Queensland’s decision to extend the lives of coal-fired power stations and abandon firm renewable energy targets risks making new generation harder to finance, the chief executive of the Smart Energy Council has warned.
David McElrea said the state’s energy policy had created uncertainty over when replacement electricity would be required, threatening investment in wind, solar, batteries and transmission infrastructure.
The criticism follows the Queensland Government’s Energy Roadmap, released in October 2025, which removed the previous plan to phase out state-owned coal generation by 2035. Under the new approach, coal stations will operate for as long as they are needed, subject to their condition, the requirements of the electricity system and their economic viability.
The Queensland Audit Office has noted that the policy does not set fixed closure dates for the state’s coal power stations. Some may continue operating well beyond their previously anticipated retirement dates, with scenarios extending as far as 2050.
The government has argued that keeping existing assets in service will reduce system costs and protect reliability. Its roadmap includes up to 6.8 gigawatts of additional wind and solar generation, 2.4 gigawatts of short-duration battery storage and expanded gas capacity, alongside continued investment in transmission.
However, Mr McElrea said keeping ageing coal units online could distort the market. Because coal generators are generally slow to reduce output, they can continue producing at minimum levels when rooftop solar and large-scale renewables are supplying abundant electricity.
That can leave the grid oversupplied during sunny periods, increasing the likelihood that wind and solar output will be curtailed. Households with rooftop systems may then be prevented from exporting electricity they have generated while continuing to draw power from the wider network.
Queensland energy policy under scrutiny
Mr McElrea said the uncertainty also risked undermining plans for new electricity demand, including public transport projects, advanced manufacturing and data centres in regional Queensland.
Data centres and artificial-intelligence facilities require large and dependable supplies of electricity. Their arrival could help fund new generation, storage and transmission, but investors need clearer signals about how the market will evolve, he said.
The Smart Energy Council has previously criticised the Energy Roadmap, arguing that prolonging coal generation could leave consumers exposed to higher costs and discourage private investment in cleaner technologies.
The Australian Energy Market Operator’s 2026 Integrated System Plan reached a different conclusion from the Queensland Government’s emphasis on existing coal assets, identifying renewable generation connected by new transmission and supported by storage as the least-cost pathway for the national electricity market through to 2050.
Mr McElrea is also calling for coal-fired power stations to be brought within the federal Safeguard Mechanism, which is currently being reviewed by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.
The mechanism sets declining emissions baselines for large industrial facilities. Under the proposal, coal generators operating beyond their original closure dates would have to cover additional pollution with Australian Carbon Credit Units.
The change would not require an immediate shutdown of the plants, Mr McElrea said. Instead, it would provide investors with a clearer timetable for building replacement capacity before existing stations became unavailable.
The Queensland Government maintains that its roadmap will put downward pressure on energy costs, strengthen reliability and encourage private investment in renewables and firming technologies. The dispute centres on whether keeping coal stations available for longer provides that certainty—or postpones the decisions needed to build the next generation of power infrastructure.
