There are several errors in your post, which I will point out...

There are several errors in your post, which I will point out below.

1) "apparently they prefer to destroy shareholder wealth ".

.....this plant is old. It has a lifespan, beyond which AGL need to spend TENS of millions of dollars to bring it back up to speed. It is not destroying shareholder wealth to decommission aging assets at the scheduled time. This is not open to dispute, it is fact.

2) "to make the greenies happy".

.......it is abundantly clear that you are allowing your political persuasions to influence your investment decisions (unless you are just trolling). AGL - and in particular Andy Vesey - are very switched on. They do not make judgements about climate change, global warming, rising seas, treehugging or any other politically distasteful element of the far Left you might hate with a passion. However, they are smart enough to have invested time and money into predicting the future commercial landscape in which their hitherto fossil-fuel-driven company will be operating in and, according to AV himself, it will be a "carbon constrained environment". That is, Andy makes no judgements about the validity of climate change or of the concomitant policy initiatives that come with it, he is only interested in how best to navigate the expected future to maximise profits and prosperity for the company and shareholders (as is his job). The fact that the Board are prepared to pivot a power company as large as this towards a decarbonised future - rather than object, kicking and screaming, as many in the fossil fuel sector are doing - isolates AGL as the company most likely to come out the other side of the transition in great shape while others fall to the wayside.

3) "To exit the base load market now, when it has never been so valuable, profitable and important, is equivalent to throwing shareholder money into the shredder"

....are you honestly suggesting that without any deep understanding of AGL you are purporting to be able to offer a 'fortune cookie' assessment of the company's asset management strategy which is superior to the Board's? Seriously?

4) "It's like Woolworth or Coles saying let's shut down and demolish our most profitable store because less supply means less competition."

....no, it isn't like that at all. The alternative - according to you - is for Woolworths to sell their decrepit shop space to Aldi, who would move in, spend squillions on the project and become the only competitor to Woolworths' other stores in the area. That is just ridiculous, hence AGL's dismissal of the Prime Minister's several 'really good ideas'.