PM ‘treated differently' on super tax, workplace minister admits
Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen insists Australia is on track to reduce emissions by 43 per cent by 2030, despite a small rise in emissions last year.
Bowen said new vehicle emissions standards would help lower emissions in future years. Total emissions rose 0.05 per cent last year, according to government figures released on Friday. Bowen admitted on the ABC Insiders program the 82 per cent renewables target for electricity remained 'challenging'
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Sydney Morning Herald
a day ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Betrayal': NSW to cut battery subsidies as federal scheme kicks in
The NSW government will end its incentive to install a home solar battery from July in favour of an enhanced Commonwealth scheme, and use the savings to encourage households to allow their stored energy to be remotely accessed by the grid. Since last November, NSW consumers have been able to access a rebate of up to $2600 (depending on the size of the battery) to attach storage to their rooftop solar systems. The scheme resulted in 11,400 battery installations across the state in six months. The program will conclude at the end of this month, while the Australian government's $2.3 billion Cheaper Home Batteries Program is set to start on July 1. The federal rebate, announced before the election, will reduce the cost of a battery by about 30 per cent, making it about double the size of the state scheme. Heidi Lee Douglas, chief executive of consumer advocacy group Solar Citizens, said the NSW government had betrayed solar households with its decision and put its legislated net zero targets further out of reach. The NSW Net Zero Commission has warned that NSW would not reach its emissions reduction targets from 2030 to 2050. 'This surprise decision is a blow to solar home owners planning to buy a home battery in coming months, and a betrayal of the prime minister and Federal Minister for Climate and Energy Chris Bowen's assurance that the federal Cheaper Home Batteries program can be 'stacked' with state initiatives,' Douglas said. 'This bizarre decision puts the timely closure of the Eraring coal-fired power plant at risk. A key justification for extending the life of the plant was the lack of energy storage. The Commonwealth stepped in by boosting battery rebates further and now the NSW government is making that transition harder.' The NSW government said the money would remain within its Peak Demand Reduction Scheme, a program designed to reduce electricity demand during peak periods. The government would redirect the funds to double the payments to encourage solar households to sign up to a virtual power plant (VPP) – a group of solar-powered batteries linked by software, which are owned by households and small businesses that have consented for excess stored power to be sold to the grid. Industry support
The Australian
a day ago
- The Australian
Rewire the rollout – go underground to win energy standoff
Transgrid transmission lines running over rural properties. Picture: Ash Smith You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Give us your feedback. You can now listen to The Australian's articles. The re-election of the Labor government has reconfirmed the transition to renewable energy and the 82 per cent target by 2030. But an integral component of that transition – the rollout of high-voltage transmission lines – is not going well. Of the 10,000km to be completed by 2050, only a few hundred kilometres have been finished; community opposition has intensified and the regulatory approval process that Chris Bowen called not fit for purpose in 2022 has yet to be reformed. Every transmission project is years late and way over budget. EnergyConnect has blown out six times from the initial estimate ($700m to $4.1bn); HumeLink by five times ($1bn to $4.9bn); Marinus Link by three times ($3bn for two cables to $4.8bn for one cable); and CopperString by eight times ($1.8bn to $13.9bn). Every year or so the estimated cost of every project has increased and the scheduled completion date delayed. Undoubtedly there will be further cost increases and delays. Such eye-watering blowouts are partly explained by worldwide commodity price escalations, but the primary reason is woefully underestimated costs with impossible deadlines. Transmission companies have an inherent incentive to submit lowball estimates, because once a project is approved by the Australian Energy Regulator, it is never unapproved. The perverse outcome is transmission companies are rewarded with a regulated return based on whatever the final cost of the project turns out to be. So the higher the cost, the higher the return for shareholders, usually foreign investors. The AER has not held transmission companies accountable for their underestimates and flawed cost-benefit justifications and has passed on the extra billions of dollars to electricity consumers. They have yet to see the impacts on their bills, but transmission tariffs are set to multiply manyfold in the coming years. Another aspect of the rollout that is not going well is the ham-fisted dealings of transmission companies with local communities and landowners, creating widespread resistance as well as delays and costs. The groundswell opposition to 'hosting' overhead lines is becoming more strident. There is no enthusiasm for massive 500-kilovolt transmission lines, with 75m towers, 26 suspended wires, a 70-100m-wide easement, and access tracks blighting the landscape across hundreds of kilometres. Lecturing communities on the common good is just insulting. Transmission companies have failed to foster a social licence for their projects. What should be done? Three suggestions. First, hold transmission companies to account for their estimates by requiring them to contribute to cost increases above the initial AER-approved budget. This will encourage genuine estimates in the first place. Second, look at ways to scale back the extent and frenetic schedule of the transmission rollout to mitigate costs for consumers and social and environmental impacts. In particular, focus on locating renewable energy generation as close as possible to capital city load centres, not hundreds of kilometres away, and thereby reduce the need for new transmission. Install more rooftop solar (residential and business) together with more wind (onshore and offshore) close to load centres, supplemented by battery firming. The Snowy Hydro 2.0 project. Also, make use of spare capacity on transmission (and distribution) networks and upgrade where possible on existing easements, augmented with batteries for fault response and storage of above-capacity energy flows. Third, take a broader approach to the regulatory approval process rather than just selecting the project with the cheapest capital cost. A broader approach would bring in technologies other than just high-voltage alternating current overhead lines, particularly high-voltage direct current underground cables. Astoundingly, minimal land-based HVDC transmission is proposed in the rollout, in contrast to overseas, where long-distance underground cables are commonplace and in some situations are mandated. In 2002, Australia led the world with the longest HVDC underground cable, Murraylink, which is still in operation. Australia now lags well behind other nations. The stock excuse for rejecting HVDC is that it is too expensive. Yes, it can be dearer to install than HVAC, typically one-and-a-half to three times. But the capital cost gap narrows and can reverse when the broader long-term benefits of underground HVDC are considered, together with the possibility of taking a shorter route or using existing easements and other infrastructure corridors. For example, the Syncline Community HVDC Cable Project proposes running for 100km in the median strip of the Calder Highway in Victoria. Gaining social licence is so much easier and quicker (and cheaper). There are negligible costs for arbitration or compulsory acquisition, lower costs for easements, compensation and vegetation maintenance, and no loss of property values. As one farmer said when told of a proposed overhead line through his property: 'Go underground and I will dig the trench.' Importantly, underground HVDC has far fewer environmental impacts and much lower biodiversity offset costs ($500m for HumeLink). Underground HVDC is more reliable because it is unaffected by above-ground disturbances, such as lightning strikes, severe weather, bushfires, or accidental contact. There are fewer electrical losses (a significant saving over the life of the cable) and no corona buzz, or electric fields, or electrical interference. There is no risk of bushfire ignition and no access restrictions for firefighting. HVDC can provide system strength services in lieu of synchronous condensers that are needed for an HVAC-only network, costing billions. While underground HVDC will not be appropriate in every situation, there will be many instances where it is the better option after the broader long-term benefits are taken into account. For example, by only considering capital cost comparisons, the NSW and federal governments allowed Snowy 2.0 to bulldoze a 140m-wide easement through 9km of pristine subalpine bush in Kosciuszko National Park and Bago State Forest for two side-by-side double-circuit overhead lines. Surely this should have been an irrefutable instance for undergrounding, especially because it would have been in keeping with the rest of the project. These will be the first transmission lines to be constructed in an NSW national park for half a century. As with overseas developments, consideration also needs to be given to the merits of establishing an HVDC backbone across the eastern states before an overhead HVAC-only network is entrenched. Australia has embarked on the biggest extension of the overhead electricity transmission network to serve for the rest of the 21st century, but clearly it is not going well and changes are needed. We need to prioritise renewable generation closer to load centres, upgrading existing transmission lines, making transmission companies accountable for project estimates, instituting a broader regulatory consideration of all costs and benefits, and genuinely considering the advantages of underground cables. Ted Woodley is a former managing director of PowerNet, Gas Net, EnergyAustralia and China Light & Power Systems
Sky News AU
2 days ago
- Sky News AU
Liberal Senator Anne Ruston suggests Chris Bowen should 'have been fired years ago' in scathing takedown of Energy Minister
Liberal Senator Anne Ruston has issued a scathing assessment of Labor's policies under Chris Bowen, declaring the Energy Minister "would have been fired years ago" if he had been working for a private business. Following its emphatic victory in the May federal election, Labor has doubled down on its controversial renewables-led push to achieve net zero emissions. Speaking at the National Press Club on Tuesday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese suggested his party's victory demonstrated a clear mandate for the plan, despite ongoing community concerns surrounding several high profile projects. Mr Bowen, too, has doubled down on the push, insisting renewables remain the "cleanest and cheapest" way to power the national grid. However, Senator Ruston was quick to push back against the claims, accusing both men of "completely destroying the very thing that underpins our economy". "The Prime Minister just seems to be completely blind to any other solution, whatever that might be, so that Australians can have a reliable and affordable power," she told Sky News following Mr Albanese's address. "All he seems to caring about is his pursuit of this ideological sort of renewable energy future that he's proving not to be deliverable. "The government constantly is providing subsidies and handouts and the like of taxpayers' money to fix up a problem that is of their own making. "Our power bills were supposed to have gone down by this year. Clearly, the complete opposite's happened with increases of over $1,000." Senator Ruston then singled out Mr Bowen for particular criticism, as she questioned why Labor continued to stand by what she described as a "failed policy pursuit". "If Chris Bowen was an executive in any sensible company around Australia he would have been fired years ago and yet he still stays in this job completely destroying the very thing that underpins our economy and that's affordable and reliable energy," she said. The Senator's takedown of the government's energy plans comes as the Coalition continues to struggle internally over its own stance on net zero. Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce and Senator Matt Canavan have been amongst a handful of high-profile members pushing for the opposition to scrap their commitment to the emissions reduction target. However, others within the Liberal Party have warned the Coalition risks losing even more support in urban areas if it abandons the pledge, with Labor and Teal independents both positioning themselves as strong on the environment. Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has said the Coalition would review its stance on the issue and Senator Ruston was similarly coy when she addressed the party's stance. "We're taking a very considered approach to making sure that the Coalition's energy policy going to the next election is one that will deliver reliable and affordable power, at the same time as making sure emissions reduction is part of the mix," she said.
