The Day Australia Said Goodbye to Coal Forever - Coal Power Station Demolished

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:00]Today, less than 1 hour from my house, maybe 40 minutes drive for me, two 170 meter chimneys came crashing down. This was in the Hunter Valley here in Australia and with them an entire era of Australian energy.

[00:00:20]Liddell Power Station is gone. And what's rising in its place might surprise you.

[00:00:28]Liddell was a giant that 52 years it powered New South Wales. That's where Sydney is, the biggest city in Australia.

[00:00:37]It hummed away since 1971, burning incredible amounts of coal to keep the lights on for millions of Australians.

[00:00:47]It was so central to the national conversation that back in 2015 when its owner AGL announced it would close, it literally started a political war.

[00:00:59]Millions of Australians were fighting about it. Prime Ministers got involved.

[00:01:04]There were warnings of blackouts and economic disaster.

[00:01:08]But here's the thing, none of that happened. Liddell closed in 2023. The lights stayed on. I mean, some of the politicians said, "We're all going to be in complete darkness." Australia's energy system didn't collapse.

[00:01:24]It evolved.

[00:01:26]Because while politicians were fighting over coal, something quietly extraordinary was happening on rooftops and in paddics and farms all across the country. On the Electric Viking website, I'll put a link in the description below. We have more articles about electric cars and battery technology than any other website that I'm aware of in the world. So check that out. Link is in the description and there you'll find our videos and analysis and articles about everything going on in the EV world. Rooftop solar alone provided just rooftop solar from households provided 13% of Australia's electricity generation in the first half of last year. This year that figure is closer to 16%. That's just households and the batteries. In 2025, Australia added a record 2 gawatt of new largecale battery capacity, a 233% increase on the year before, making us the third largest utility scale battery market in the entire world behind only China and the United States. That is insane considering we only have 27 million people in this country.

[00:02:45]It's one of the smallest countries in the world that's like a major well-known country in terms of population. At the household level, Australia hit more than 400,000 home battery installations with over 11 gatt hours of capacity in under a year. That's just on households.

[00:03:04]That's hundreds and hundreds of thousands of homes of families storing their own solar power and sending it back to the grid when everyone gets home from work and turns on the kettle, turns on the air conditioner, etc. That's when electricity it has been expensive. But now hundreds of thousands of Australians are paying nothing for their electricity during that peak period. The results are showing up in the data. In the first quarter of 2026, total coal fired generation fell to a record new low in Australia, down 4.4% from the same time last year, while grids scale solar hit a new quarterly record.

[00:03:48]It's up 13%.

[00:03:51]And it's not just about electricity. The Liddell site itself is being repurposed.

[00:03:58]The steel from the old plant, more than 70,000 tons of it, is actually being recycled. The land is being redeveloped as a clean energy and industrial hub with plans, surprisingly for a hydrogen facility. The Hunter Valley isn't being abandoned, it's being um reinvented.

[00:04:20]This is the story happening all across Australia right now.

[00:04:25]In New South Wales alone, 1.4 gawatt of new renewable projects are underway. 1.4 gawatt, solar farms, wind farms, enormous batteries, and also a worldirst 8hour discharge lithiumion phosphate battery, first in the world that can run for eight hours.

[00:04:47]And this is all as the state works towards its target of 12 gawatt of clean energy by 2030.

[00:04:56]Look, the transition to renewables has not been perfect. There are real challenges. Grid infrastructure, transmission bottlenecks, making sure regional communities aren't left behind.

[00:05:08]But the direction is unmistakable.

[00:05:10]And incredibly, the cost of electricity is now coming down because of more renewables flooding the grid. Coal powered Australia for over a century. It built this country. But today, watching those Liddell chimneys hit the ground, it's clear the next century belongs to sun, wind, and batteries. The clean energy revolution isn't coming to Australia.

[00:05:39]It's already here. Need expert advice on what car to buy, what solar system to get, what home battery to get, or potentially for your business? You can get guys a one-on-one consultation directly with me. 60 minutes of tailored guidance. This might help you avoid making a huge mistake spending money when you shouldn't, and potentially save you a massive amount of money. Click the link in the description below because I can assist you and why not. The link is in the description. Thinking about getting solar, a home battery or an EV charger? Check out Australia's best free comparison tool because it could save you a lot of money. Guys, click on the link below in the description and you can see how much you can save.

[00:06:26]Alternatively, give ReSync a call. They are the guys who installed my battery and my home solar. I'll put a link to them as well in the description.