Energy minister Josh Frydenberg said at a Clean Energy Summit dinner last night that new coal plants are not a viable option for Australian electricity generation, the AFR reports.
Frydenberg said new coal-fired power stations are “an option that no large energy company or investor will touch”.
This is due to the high cost of new coal relative to wind and solar power, and Australia’s “carbon constrained environment”.
New coal plants would become stranded before the end of their lifespan, according to the minister.
Frydenberg’s change of heart on new coal plants
However, this seems to be at odds with what Frydenberg said just a few weeks ago.
In June, Frydenberg said in a News Corp interview that he would welcome new coal, because it would serve Australia well by supplying reliable baseload power. He also said the National Energy Guarantee (NEG) would extend the operating life of our existing coal fleet.
Frydenberg is now appealing to both sides of the debate as he attempts to get agreement on the NEG. At the summit he was also critical of what he calls “extreme views” on both the left and right that are frustrating a “durable solution on energy and climate policy”.
Coalition struggles to unite over the NEG
Meanwhile, the Victorian government has expressed hesitation to sign the NEG while the Coalition remains disunited. State Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said that many government MPs are behaving like “coal ideologues”.
Other states also have concerns the Coalition will subsidise coal to appease its own MPs on the policy.
Federal Resources Minister Matt Canavan has sent MP George Christensen to Japan to make the case for clean coal investment. Japan specialises in clean coal technology and the Nationals are pushing for a plant to be built in Queensland.
This appears to be another sign of the disunity and lack of agreement on energy in the party room.
While all this is going on, many Australian households and businesses are not waiting around for the government. Instead, they are taking matters into their own hands through solar power installations to save money and reduce their carbon emissions.
