Weeks prior to the state’s election, the Labor government is pledging $1 billion (US$628 million) to revive Victoria’s State Electricity Commission (SEC) to fast-track the state’s net-zero push.
Under the plan, the SEC will be directed to spend that money on building renewable energy projects to provide 4.5 gigawatts of power aimed at replacing the closure of the Loy Yang coal-fired power plant in the region.
Those new projects, which will include wind and solar plants, will be 51 percent owned by Victorian taxpayers and the remaining 49 percent earmarked for the pension (superannuation) industry.
The Labor government has also set big new renewable energy targets including a pledge for 95 percent of Victoria—6.68 million people—to be powered by renewable energy sources by 2035. A more ambitious plan than fellow Labor-run state Queensland, which aims for 80 percent of the state to be backed by renewable energy by the same year.
The Andrews government will also aim to cut carbon emissions by 65 percent by 2030—up from the previous target of 50 percent—and 75-80 percent by 2035.
The net zero goal will also be brought forward to 2045—the same year California plans to reach net zero. In 2017, Victoria became one of the world’s first jurisdictions to legislate net zero into law.
Premier Daniel Andrews said the SEC should never have been privatised.
“No one has won out from that except shareholders and private companies who are about profit, that’s their job, this is not a business, this is essential,” he told reporters on Oct. 20. “Unreliable, privatised coal will be replaced by clean, government-owned, renewable energy.”
The organisation was privatised and split into three entities in the 1990s under the Kennett Liberal government. The move was designed to boost revenue and network efficiency, leading to cheaper retail prices.
State Energy and Climate Minister Lily D'Ambrosio said the recent SEC announcement was ambitious.
In response, the Australian Energy Council warned the entry of a major state-owned player into the market could have a chilling effect on investment from companies.
Not Based on ‘Engineering or Economics’
Former electrical engineer and resources minister Keith Pitt said the announcement showed “utmost disrespect” for those working in the energy industry.“They’ve had hardly any notice to say their jobs will be gone much earlier than they were led to believe,” he told The Epoch Times.
Pitt, the Nationals MP for Hinkler, also said the Andrews government was not concerned about the effect the SEC will have on private energy providers, and how the huge shift to renewables will impact the state’s finances.
“Andrews won’t care if the state-owned network runs at an enormous loss. As long as it puts coal-fired power stations out of business, he won’t care what the cost is to taxpayers, electricity consumers, or to the manufacturing sector. As long as he can meet his green dream ideology, that’s all that matters to him.”
Pitt warned that basing 90 percent of your electricity grid’s needs on renewables—wind and solar backed up by batteries—was not based on “engineering or economics, but pure ideology.”
“You can’t suggest 90 percent plus generation capacity—which is intermittent wind and solar—and expect it to be anything other than intermittent, that equates to blackouts,” he said, noting the grid will struggle to cope with the ups and demands of electricity demand.
Premier Andrews announcement comes soon after the Queensland Palaszczuk government pledged A$62 billion (US$39.59 billion) into decarbonising its energy grid. One main difference regarding the Queensland situation is many energy assets are already in state hands.
Meanwhile, the Victorian Labor government’s pledge comes despite a ballooning $170 billion debt.
