Current status of closure date for all 4 x Yallourn units

We’re now under 23 months away from the slated closure of Yallourn Power Station, and we’ve noticed a distinct uptick in media articles (and discussions on social media)…

… of course, amongst that mix was our earlier article ‘‘What’s Yallourn ever done for us?’ Part 1’ from 10 days ago:
(a)  Readers might like to read that article and the comments underneath, for a broader perspective;
(b)  and remember that the article was purposefully titled ‘Part 1’.

This article is not Part 2 … but rather a short note with a snapshot from the ‘Forecast Convergence widget in ez2view at 16:35 on Saturday 15th August 2026:

… from which we can see:

1)  A consistent pattern of information from EnergyAustralia (at least to date?) that the slated closure of all 4 units stands at 1st July 2028; and

2)  At that time, the peak availability of the station (1,530MW in the past 3 years) would drop to 0MW on that day.

With respect to whether there’s going to be some movement on that date, note that:

1)  It’s certainly not shown in the data, to this point;

2)  And we might see some nuance emerge in the next 23 months (perhaps including via the results in this year’s Victorian elections).  In this context, remember that the last 3 significant coal station closures each followed different models:

(a)  With the closure of Northern in South Australia, there was a period where the station went on seasonal hibernations, coming back (for a while) only at peak seasons;

(b)  With the closure of Hazelwood, all 8 units were gone within a  couple days;

(c)  Whereas with respect to the closure of Liddell, there was a year elapse between the closure of the first of the units and the last.

3)  So the path taken by Yallourn

(a)  Might be an abrupt halt … though I would think this least likely, just from a supply-demand balance perspective (especially mid 2028)

(b)  Or might be some sort of staged (and/or seasonal) approach.