Extract from The Guardian
State energy minister says government flip-flopping on renewables and has ‘no idea’ how to meet emissions target
Victoria has launched a broadside against the Turnbull government before Friday’s special meeting of energy ministers, accusing the government of convening a “political stunt” and flip-flopping on state renewable energy targets.
The Victorian energy and climate minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, told Guardian Australia the state had been encouraged by the former environment minister Greg Hunt to develop its own policies beyond the federal renewable energy scheme and would remain fully locked in behind its target of 40% by 2025.
She added the last meeting of the Coag energy council – held only two months ago – had also agreed to expand the operational work of the energy regulators to include consideration of the economic and operational impacts of existing renewable energy targets, including the state-based schemes.
“And now this flip-flopping and criticising,” D’Ambrosio said Thursday. “[The federal government] have no idea where they are going, or where they want to go. They have an emissions target but they have no idea how to get there.
“It’s going to be the states that deliver the commonwealth their 2020 target for renewable energy – we are delivering the policy grunt, it’s our targets that will help them achieve their own emissions reductions.
“They can’t have this both ways. This really makes you think, what is tomorrow about, apart from a major political stunt which is about saving Malcolm Turnbull’s skin in his own party room because he’s got Tony Abbott breathing down his neck.”
The federal environment and energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, told Guardian Australia it would be difficult to emerge from Friday’s meeting with an agreement “given the diametrically opposed positions but, if we can get an acknowledgement of the real challenges that intermittent supply is posing to the stability of the system, then that will be a precursor to closer cooperation between the federal and state governments”.
“We support a RET, we support more renewable energy, we support emissions reduction but it can’t be done in a vacuum,” Frydenberg said in an interview on Thursday. “It has to be done with an eye to what are the impacts on the stability of the system.
“I’ve always said battery storage is a really exciting development and that will help deal with the intermittency ... but we are not there at the moment.”
Frydenberg said energy security was at risk if a transition to low emissions energy sources, where intermittency was a factor, occurred before all the relevant systems were in place.
“These [state] targets have been done without any thought as to what the implications are going to be, that’s our big concern.”
He said “no one” objected to the New South Wales renewable energy target of 20% but it was Queensland’s target of 50% and Victoria’s target of 40% “which are creating the problem”.
Frydenberg said the body of work commissioned at the last energy council in August was not about acknowledging the state schemes were now hard-baked into the system but about looking at the impact of state-based targets on the reliability and pricing in the system, which was a quite different proposition. “That piece of work will be important,” he said.
South Australia has signalled it wants a discussion on Friday about setting up a form of carbon trading for the electricity sector but Frydenberg is continuing to dead bat that idea, pointing to a review of the Coalition’s Direct Action scheme in 2017.
“We haven’t agreed to terms of reference yet, I’m not saying [an emissions intensity scheme] is in, I’m not saying it’s out,” Frydenberg said.
Friday’s meeting was called by the prime minister to consider the implications of last week’s statewide blackout in South Australia.
Turnbull last week linked the SA blackout explicitly to the state’s use of renewable energy, calling it a “wake-up call” for state leaders who were trying to hit “completely unrealistic” renewable targets.
The prime minister’s rhetoric has triggered a furious backlash among the states and the fresh outbreak of toxic climate change politics after a period of relative calm has prompted a coalition of business and energy groups to call for cool heads and cooperation.
State governments argue the commonwealth will not be able to meet the emissions reduction targets agreed in Paris without the state-based schemes. Correspondence from a senior federal official to the energy regulators after the August energy council meeting seen by Guardian Australia underscores that point, suggesting the state-based schemes will deliver just under 40% of renewables in the national electricity market by 2030.
There has been some wrangling over Friday’s agenda but a copy in circulation seen by Guardian Australia says the meeting will consider:
A preliminary report from the Australian Energy Market Operator has pointed to South Australia’s extreme weather last week as the prime cause of “multiple transmission system faults” resulting in a statewide blackout.
In a preliminary report the regulator cites severe weather as the factor triggering the transmission system failures “including, in the space of 12 seconds, the loss of three major 275kV transmission lines north of Adelaide”.
In addition to the transmission line failures, Aemo noted in the late afternoon, after “multiple faults in a short period”, 315mW of wind generation disconnected, which affected the region north of Adelaide and led to a sequence where the Heywood interconnector tripped, causing the blackout.
The Victorian energy and climate minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, told Guardian Australia the state had been encouraged by the former environment minister Greg Hunt to develop its own policies beyond the federal renewable energy scheme and would remain fully locked in behind its target of 40% by 2025.
She added the last meeting of the Coag energy council – held only two months ago – had also agreed to expand the operational work of the energy regulators to include consideration of the economic and operational impacts of existing renewable energy targets, including the state-based schemes.
“And now this flip-flopping and criticising,” D’Ambrosio said Thursday. “[The federal government] have no idea where they are going, or where they want to go. They have an emissions target but they have no idea how to get there.
“It’s going to be the states that deliver the commonwealth their 2020 target for renewable energy – we are delivering the policy grunt, it’s our targets that will help them achieve their own emissions reductions.
“They can’t have this both ways. This really makes you think, what is tomorrow about, apart from a major political stunt which is about saving Malcolm Turnbull’s skin in his own party room because he’s got Tony Abbott breathing down his neck.”
The federal environment and energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, told Guardian Australia it would be difficult to emerge from Friday’s meeting with an agreement “given the diametrically opposed positions but, if we can get an acknowledgement of the real challenges that intermittent supply is posing to the stability of the system, then that will be a precursor to closer cooperation between the federal and state governments”.
“We support a RET, we support more renewable energy, we support emissions reduction but it can’t be done in a vacuum,” Frydenberg said in an interview on Thursday. “It has to be done with an eye to what are the impacts on the stability of the system.
“I’ve always said battery storage is a really exciting development and that will help deal with the intermittency ... but we are not there at the moment.”
Frydenberg said energy security was at risk if a transition to low emissions energy sources, where intermittency was a factor, occurred before all the relevant systems were in place.
“These [state] targets have been done without any thought as to what the implications are going to be, that’s our big concern.”
He said “no one” objected to the New South Wales renewable energy target of 20% but it was Queensland’s target of 50% and Victoria’s target of 40% “which are creating the problem”.
Frydenberg said the body of work commissioned at the last energy council in August was not about acknowledging the state schemes were now hard-baked into the system but about looking at the impact of state-based targets on the reliability and pricing in the system, which was a quite different proposition. “That piece of work will be important,” he said.
South Australia has signalled it wants a discussion on Friday about setting up a form of carbon trading for the electricity sector but Frydenberg is continuing to dead bat that idea, pointing to a review of the Coalition’s Direct Action scheme in 2017.
“We haven’t agreed to terms of reference yet, I’m not saying [an emissions intensity scheme] is in, I’m not saying it’s out,” Frydenberg said.
Friday’s meeting was called by the prime minister to consider the implications of last week’s statewide blackout in South Australia.
Turnbull last week linked the SA blackout explicitly to the state’s use of renewable energy, calling it a “wake-up call” for state leaders who were trying to hit “completely unrealistic” renewable targets.
The prime minister’s rhetoric has triggered a furious backlash among the states and the fresh outbreak of toxic climate change politics after a period of relative calm has prompted a coalition of business and energy groups to call for cool heads and cooperation.
State governments argue the commonwealth will not be able to meet the emissions reduction targets agreed in Paris without the state-based schemes. Correspondence from a senior federal official to the energy regulators after the August energy council meeting seen by Guardian Australia underscores that point, suggesting the state-based schemes will deliver just under 40% of renewables in the national electricity market by 2030.
There has been some wrangling over Friday’s agenda but a copy in circulation seen by Guardian Australia says the meeting will consider:
- The recent events in South Australia and the security of the national energy market;
- Proposals for integrating renewables into the national electricity market – which includes “challenges of implementing different targets while maintaining reliability and security of supply and opportunities to develop a more coordinated approach to renewable energy targets”;
- An update on battery technology;
- A discussion about the role of interconnectors and the current states of transmission infrastructure.
A preliminary report from the Australian Energy Market Operator has pointed to South Australia’s extreme weather last week as the prime cause of “multiple transmission system faults” resulting in a statewide blackout.
In a preliminary report the regulator cites severe weather as the factor triggering the transmission system failures “including, in the space of 12 seconds, the loss of three major 275kV transmission lines north of Adelaide”.
In addition to the transmission line failures, Aemo noted in the late afternoon, after “multiple faults in a short period”, 315mW of wind generation disconnected, which affected the region north of Adelaide and led to a sequence where the Heywood interconnector tripped, causing the blackout.
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