Victorian Energy and Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio told The Sunday Age the new figures showed the state was on track to fill the gap left by Yallourn, and the subsequent closures of the Loy Yang A and B plants with renewables, with batteries to provide stability and rebuilt to deliver the power.

“Between now and 2028 , we will be delivering an additional 5000 megawatts of new power supply plus batteries, so we then have more than enough supply to meet our needs,” the minister said.

“The grid connections are a really critical issue and that’s a critical issue right across the National Electricity Market not just for Victoria.

“We’re investing more money into grid upgrades than Queensland and NSW combined; there was $540 million over four years in our budget in November.”

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Ms D’Ambrosio said the question of peak demand, which cannot currently be met by renewables, was being addressed by the construction of five large scale batteries, three of which were already built with two connected to the grid.

But Federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor, who said he shared the priority of retiring the big coal generators ahead of time, does not believe the job of replacing Yallourn’s capacity could be done just by wind, solar, batteries and hydro.

”Solar and wind can provide us energy, but it can’t be guaranteed... so you need that back-up...whether it’s through projects like Snowy [Hydro 2]... gas, or whether it’s batteries, all of those technologies will play a role in providing that backup.

“If we don’t have that, we will see blackouts, and we will see higher prices.”

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Jeff Dimery, Chief Executive of Alinta Energy which owns the Loy Yang B plant, said market reform was badly needed as coal fired stations struggled to compete on price against renewable providers who were selling electricity produced at zero cost or even being paid, via government subsidies, to generate power.

“If something doesn’t change in the medium term, our operation would become very marginal,” Mr Dimery told The Sunday Age.

“We’re the newest and lowest cost marginal generator and if we end up in a situation where we’re marginal and it pretty much tells you that everybody else is unviable, and that may be the outcome that we’re destined for.

“My concern, as an energy industry expert, is the market can’t sustain the closure of all the coal fired power stations in such a rapid time frame and expect the lights to stay on.

“So something’s got to give.”