The owner of Australia's dirtiest power plant, EnergyAustralia, has taken to the Murdoch press to sook about state climate and energy policy.

The company is claiming that its power plant in Yallourn might close prematurely due to Emissions Reduction Targets and Victorian Renewable Energy Target. 

In reality though, EnergyAustralia's Victorian coal power plant will close from old age and its inability to compete with new technology entering the grid. 

As research from The Australia Institute demonstrates, Victoria's brown coal power plants are the most unreliable generators in the country. 

“Victoria’s coal power plants are responsible for the highest number of breakdowns in the country, putting the state’s electricity supply at serious risk,” the Australia Institute's Richie Merzian told RenewEconomy in June.

“It’s worrying that Victoria’s heavy-polluting coal plants already struggle to consistently supply the state and climate change will only increase the difficulty with more days of extreme heat and higher demand.”

“Across the national grid," Merzian added, "Victoria’s aging coal-fired power stations are the most likely to fail and Victorian’s felt this first-hand in January this year when many were forced into blackout.”

The countdown to climate action continues.

The Victorian government has until March 31 next year to set the state's first interim Emissions Reduction Targets.

With the shock re-election of Scott Morrison our campaign to secure science-based targets in Victoria is more important than ever.

While a Federal Coalition government will seek to apply the handbrake to climate action, it's worth noting that we've been here before. And we know how to fight under these conditions.

Not long after Tony Abbott was elected in 2013, the Federal government mounted a sustained attack on renewable energy that saw investment drop by 90 percent and thousands of job losses.

In January 2014 we launched our push for a Victorian Renewable Energy Target (VRET) to make the state a safe haven for the sector. Despite the odds, we never gave up. We built a powerful coalition that included communities; unions; renewable energy companies; and environment groups, and we won!

In 2017, the Andrews government enshrined the Victorian Renewable Energy Target in law and ran the country’s largest-ever reverse auction for new solar and wind projects. The scheme will treble the state’s renewable energy capacity, create 10,000 jobs, and cut emissions in the electricity sector by 16 percent.  

We’ve made Victoria a safe haven for renewable energy. Now we must make it a safe haven for climate action.

Here's a quick update on our efforts over the last month...