A little over one day later, the 1600-megawatt coal-fired Hazelwood plant was shut for good by owners Engie and Mitsui, ending 50 years of operation.

Despite 37 years in the Latrobe Valley power industry, Sean O'Reilly, 52, needs to keep working.

He started as an apprentice fitter and turner in 1980, but for 17 of the past 20 years he has been a contractor at Hazelwood, rather than a direct employee, which is why his redundancy payout was "not much at all" - about $29,600.

Before that he worked for the SEC and did receive a payout when he left there in 1993.

He has been an employee of Engie for the past three years.

"It's really only a few months pay ... it's not going to change my life at all," he says.

And he feels he has little prospect of getting a new job at another power station via a "worker transfer scheme".

"I'm not holding out any hope. I think it's all a little bit too late," he says.

Asked what's next, he says: "It's hard because, at 52, I really need to work for probably another 15 years. But I'm at the stage now where I'm thinking it's time to get out of the industry."

Mr O'Reilly, who is married with three children aged 21, 19 and 16, was at home in Warragul on Wednesday studying a building and construction certificate online, as the two final generating units of Hazelwood power station ceased operating.

It was all part of a frenetic day in Morwell, in which Premier Daniel Andrews and a troop of his MPs met about 100 Hazelwood employees, before Mr Andrews toured a new local primary school.

Standing in the schoolgrounds Mr Andrews praised the Hazelwood workforce, saying he "thanked them for the contribution that they have made, to the prosperity of our state".

He also said: "Today is a sad day, the rest of this week will be really, very, very emotional. It is a sad period in the history of this region, it is the end of an era for those workers".

Opposition leader Matthew Guy and his parliamentary colleagues visited Morwell too, warning that Hazelwood's closure would leave the state at risk of brownouts and blackouts next summer.

"To close down and shut down a quarter of our state's power generation is completely crazy," Mr Guy said.

Also on Wednesday, Engie signed up to the worker transfer scheme that aims to move some Hazelwood workers to other local power stations.

Former Hazelwood worker David Wilson, 57, (above) reflected on what the future held for him and other departing workers.

He's expecting to get leaflets promoting the maintenance and lawn-mowing skills from some of them.

"(I expect) flyers in my letterbox and 'can I do your windows', 'can I mow your lawns', 'I can do basic handyman stuff'. I've already had one (leaflet) dropped off," he says.

"The jobs they're going to go for are going to be nowhere near what they're getting paid now. They'll take a substantial haircut."

Photo: Joe Armao, Fairfax Media.

Mr Wilson acknowledges that he is better placed than some, because he and his wife own a bed and breakfast venue in the area.

His departure from Hazelwood came earlier than he had hoped. He had wanted to keep working there for couple of years longer but chose not to apply for ongoing work at Hazelwood. He wanted to leave space for younger workers.