SA power: Government should be focussed on renewable energy, Greens say

The South Australian government announced it will build the country’s largest battery to ensure energy needs are met.

State Premier Jay Weatherill told a news conference the private sector would also build Australia’s largest battery storage plant, with a 100MW output.

The battery farm will be funded by a $150m renewable technology fund.

“The national energy market is failing South Australia and the nation”, Weatherill says in the introduction of “Our Energy Plan”.

Malcolm Turnbull on Wednesday will pressure the gas industry to increase the supply available to the domestic market, as the government scrambles to get together a viable national energy policy.

“This is a plan that puts control of our energy system back in South Australian hands”, Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis said on Tuesday.

Mr Turnbull said the parties had agreed that gas market reforms would be accelerated.

It weds South Australians to struggling through huge electricity bills that won’t come down with an over-reliance on gas-fired generation ruled by the world market. He said South Australia couldn’t rely on what he called a “broken national market” any longer.

“But where the State Government has missed the mark is that three quarters of this money is going directly to fossil fuel generation”.

Over the border in Victoria, the State Government announced yesterday it will invest an additional $20 million to support large-scale energy storage initiatives.

Mr Millner also said governments should improve the regulation of Australia’s gas pipeline infrastructure and ensure appropriate incentives for new investment.

“Consumers have had to contend with a series of costly and disruptive power outages this summer and the South Australian energy plan promises to deliver greater security and better outcomes on prices for consumers”, spokeswoman Rosemary Sinclair said.

“So at the same time, as the Victorian Labor Government is allowing the Hazelwood power station to close down, creating a very big reduction in the state’s electricity generating capacity, it is preventing the development of the gas resources within that state which, of course, are needed to provide an alternative source of power”.

The government plans to use its own energy contract to attract a new energy supplier to the state and increase competition.

This fast-growing number of companies is procuring power from renewable sources to reduce their carbon footprint and showcase leadership, as well as to mitigate energy procurement costs and risks. The Turnbull government will also work with the companies to demand the governments of Victoria and NSW lift moratoriums on the extraction of coal seam and conventional offshore gas.

A number of principals of Lyon Group worked previously with failed local financial investor Babcock and Brown, and also Enron Corp, the USA energy group that collapsed.

Companies represented at the talks will include Santos, Shell Australia, ExxonMobil, Origin, Total, Asia Pacific LNG, Beach Energy, GLNG Operations and Senex, as well as the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association. “This clearly embraces our view that batteries are a vital part of the renewable energy revolution”, he said.

But the measures were “not a substitute for the coordinated national reform that our energy markets desperately need”.