australia in 2017, but the government of the day was hell-bent on owning its own power station, and was eventually outsmarted by a turbine OEM, to finish up renting some diesel fueled aero-derivative gas turbines, in a remarkable display of bloody-minded hypocrisy.
But when was that ever a problem for ALP?
AGL Price at posting:
$8.18 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
(20min delay)