Renewable Energy

Mr COWDREY (Colton) (15:00): My question is to the Minister for Trade and Investment. Can the minister update the house on how investment in renewables is driving economic growth and creating jobs for South Australians?

The Hon. S.J.R. PATTERSON (Morphett—Minister for Trade and Investment) (15:00): I thank the member for Colton for asking this. Certainly, households and businesses in Colton are very interested in the amount of investment going into renewable energy here in South Australia. It's causing massive renewable energy generation, and that's leading to lower wholesale prices; lower future contract prices, as stated by Australian Energy Market Operator in the last quarter; $269 of annual savings to households in Colton in South Australia; and also savings for businesses.

That's certainly going to drive jobs, but the welcome news this Monday of the EnergyConnect interconnector between South Australia and New South Wales is fantastic to help drive further investment. It's going to create a massive green superhighway into exporting energy into New South Wales from South Australia. This is great news. Of course, already in anticipation of this, we went to the election in 2018 with this as a commitment.

Once we were elected, businesses saw this, and they have invested in South Australia; we have had massive investment. News of this is certainly much welcomed. Australian companies are lining up to make use of the interconnector between New South Wales and South Australia but, significantly, also worldwide attention is being given to this. We have companies in France that are interested, Canada is interested, as are Spain and Singapore.

This is great news. It is going to drive billions of dollars of further investment into our economy and create thousands of jobs, certainly in renewable energy projects right here in South Australia, and the energy minister touched on some of these previously. Amp Energy has just purchased a massive suite of solar and battery projects. They are based in Toronto, and they say that the interconnector is underpinning further renewable energy generation here in South Australia.

So not only can they export nationally but there is also great potential in terms of using hydrogen as a transport fuel to allow for that to be exported internationally as well. It's a massive-scale project, this one from Amp; it's a $2 billion project with 1.3 gigawatts of energy generation coming out of it. It will create 550 full-time equivalent construction jobs, which is great news, and will help power 230,000 homes annually here in South Australia. Dean Cooper, the head of Amp Australia, said:

The strategic value of the South Australian portfolio is significant in a jurisdiction which is undergoing one of the most rapid energy transitions in the world.

If we touch on some other significant investments that are driving South Australia's economy now, there is the $3 billion Goyder South project, with 1,200 megawatts of wind energy, 900 megawatts of battery capacity and 600 megawatts of solar. Neoen have themselves said that two-thirds of their investment—that's $2 billion of the Goyder South project—would rely on being able to export electricity to New South Wales via the interconnector. Further, the managing director of Neoen Australia said:

Project EnergyConnect is vital to unlocking the full potential of Neon's multi-gigawatt Goyder Renewables Zone and the significant jobs and investment it represents for SA.

There are other great projects here, with overall $7 billion of investment in renewable energy being pumped into South Australia. By Labor opposing the interconnector, what they are really doing is opposing massive investment here in South Australia. By massive investment, I mean that we now have in the pipeline either approved or in planning a total of 16,400 megawatts of energy generation, representing $15 billion of new generation investment here into South Australia. That is going to drive costs down but also grow the economy and create thousands of jobs in South Australia. I look forward to working with businesses as they continue to invest in South Australia's renewable energy.