NQ’S RENEWABLES ALP trio urge faith over energy vision

TOWNSVILLE’S three Labor MPs are confident renewables are the answer amid growing concerns around energy security and affordability.

Thuringowa MP Aaron Harper, Townsville MP Scott Stewart and Mundingburra MP Coralee O’Rourke insist the State Government’s $ 386 million Powering North Queensland Plan will strengthen and diversify the North’s energy supply.

The plan includes investigating if a 500km transmission line, which would connect numerous renewables projects across the North to the national electricity grid, is viable.

Mr Harper said building a transmission line and connecting renewables projects would increase local supply “and therefore place downward pressure on wholesale prices”.

“I think energy generation is not the problem,” he said.

“We generate so much energy in southeast Queensland that we get it over the border to NSW but our challenge has always been the transmission of energy over 1000km.”

Mr Harper said projects were under way, including Ross Solar Farm, which was weeks from its sod- turning.

“That’s huge and significant investment there,” he said. “The Powering North Queensland plan is tipped to build over 3000 jobs and I think that’s quite significant in a transitioning area of electricity. We are generating North Queensland energy for North Queensland.”

Ms O’Rourke said Towns- ville residents had mixed support for renewables.

“It depends on who you speak to,” she said. “The No. 1 thing that keeps coming back to me is that people want reliable and affordable power.”

Ms O’Rourke said the North had seen just the beginning of renewable projects.

“We have four of the newest power stations in the state and they … contribute to the gener- ation that we have,” she said.

“But we also say that we need to transition from that, which isn’t going to happen overnight. You can’t switch off one thing and turn on something that’s not there yet. I am confident that it can provide reliable power.”

Mr Stewart said talk of building a new coal- fired baseload power station was “looking backwards”.

“It’s old technology,” he said. “It would take seven years to get up and ready to run and cost $ 3 billion to build. I can’t see that driving the cost down.”

Mr Stewart said he was not sure whether having a private investor build a coal- fired plant would bring down electricity prices, compared to the government building one.

“No private investor has come to us and said ‘ We want to build one’,” he said. “It just doesn’t seem to stack up, there’s no one willing to give the cash.”

Mr Stewart said Queensland would continue to export its “high grade” coal.

“There’s certainly going to be a market for that,” he said. “But it is a finite resource.”