ACT warns Angus Taylor against division and deal-making at key Coag energy meeting
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Version 0 of 1. ACT calls for a united approach to energy security and hydrogen power ahead of ministerial meeting The Morrison government should be implementing a coherent national plan to secure Australia’s energy future rather than cutting a series of deals with states it regards as friendly, according to the ACT energy minister, Shane Rattenbury. Rattenbury sounded the alarm ahead of Friday’s long-delayed meeting of federal and state energy ministers, declaring the gathering – the first for nearly 12 months – should be about implementing the integrated system plan (ISP) recommended by the Australian Energy Market Operator, not Angus Taylor signing off on wish lists with cooperative states. “I’ve been concerned by the reports this week where [the federal minister] Angus Taylor says he wants to work with, essentially, friendly states,” Rattenbury told Guardian Australia. “This is not what we need. “We have a major job to do to implement things like the ISP, to build a strong national grid that can deliver the reliability that everybody hankers for, and the way to do that is to work together, not go down the path of division. “We need leadership and collaboration. I’m concerned the minister wants to cut deals with states he sees as collaborative. Having an overall plan would be optimal.” Rattenbury has also expressed concern that ministers at Friday’s meeting of the Coag energy council will be herded into a decision about hydrogen that will be “a backdoor means of propping up the coal sector”. “We see a fork in the road here where ministers are going to have to choose whether we go for renewable-generated hydrogen or whether we use coal to make the hydrogen,” he said. “Hydrogen obviously has enormous potential for Australia, and Australia is a potential hydrogen export powerhouse … but how the hydrogen is produced matters.” Rattenbury said there could be a push to proceed with fossil fuel hydrogen for the next little while until new procedures were developed and “then we magically change over [to renewable hydrogen] at 2030, and it is not going to happen”. The hydrogen strategy has been developed for the energy council by Australia’s chief scientist, Alan Finkel. Rattenbury says it is on the agenda for discussion this week. Ahead of Friday’s meeting, Taylor has signalled he wants to pursue a series of deals with the states to roll out new generation and transmission – an approach that has followed the Morrison government’s decision to ditch the national energy guarantee (Neg). The Neg was a casualty of the federal Liberal party’s leadership eruption last August. The Coalition initially faced pressure from some of the Liberal state governments, including New South Wales, to revive the Neg, which was supported by most stakeholders in the energy sector. But with Canberra refusing to reboot the policy mechanism that combined reliability standards and emissions reduction for electricity, the states have in more recent times pursued a plan B, giving Canberra specific wish lists of projects they want assistance with. State governments have also pursued discussions among themselves since the failure of the Neg about how they can work up a joint strategy on transmission, including rolling out the poles and wires necessary to transfer supply from the Snowy 2.0 expansion into NSW and Victoria. South Australia says it will pursue options for expanding the state’s abundant renewable energy resources in ways that deliver more affordable and reliable power to consumers on Friday. The state’s energy minister, Dan van Holst Pellekaan, told Guardian Australia the federal minister Angus Taylor had made it clear he wanted to pursue bilateral agreements with the states, “and we’ll consider all options which would be good for South Australians”. “South Australia has been very clear about its intention to harness our abundant renewable energy in a way that delivers more affordable and more reliable electricity for households and businesses,” the minister said. “Primarily we will do this through storage, interconnection and voluntary demand management, but we’re also focused on building standards, appliances, market reform and more.” South Australia has previous flagged the importance of improved connection between the states, particularly a long-mooted link between it and NSW, to improve grid efficiency and reliability. The transmission company ElectraNet has recommended a $1.5bn interconnector between South Australia’s mid-north and Wagga Wagga. Van Holst Pellekaan has indicated if the proposed interconnector is approved, there would be opportunities to construct large-scale solar and wind farms in the north-east of the state, on pastoral land adjacent to the transmission equipment. Victoria has asked the Morrison government to fast-track work on the KerangLink – another transmission line increasing power transfer capability between the Snowy area and Melbourne. The request from Victoria follows a similar pitch from the NSW government, which has asked Canberra to underwrite new generation to replace the Liddell power station, and either underwrite or de-risk new investments in transmission that have been highlighted as urgent by the Australian Energy Market Operator. The deal with NSW is understood to be close to sign-off. Victoria will also push for the Energy Security Board to come up with a new reliability standard, which Taylor has flagged the Commonwealth also wants. |