Australia's dirtiest coal plant closes, energy crisis deepens

The doors to Australia's dirtiest power station will close permanently on Friday after 50 years, amping up pressure on a government desperate to avoid the kind of embarrassing blackouts that hit chunks of the country during a recent savage heatwave.

France's Engie SA is pulling the plug on the Hazelwood coal-fired power plant near Melbourne, cutting around a fifth of the state of Victoria's energy supply, blaming the "huge" costs of running the aged facility amid rising competition from subsidized wind and solar energy.  Read more.