Power Infrastructure

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:24): Supplementary, sir. The minister outlined to the house that the government has received advice regarding the current energy mix and the issue of instability. I am wondering whether he could outline who that advice was provided by.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy) (14:24): We received advice from AEMO (Australian Energy Market Operator). That was an important piece of advice. That advice is ongoing and, of course, they regularly monitor the market about the intermittency of our generation and how to integrate that energy into our market. It is important that we get this right.

Mr Bell: You didn't think about that before all the approvals went out?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Mr Speaker, without wanting to quarrel with any member in the house, the interjection is an important one that I think we should address, and this is: 'Don't you want to make sure that you think about how you integrate this?' That's absolutely what we are doing. It's absolutely what is occurring. What we have seen across the country is coal-fired generation—companies that own these coal-fired generators across Australia making public statements about not re-investing in them, about mothballing them—

Mr Pederick: We're relying on them for base load.

The SPEAKER: The member for Hammond is warned.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Again, another important interjection which I think needs to be debunked. The idea that this state has no base load power is false. It's simply not true. Let's go through the base load gas-fired—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The deputy leader is warned for the second and final time.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: It is an important and I think—

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Well, isn't it interesting—

Mr Wingard interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Mitchell is warned for the second and final time.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Torrens Island's A and B are the equivalent of 1,200 megawatts. That is base load generation here in South Australia. Pelican Point is 478 megawatts of base load generation—

Mr Bell interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Mount Gambier is warned.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —Dry Creek, Mintaro, Port Lincoln and the Snuggery, 383 megawatts; Hallett, 228; Quarantine, 224 megawatts; Osborne, 180; and Ladbroke Grove, 80; totalling over 2,000 megawatts of base load generation in this state. The first rule of the National Electricity Market is to dispatch first the lowest cost energy into the market. That's what consumers demand. They want the lowest cost energy into the market, so of course what is dispatched first is wind and solar. Why? Because it's cheaper. It's cheaper for our consumers. What we need to do—

Mr Knoll interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert is warned.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: What we need to do, of course, is integrate that cheap power, that cheap energy, in amongst our base load. Of course, that market is new. Renewable energy is new technology. It's in its infancy, and of course we are developing ways to try to integrate that and that is what the COAG is attempting to do. That is why the Prime Minister's first move, I think, was a very good one after the election—integrating climate policy and energy policy.

The interjections opposite show a lack of clarity about their own position on this because I think the Prime Minister is attempting, of course, to integrate this policy and we will support him. We will support him on this because we believe renewable energy is the future of this country. Decarbonising our electricity grid is very important. There need to be alternatives. Gas is the transitional fuel towards a renewable clean energy future. Coal-fired generation, as we saw on the front pages of the Victorian papers, is on its way out.

The people who own these assets will not re-invest in them. The shareholders who own these assets do not want to pour more money into them. The question has to be: when these assets are privatised and we don't own them and the people who own them want to shut them down in favour of low-carbon energy, what is the alternative? The alternative course is a transition to a renewable future. That is what we are working on today.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I call the member for Chaffey to order, and I warn for the second and final time the member for Mount Gambier.