AGL is aiming to complete Clover’s upgrade by 2026. The company forecasts it will increase the plant’s throughput from 120 megalitres an hour to 140 megalitres an hour, expanding the entire Kiewa scheme’s ability to run at capacity.

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Commenting on AGL’s plan to upgrade the scheme, Victorian Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said investing in clean energy capacity was vital to delivering the state’s target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030.

“We welcome investments like this from AGL, helping us create jobs and delivering a more affordable and reliable energy system for regional Victoria,” D’Ambrosio said.

AEMO, which manages power and gas markets across the country, has spent the past two years consulting 1500 stakeholders to deliver its “Integrated System Plan” to show what it expects the energy grid will look like out to 2050.

The report said it expected 60 per cent of the eastern seaboard’s coal fleet to exit the electricity grid by 2030 while all Victoria’s brown coal-burning power stations could close by 2032.

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AEMO chief executive Daniel Westerman said this would require a tripling of the back-up capacity from alternative sources to coal, such as utility-scale batteries, fast-start gas plants and hydro storage, which could be on standby to back up renewable energy when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining.

“It is urgent, but it is achievable,” Westerman said. “We need to act now.”

While AGL is a major investor in renewable energy, it is also the nation’s single biggest greenhouse gas emitter because it still generates by far the bulk of its electricity from coal-fired power plants. The company has come under greater pressure from climate activists and its own shareholders to spend more on clean energy and bring forward the closure dates of coal assets, the last of which is not scheduled to close until the mid-2040s.

Last month, AGL’s chairman and chief executive were forced to resign after dumping long-held plans for a demerger of its generator and retail arms following a campaign led by the tech billionaire investor Mike Cannon-Brookes, who wants to keep AGL whole and bring forward its exit from coal to the mid-2030s.

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