The early closure of Australia’s biggest coal plant caught Angus Taylor by surprise - but it shouldn’t have

Angus Taylor was refreshingly upfront on Thursday about the extent to which he was sidelined from a major decision affecting the future of Australia's electricity grid.

Speaking to Ray Hadley on Sydney's 2GB, the federal energy minister said he did not find out about Origin Energy's decision to shut Australia's biggest electricity generator, the Eraring coal-fired power plant, seven years earlier than scheduled until the night before.

His New South Wales Liberal counterpart, Matt Kean, also expressed disappointment in Origin's decision to close the Lake Macquarie plant from 2025, but not shock. He and the company's chief executive, Frank Calabria, said dialogue between the state government and Origin started months ago.

The first contact from the company was in July, and the company requested it be kept confidential. Which, among other things, meant the federal government wasn't to be told.

Origin says there is nothing in this - that the NSW government was the relevant jurisdiction for it to talk with - but it's no secret that major energy industry players are frustrated with what many see as the federal government's obstructive and scolding approach to dealing with the historic change under way in how electricity is generated and transmitted.

It's also no secret that Kean and Taylor don't see eye-to-eye on the best way ahead on electricity. Where the NSW minister talks up the need to act on the climate crisis and promises the country's biggest renewable energy expansion under legislation passed with cross-party support, Taylor says little about the damage from rising greenhouse gas emissions and mostly emphasises the risks of price spikes and reliability issues in moving away from fossil fuels.

It's important to note those risks are real. No one should assume the shift to a grid that runs overwhelmingly on renewable energy will be straightforward. But emphasis matters, and plenty of experts - from the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo) down - say the transformation is manageable.