THE HON. MARK BUTLER MP

SHADOW MINISTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGY

MEMBER FOR PORT ADELAIDE

JENNY MCALLISTER

SENATOR FROM NSW

DEPUTY CHAIR OF THE SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE RESILIENCE OF ELECTRICITY INFRASTRUCTURE IN A WARMING WORLD.

ANNE URQUHART
SENATOR FOR TASMANIA

GOVERNMENT'S LIES ON RENEWABLES EXPOSED AGAIN

Minister Frydenberg has been left exposed and the government's assault on renewables in tatters after testimony by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) before the Senate Select Committee on the Resilience of Electricity Infrastructure in a Warming World.

AEMO confessed that a critical event leading to the black out in South Australia on Wednesday was the "forced outage" of fossil fuel generators.

AEMO indicated that generators located at Port Lincoln and Quarantine were unavailable during the incident. 

Senator McAllister said, "Every time we see a problem with Australia's electricity network, the Government races out to blame renewable energy, and they did it again on Wednesday. Yesterday's testimony exposes this as false." 

At least two fossil fuel plants failed to deliver.  A third gas fired plant, Pelican Point, was available, but AEMO failed to direct it to provide energy in time to avert the blackout. AEMO was unable to answer basic questions about why these generators were not online.

Senator Urquhart said, "The fact that AEMO didn't have answers suggests we were the first ones asking the questions. It makes you suspect that Minister Frydenberg isn't interested in finding out the facts."

Witness after witness commented on the uncertainty caused by the Federal Government's failure to articulate a clear energy policy. 

Senator McAllister said "In truth, the whole system is undergoing a huge transformation, but the government has no plan to fix the national energy market so it can keep up."

Ironically, given the Government's accusations about renewable unreliability, it was suggested to the committee that the heat that leads to peaks in demand can also sometimes cause breakdowns in fossil fuel generators.

SATURDAY, 11 FEBRUARY 2017

MEDIA CONTACT:      

LUCY CARUSO (BUTLER) 0408 803 428
REUBEN RAY (MCALLISTER) 0402 821 188