Bayswater Power Station is undergoing an Australian-first trial that will allow it to cope with record surges of clean energy in the grid.
With unprecedented amounts of solar energy hitting the grid during the middle of the day, coal-fired generators have been forced to cut their output to record lows.
The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) took the extraordinary measure of issuing a low demand warning in the Victorian market last week when the supply of solar power threatened to overwhelm demand for electricity from the grid.
More low demand notices are expected in the next couple of years as the clean energy juggernaut gathers pace across the country.
For coal fired power plants the so-called "duck curve" scenario has been likened to attempting to run a high-performance sports car at extremely low revs without stalling.
AGL is undertaking a $120 million maintenance overhaul of its 2,640 megawatt Bayswater plant near Muswellbrook in order to ensure it is in peak condition for summer.
The plant, along with LoyYang in Victoria have also undergone modifications that allow them to continue operating, or flex, during periods of extremely low demand.
Prior to the work Bayswater could not reliably operate below 330 megawatts.
That has dropped to 200 megawatts. With AEMO approval the plant will be able to operate at 170 megawatts in the near future, meaning it will have an operating range of 170 to 700 megawatts.
"If you've got negative pricing in the middle of the day it makes sense to be able to flex these units down," Bayswater general manager Len McLachlan
"We've invested a lot of time, energy planning, and money into upgrading the equipment where possible for these units to be able to flex like this.
"If these coal fired units can do that, it means that they can produce less megawatts, less emissions when the solar is in the market, while also still being there to provide the firming that's needed right now while the grid is in transition."
To ensure the plant can sustain the increasing periods of low demand over the remaining nine years of its life, Unit 4 recently underwent an Australian-first trial, which involved taking it offline completely at 10am on September 7.
The unit was kept warm with heat from the boiler until it was brought back online at 3pm.
"We will use market opportunities to continue to test these units like this so we can get really good at understanding what it takes to shut off and start up again within a 12 hour period. It's all part of enabling further flexibility within our fleet," Mr McLachlan said.
The last coal-fired power station in the United Kingdom officially closed on Monday, ending the nearly 150-year history of British coal power.
Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station began operating in 1967 and it has dominated the East Midlands landscape in the 60 years since.
The move makes the UK the first of the G7 nations to go entirely without coal-powered electricity. The UK aims to decarbonise its grid by 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2050.
Italy plans rid itself of its last coal-fired power stations by next year, with France following suit in 2027, Canada in 2030 and Germany in 2038.
