House of Assembly Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1) 55 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Renewable Energy Projects Renewable Energy Projects Mr McBRIDE House of Assembly MacKillop Renewable Energy Projects Mr McBRIDE (MacKillop) (14:40): My question is to the Minister for Energy. How is the government going to assist the MacKillop electorate to participate in renewable energy generation projects? Mr Speaker, with your leave and that of the house, I will explain. Leave granted. Mr McBRIDE House of Assembly MacKillop Mr McBRIDE: I have been advised that a number of shovel-ready solar and renewable projects have been delayed or shelved due to an ageing power network in MacKillop. Investors have advised me they are burdened with the high cost of grid upgrades, jeopardising the financial viability of these ventures. It should be noted there has been state and federal government support for grid infrastructure upgrades in the north and the Riverland but none have been offered in MacKillop. The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS House of Assembly West Torrens Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Minister for Energy and Mining The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:40): It's always good to hear from the member for MacKillop. He is such an influential backbencher, he is even scaring some of the Liberal candidates out of his own electorate. I noticed Nicolle Flint is sort of running back home rather than run for MacKillop, which she was out and about talking about. Maybe perhaps she went doorknocking and found out how popular the local crossbench member actually was. But, sir, he is right— Mr Whetstone House of Assembly Chaffey Mr Whetstone: You are misleading the parliament. When was she talking about running for MacKillop? The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The minister has the call. The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS House of Assembly West Torrens Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Minister for Energy and Mining The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I think the member for Chaffey is still a bit sore after the weekend, seeing Anne Ruston dumped to number two. It's pretty clear that the Liberal Party has been taken over by some extreme right-wing elements. It seems that— Members interjecting: The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS House of Assembly West Torrens Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Minister for Energy and Mining The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Sorry? Are you worried about Tony Pasin too? Members interjecting: The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS House of Assembly West Torrens Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Minister for Energy and Mining The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: No, you are okay with Tony Pasin? The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS House of Assembly West Torrens Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Minister for Energy and Mining The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: You like your new overlords? You are okay with your new overlords? Yes, alright. The member for MacKillop is absolutely right that there is a large number of renewable projects that proponents want to get up in regional South Australia, and the reason they want to get up renewable projects is that, first, they are more likely to get dispatched to the grid because they are cheaper than fossil fuels, and there is a hunger and thirst to decarbonise across the country, but obviously there is a cost. Because our assets are independently regulated, any connection of new generation to the grid—because we prioritise, obviously, cost and reliability over generation in our grid—what that means is any new generator wishing to connect to the grid has to bear those costs themselves. The alternative is, of course, that we would use the community to cross-subsidise private proponents that are building infrastructure generators for profit. The logical extension of that would be that you would be having AGL or Origin subsidised for building new generation. The connections to the grid and any improvements to the grid for those connections should be borne by the proponents. These are longstanding rules that are in the grid and they are there for a very good reason: they are there because we want to make sure that we prioritise reliability and cost on consumers. South Australians today have had some good news with the default market offer. We have had a decrease of 2½ per cent and a much larger decrease for small business, which is good news for those consumers, despite the rumour mongering by members opposite there would be 20 per cent increases. Of course, there weren't such things—what we have seen is a decrease, and those reductions are welcome. What we don't want to do is to inadvertently increase power prices by having proponents have their costs borne by consumers as a whole to improve the grid. I know the member for MacKillop is a fierce advocate for development in his community and his electorate and he wants to see more renewable energy in the system, but I do caution members that these developers, whether they are wind farms or whether they are a gas-fired generator, or even if you had members opposite win and we get a nuclear generator in the country, all those costs are borne by us the consumer. So it's important that we make sure that those costs are borne by the generator and that the generator has to wear that and that is a risk that they take.