Coal still made half of Australia’s electricity in 2025 from 15 stations on the east coast, eleven fewer than in 2010, and AEMO, the Australian Energy Market Operator, now expects the last of them to close in 2049, eleven years later than it said two years ago.

The Scale

What coal did in 2025	121.5 terawatt-hours, 49.7 percent of the country’s electricity, 8.6 Erarings. In the June quarter of 2026 coal still made 53.6 percent of the east-coast grid’s supply.
The fleet	15 major stations on the east-coast grid, about 21,000 megawatts. In 2010 there were 26, about 30,000 megawatts. Add Western Australia’s three and the national register reads 18 stations, 49 units, 22,428 megawatts.
Its age	Outside Queensland the fleet averages 41 years. Queensland’s averages 31. The oldest units still running, at Yallourn, date from 1973; the newest, Kogan Creek, from 2007.
Eraring	Four units, 2,880 megawatts, 14.2 terawatt-hours in 2024-25, running the equivalent of 4,900 hours flat out. To replace that energy with wind would take about 5,400 megawatts of turbines, roughly 870 of the largest machines now going up; with grid-scale solar, about 8,100 megawatts, 15 to 18 million panels on 120 to 210 square kilometres (estimate, energy only, with no allowance for when it is produced).
Closing by 2030, owners’ dates	Eraring, 30 April 2029. Yallourn, mid-2028. Collie, 2027, and Muja, 2029, in the west. Gladstone has a retirement notice for March 2029 and an owner saying no final decision has been made. Together, about 6,750 megawatts, 30 percent of the fleet.
No date at all	Queensland’s other seven stations have no owner’s closure date. AEMO fills the gap with assumptions running to 2049, “in line with the Queensland Energy Roadmap”. The 2022 state plan that set 2035 as the target was repealed.
The plan’s end date	Most coal out by 2038, all by 2049. The 2024 plan said all out by 2038.

What Exists Now

Queensland has the most stations, eight, and 8,130 megawatts. New South Wales has four stations but slightly more capacity, 8,305 megawatts. Victoria has three brown-coal stations, 4,820 megawatts. Western Australia has three, 1,173 megawatts. South Australia has burned no coal since Northern closed in May 2016. Tasmania and the Northern Territory have none.

What Is Coming

Nothing. No coal-fired power station is under construction in Australia. What is coming is closure, and the dates keep moving.

Eraring was to close in August 2025. A New South Wales underwriting agreement of May 2024 moved that to August 2027. On 20 January 2026 Origin moved it again, to 30 April 2029, within the terms of the same agreement. Yallourn, 1,450 megawatts, held its line at mid-2028, reaffirmed on 6 August 2026, a date brought forward from 2032. Gladstone, 1,680 megawatts, is contested: a retirement notice names March 2029, Rio Tinto says no final decision has been made and the station could run longer, and AEMO assumes 2035. Loy Yang A, 2,210 megawatts, is scheduled for 2035.

What Remains Uncertain

AEMO’s own modelled end point for coal moved out eleven years between its 2024 plan and its 2026 plan, from 2038 to 2049. Fifteen stations, 11 fewer than in 2010, still made half the country’s power in 2025, and more than half the east-coast grid’s power in the winter quarter of 2026.

The Stations

Station	State, capacity, first unit, owner’s closure date and basis
Eraring	NSW, 2,880 MW, 1982, 30 April 2029, owner announced
Bayswater	NSW, 2,715 MW, 1985, within a window to 2033, indicative
Vales Point B	NSW, 1,320 MW, 1978, 2033, owner announced
Mount Piper	NSW, 1,390 MW, 1992, 2040, indicative
Gladstone	Qld, 1,680 MW, 1976, March 2029 notice, contested
Stanwell	Qld, 1,460 MW, 1993, none; AEMO assumes 2043 to 2046
Tarong	Qld, 1,400 MW, 1984, none; AEMO assumes 2036
Callide B	Qld, 700 MW, 1988, at least 2031, indicative
Millmerran	Qld, 852 MW, 2002, none; AEMO assumes 2051
Loy Yang A	Vic, 2,210 MW, 1984, 2035, owner announced
Yallourn W	Vic, 1,450 MW, 1973, mid-2028, owner announced
Loy Yang B	Vic, 1,160 MW, 1993, none; AEMO assumes 2047
Collie	WA, 317 MW, 1999, late 2027, owner announced
Muja units 7 and 8	WA, 422 MW, October 2029, owner announced

Reading the Numbers

A closure date is not one thing. An owner’s announced date, an indicative range, an AEMO planning assumption, a statutory date and a government agreement are five different objects, and this table keeps them apart. Where sources disagree, both dates appear. Capacity is AEMO’s registered capacity. Retired stations are never added to operating capacity.

Technical material prepared for To Save a Beach and removed from the manuscript for length. Figures are as at August 2026. Where a figure is an estimate, the assumption is stated.

Australia’s Coal-Fired Power Stations