“Origin will ... continue to actively engage with the market operator, NSW government, our people and the local community regarding plans for Eraring’s closure,” the company said.

The company was granted the green light to build a large-scale battery on-site in its place earlier this week.

Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen told the ABC on Wednesday that the government was doing everything it could to ensure there were no shortages come 2025, but said there was more to be done.

“We are dealing with a big challenge here,” he said. “Our transition needs to be faster, but it also needs to be a lot more orderly.”

Earlier this month, Premier Chris Minns said while the closure of Liddell wouldn’t impact energy generation in the state, the closure of Eraring could. The site provides about a quarter of NSW’s fossil fuel-based energy, with an overall generating capacity of 2922 megawatts.

“We know that there’s a big challenge coming around the corner ... particularly in relation to Eraring, [with] baseload supply of power in the state of NSW,” Minns said at the time. “But we’re getting the building policy pieces in place to ensure we can manage the renewable energy revolution in the state.”

AEMO executive general manager of system design Merryn York said that NSW had many proposed generation and storage projects that are yet to be approved, which – if delivered on time – will offset the planned generation retirement.

Sharpe previously told this masthead that she wouldn’t rule any options out.

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“My job is to keep the lights on and to make that transition as quickly as possible. None of us want the coal-fired power plant being open longer than it needs to be, but we’ve also got a responsibility to make sure that households and businesses can go about their business,” she said.