The company said that the closure of the power plant, which has been operating in a difficult national energy market environment for a considerable period, comes as it shifts its focus towards cleaner energy generation.
As part of this effort, Engie has already sold or closed coal assets with combined capacity of more than 5GW earlier this year.
The firm now plans to focus on low-carbon projects for power generation, renewable energy and natural gas.
The Hazelwood power station, which was commissioned in 1960s, employs 750 people.
Engie Australia CEO Alex Keisser said: “Hazelwood is now more than 50 years old. It has been a wonderful contributor to the National Electricity Market but we have now reached the point where it is no longer economic to operate.
“Over the past few years a range of options have been investigated for the business, including revamping existing infrastructure, repowering with gas-fired gas turbines or biomass or reducing the number of operating units.
“None of these options has proven to be economically viable and as a result, the extremely difficult decision has now been taken to close all eight generating units by 31 March next year.”
Upon closure of the facility, up to 250 people will manage the power station decommissioning and mine rehabilitation between 2017 and 2023.
Meanwhile, Engie said it is also considering potential sale of its 1000MW Loy Yang B coal power station and 122MW Kwinana gas power station both located in Australia in a bid to gradually end its coal activities.
Image: The Hazelwood coal-fired power plant in Victoria, Australia. Photo: courtesy of Simpsons fan 66/Wikipedia.
