Liz Westcott, Chief Operating Officer at Energy Australia said when looking at the future market, the company realised that Mt Piper would 'not be needed' in the 2040s.

"We were willing to commit that we'd be out of coal by 2040. For Mt Piper. But I think importantly, for the teams at site we weren't giving them a fixed closure date, we were more explaining how the transition is impacting. What is the youngest coal station in the NSW fleet," she said.

"The workforce and the community are very important to us. And part of why we're wanting to share our thinking with people... is to be open and transparent about what we're seeing in the market and what we think of Mt Piper's role going forward.

"The decision to be out of coal by 2040 is a reflection of how fast the transition is moving, and how how quickly, the governments and community expectations are changing..."

Nature Conservation Council Chief Executive Chris Gambian said this isn't soon enough and Energy Australia must shut its coal-fired power plants by 2030 at the latest.

"Under these plans announced, Mt Piper Power station will keep burning coal until 2040," he said.

"That means the plant will emit up to 115 million tonnes of CO2 over the next 19 years, double the amount New Zealand emits every year.

"We welcome today's announcement, but if Energy Australia wants to be considered a responsible corporate citizen it's got to go much further and commit to existing coal by 2030."

Mr Gambian said the announcement made the need for economic transition planning for Lithgow even more urgent.

"No one seriously thinks this is the last time Energy Australia will revise Mt Piper's closure date because the economics of coal-fired power generation get worse every day," he said.

"Energy analysts this year predicted Mt Piper would be unprofitable by 2025 as the cost of wind, solar and battery power plummets."

Lithgow has played host to a number of forward-thinking development announcements recently, including a hydro-electric plant at Lake Lyell and a sizeable battery project at Wallerawang. It's also subject to a controversial plan to ship waste from Sydney to be burned, a proposal that was halted in Western Sydney after immense community pushback.

"The energy to waste project was one we were exploring, and to see how it could fit alongside our steam plant at Mt Piper, and we're still in discussions there with our partner," Liz Westcott said.

"But in general, we are looking to this region, its great connection into Sydney, the transmission lines, a very skilled workforce - highly capable workforce, a community that is really respectful of the industry, and willing to work with us."

Liz said the reaction from the staff at Mt Piper was varied. "There were many that said: 'well, I knew this was coming.' It's a it's a well-skilled intelligent group, they can see through the media as well as everyone - they understand the direction the country's heading for clean energy. There was a bit of a shock," she said.

"There are families where these are intergenerational experiences. And so I think there's some in there who were... reflecting on they might be the last of their generation to work here. There were people who were thinking about their career, and what would they do next. So these are all conversations we'll continue to have with the teams. As they process that they go home, they come back with information and questions. But it's the beginning of another journey for them to beginning of a conversation. And so we'll just keep working with the teams."

And those conversations are happening with right now with staff at Yallourn Power Station in Victoria as some seek new skills in career elsewhere and some looking for assistance in retirement. Liz explained the same process will occur at Mt Piper and lessons learned from the Victorian plant will inform the shutdown process at Mt Piper.

"We are going to work with the workers and see what they would like is that re skilling that they're looking for is it jobs in the region is that financial planning assistance if they're at end of career? Is that looking to transition to another part of energy Australia and continue working in the industry," she said.

"These are the same sort of conversations we would anticipate having with Mt Piper at the right time. And with Yallourn going through this process now, not only do we see this as the right way to do a closure for a power station, but we will have lessons from this, that we'll bring up to Mt Piper and hopefully it will benefit from us having done this already."