Electricity Generation

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:24): My question is to the Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy. Can the minister outline to the house what is the full capacity of the interconnection with Victoria and what the current utilisation of the interconnection is today?

The Hon. T.R. Kenyon interjecting:

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

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy) (14:24): The Heywood interconnector is 600 megawatts, and the Murraylink direct current interconnector fluctuates between 80 up to 200.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader, I am warning for the last time.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: There is a difference between DC interconnection and AC interconnection.

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

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

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: The direction of the flow of DC connection is done by design. The AC interconnection obeys the laws of physics, so the idea that the Leader of the Opposition is saying somehow that we are always reliant on Victoria for interconnection is wrong. It is wrong. It is not accurate and it fundamentally misunderstands the nature of the interconnection. The AC interconnection between South Australia and Victoria was expanded by this government. We're the ones who argued for it, and it is up to 600 megawatts. That doesn't mean that we are entirely reliant on that 600 megawatts.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: We are today, are we? Our demand today is above 3,600 megawatts, is it? No, it's not. Again, it is fundamentally wrong, just like yesterday when he said, 'What was the cost to the state's economy from intermittent energy supply?' Again, it is misunderstanding the language, not understanding the system, making announcements that he doesn't understand and quite frankly the Leader of the Opposition has no policy position other than fake laughter and removing the renewable energy targets.

The SPEAKER: The Treasurer is warned because he continues to debate the question rather than supply the house with information.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Thank you, sir.

The SPEAKER: I am satiated with information about the Leader of the Opposition, frankly.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I'm glad, sir. I hope it informs you.

The SPEAKER: Point of order, member for Mount Gambier.

Mr BELL: The member clearly asked both the capacity, which he has answered, but the second part of the question was how much we are currently using. I would ask you to direct the Treasurer to the amount we are currently using, and if he wants to get on his app he can find out that we are using 743 megawatts.

The SPEAKER: Alas, that's very interesting information and the member for Mount Gambier may now depart for the rest of question time for using a point of order to make an impromptu speech which, if permitted, would have us end up like the Australian Union of Students' conferences in the 1970s—God forbid!

The honourable member for Mount Gambier having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Dry Creek has three units that are not on today, since we are using the app. As we speak, Osborne is running at 165 megawatts; it has further capacity to go as well. There is one unit on at Pelican Point, which is not operating at capacity. I understand there is a second unit that can come on that has more capacity. Of course, Quarantine power station is not on and not all the units at Torrens are on. We have spare capacity in the system.

The market is choosing to use the interconnector. That is different from, 'We are entirely reliant on the interconnector,' which is our point: the market is broken. Checking your NEM app won't change it. Quite frankly, members opposite don't understand that the market is incentivising Victorian coal at the expense of South Australian gas. Members opposite think that's okay. We don't. We want to have South Australian gas on, South Australian generation on at the expense of Victorian coal, not the other way round. I don't know why it's so hard for members opposite to understand this.