¶ SHADOW Energy Minister Dr Steve Thomas has expressed concerns about power capacity ahead of the upcoming shutdown of Muja Power Station’s Muja C Unit 6.
A Synergy spokesperson confirmed to the Bulletin that the unit will be decommissioned from April 1 after its originally scheduled retirement was pushed back six months.
Unit 6 was placed in reserve outage mode from October 1 last year, providing a back-up option during the 2024-25 high-demand period.
It was harnessed on a number of occasions over summer to cater for increased demand, including three days in December and 10 days in January.
Dr Thomas said the unit’s retirement had been “cynically” extended to one month after the election. 
“They were obviously frightened of the lights going out in the lead up to the election,” he said. 
“And rightly so, given that Unit 6 was going flat-out in periods of peak demand, such as on January 20 this year when peak power delivery into the South West Interconnected System hit 4486 megawatts.
“Coal was providing 30 percent of the power in the system and every unit was going full tilt.”
Dr Thomas questioned whether Unit 6 would again be put into reserve outage mode rather than decommissioned.
“Either way, though, I have no faith that the lights will stay on by 2027 as the other Collie units get dumped according to the current Labor plan,” he said.