Electricity has become a jigsaw in Australia and coal isn’t best to fill the missing pieces

When the early closure of Victoria’s second-biggest coal-fired power station was announced last week, something the energy minister said was less than complete.

Yallourn, in the Latrobe Valley, provides up to 20 per cent of Victoria’s power. It has been operating for 47 years. Since late 2017 at least one of its four units has broken down 50 times. Its workforce doubles for three to four months most years to deal with the breakdowns. It pumps out 3 per cent of Australia’s carbon emissions.

On Wednesday, Energy Australia gave seven years notice of its intention to close it in mid-2028, four years earlier than previously announced, a possibility for which regulators had been preparing.

In what might have been a rhetorical flourish,…