AGL Energy has signed an historic agreement with waste site remediation company NuRock to investigate the feasibility of converting millions of tonnes of coal ash at Bayswater power station into into construction bricks.

The Hunter's coal mines may have generated billions of dollars in regional and national income over recent decades, but a figure which rarely receives attention is the cost of cleaning up and rehabilitating the land once mining ends.

Australia’s energy sector is evolving at a breakneck pace. But what will become of the communities that underpin it?

Energy economists are warning coalmining regions to make urgent changes to diversify, with a Chinese slowdown in coal consumption "imminent".

NEARLY 65 per cent of the Hunter Valley floor between Broke and Muswellbrook is taken up by mining leases, according to research from the University of Newcastle.

Everything is upturned ... the importance of coal to other sectors is diminished

Ampcontrol chief executive Rod Henderson is one of many business leaders in the New South Wales Hunter region who want more from the major parties this election than a fear campaign about job losses in the coal industry.

WHOLE communities have been wiped off the map in the Upper Hunter as a result of the expansion of the region's mining boom and urbanisation.Some that remain, like Bulga, only exist because defiant and determined residents fought tooth and nail to save the areas where generations of their families have lived.

AGL would be required to give an extra 18months notice of its intention to close Bayswater Power Station under a rule change proposed by the federal government.

A Hunter Renewable Energy Industrial Precinct could attract $28 billion in private investment, support 34,000 new jobs and earn $11 billion annually by 2032, an economic analysis of the project shows.

Infrastructure giant IFM Investors intends to raise $4 billion by the end of next year for a new clean-energy focused fund to capitalise on voracious demand from clients to invest in green assets.

The latest national pollution data shows several Hunter and Central Coast power stations have reported significant increases in toxic emissions while overall power generation dropped.

Bananas and lantana have been highlighted as natural resources that can be harvested to help establish a zero-carbon economy. Professor James Murray-Parkes, a world-class applied physicist based in Newcastle, said using nature in a sustainable way would reduce energy use.

The Hunter is at an historical crossroads. How the region meets the imminent challenges associated with the closure of coal-fired power stations coupled with the decline of its economic lifeline, the coal industry, will shape its destiny for generations to come.

MORE than 2.78 billion tonnes of coal have been gouged out of the Hunter Valley since the year 2000, enough to fill Lake Macquarie more than three times over.

On the tarmac near Scone airport, readying to squeeze into the back of a Cessna 182 (which is a very small plane), I can see a thoroughbred galloping along a white fence on the hill, a few paddocks over.

Michael White's picturesque Wybong property is a far cry from the pits where he spent four decades building a successful career as a mining engineer and manager.

EX-MINER Pete Kennedy lives "a 303 rifle shot" from what he describes as 'Mt un-Pleasant", which he can see over the back fence of his suburban Muswellbrook home.

The first of Liddell power station's four 500 megawatt turbines will be shut down on Friday, marking a major milestone in the state's clean energy transition.

The federal government's $100 million investment in the development of Port of Newcastle's energy precinct will also supercharge plans to create a $3.1 billion hydrogen hub capable of creating 5000 jobs.

The Hunter and Illawarra regions are set to become the centre of hydrogen production in the state after a government plan to produce energy there ended up attracting production proposals more than eight times its target.

An independent Hunter authority is needed to coordinate the economic, social and environmental challenges associated with the region's clean energy transition, a regional delegation has told the state's political powerbrokers.

The transformation of AGL's Liddell Power Station into a world-leading clean energy and employment hub has taken a significant step forward with the state government's approval of a 500 megawatt grid-scale battery for the site.

The Hunter's rebirth following the closure of the BHP steelworks should serve as inspiration to meet the challenges of transforming the region into a global leader of the emerging clean energy economy, a new report argues.

MUSWELLBROOK mayor, Steve Reynolds, is calling for a genuine focus on future employment in the region as the nation awaits a return to the polls.

Coal royalties should be used to fund a Hunter Region transition program of up to $105 million a year for 25 years, Professor Phillip O'Neill says.

The recent announcements that the Hunter's coal-fired power stations will close by the end of the decade mean the region can not wait any longer to begin the massive task of transitioning to a clean energy economy.

When white man first laid eyes on what is now Newcastle, more than 2 centuries ago, the first thing he noticed was rich seams of black marking the area's towering yellow and pink sandstone headlands: coal.

Origin Energy’s decision to bring forward the closure of its Eraring coal-fired power station – NSW’s largest – reflects the reality of a 21st-century power grid, and 21st-century economics.

Tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes has teamed up with international fund manager Brookfield to launch an audacious takeover bid for Australian energy giant AGL with the intention of setting stronger emissions-reduction targets and forcing the early closures of its remaining coal-fired power stations.

Eraring, the country’s largest coal-fired power station, will shut in three years, but transition plans for employees, communities – and the grid – are lacking

Angus Taylor has warned Origin Energy’s early closure of NSW’s Eraring coal plant could result in more expensive power bills.

The early closure of Australia’s biggest coal-fired power station in 2025 will test the energy grid and management of the inevitable transition from coal as these plants become uneconomic to operate.

Offshore wind farms, pumped hydro, and large scale battery storage are among more than $100 billion of private investment interest registered for a Hunter-Central Coast Renewable Energy Zone (REZ).

The two plants selected for early shutdown currently produce about 7% of Australia’s total carbon emissions

AGL Energy has conceded it may accelerate closure dates for two of Australia’s biggest coal plants again depending on market conditions.

The federal government has given the environmental green light to a $600m power plant at Kurri Kurri in NSW’s Hunter Valley, days after Labor did an about-face on its calls to halt the project.