AGL says coal dying

AGL Energy chief Andy Vesey says coal cannot compete with renewable sources of electricity, which will eventually dominate baseload power in Australia.

Mr Vesey, who runs one of the nation’s biggest coal-fired power businesses, says technology is fuelling a slide in the price of renewables.

His comments, at the Australian Energy Week conference yesterday, came a day after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull flagged potential government-backed investment in new coal power plants.

“The new baseload for us is going to be large scale renewables, firmed up by open-cycle gas and, eventually, when (the cost of electricity) storage comes down, that’s what it will be,” Mr Vesey said.

“Technology is driving this. We don’t see any baseload other than renewables.”