ENERGY SECURE
RENEWABLES TO MAKE TASMANIA 100% SELF-SUFFICIENT
THE State Government will today commit to making Tasmania totally energy self-sufficient and powered by renewables, in the wake of two reports on energy security.
The policy, to be announced by Energy Minister Matthew Groom, will require another 1000 gigawatt hours of renewable energy generation — enough capacity to replace energy imports via Basslink.
Mr Groom said the extra generation could be achieved by getting more out of the hydro system, right, and looking at new wind, solar and biomass projects.
The commitment will follow the release of the longawaited Energy Security Taskforce and the Public Accounts Committee’s report on the energy crisis.
The crisis occurred when drought conditions combined with a six-month outage of Basslink, the exact cause of which has not been revealed.
The 167-page Public Accounts Committee report tabled yesterday made 89 findings and made eight recommendations including: THE Tamar Valley power station’s main gas turbine should be retained for energy security. HYDRO Tasmania’s storage management policies should be reconsidered given “revised assumptions” about the reliability of Basslink. ENERGY security should be the responsibility of the government of the day.
MAJOR industrials should be consulted on any significant planned changes to energy security management. VOLUNTARY or forced load shedding should not be factored in to energy security modelling.
A foreward by committee chair Ivan Dean MLC said finalisation was delayed by the subject’s complexity, the need to recall witnesses and difficulty obtaining information.
The report was prepared without a critical piece of information — the advice Treasury gave to the State Government over the potential sale of the Tamar Valley power station.
The committee received a redacted copy of a letter between Treasurer Peter Gutwein and Energy Minister Matthew Groom on the Treasury advice.
The committee made numerous attempts to get the Treasurer to hand over the full information but he ultimately defied a summons, claiming cabinet-in-confidence and concerns the committee was leaking.
Whether Mr Gutwein was in contempt of parliament through his actions over the letter may be the subject of further action by the committee or State Parliament, or both.
The State Government’s position follows Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s April announcement that the Australian Renewable Energy Agency would contribute $2.5 million to a study into expanding Tasmania’s potential for producing and storing more hydro and wind power.
The agency is assessing applications from Hydro Tasmania to replace the Tarraleah power scheme with a new station, which would produce 40 per cent more power and make use of a new 17km tunnel from Lake King William.
It is also considering an application to enhance the Gordon Power Station by installing an extra turbine and plans for new pumped hydro energy storage schemes to deliver 2500 megawatts of power.