One of NSW Labor’s most strident critics of the early closure of the country’s biggest coal generator has been named as the state’s new energy minister.
Penny Sharpe was spokesperson for the environment and heritage before the election, and – now in government – takes on the added portfolios of energy and climate.
Jihad Dib, the previous energy spokesperson, has been relegated to the digital government, customer service and emergency services portfolio.
Sharpe was highly critical of the decision by Origin Energy to close Eraring, the country’s biggest coal plant at 2.8GW some years early in August, 2025. The decision was negotiated with the then Coalition state government, but kept secret at the time from then federal energy minister Angus Taylor.
“We pretty annoyed by it … coming off line too early,” Sharpe said on election night on ABC TV. “We are hitting a cliff, we can’t have the lights go off … we need industry to keep going.”
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Sharpe also repeated premier Chris Minns’ comments that the state Labor government may seek talks with Origin’s likely new owner, Brookfield Asset Management, over possibly buying the Eraring plant and keep it running for longer.
Analysts say this would be a terrible move. They think it is likely that one or two units at Eraring could be kept open for another summer to ensure demand is met, but warn against a state buyout of an ageing asset, and say the question of liabilities will be almost insurmountable.
In her first statement issued as energy minister on Tuesday, Sharpe welcomed the newly announced tender for 380MW of dispatchable capacity, likely to be a big battery, to help replace the Eraring capacity.
“After a decade of privatisation and the early closures of coal fired power stations there are significant challenges ahead to keep the lights on in NSW as we transition to a cleaner energy system,” she wrote.
“Today’s tender is an important step to ensure that NSW households and businesses benefit from cleaner and more affordable electricity that is stable and reliable in times of peak demand and when the sun doesn’t shine, or the wind doesn’t blow.”
Sharpe will be the country’s second current female energy minister, along with Victoria’s Lily D’Ambrosio. The only non Labor state or federal minister is from Tasmania. All the mainland states feature Labor governments.
