House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2017-11-14 Daily Xml

Contents

Generators

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart) (14:55): A supplementary, sir: based on the information that the Treasurer has just given to the house, why did the government ask for these three models to be studied if he says that the generators are going to be operated in a different way?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy) (14:55): The generators will not be operating in a different way. The generators will be operating in accordance with AEMO's national operation platform to make sure that the generators can dispatch at times of high need, just like any other generator. The only difference is we are not competing in the National Electricity Market. We are not out there trying to get a return. What we are trying to do is stabilise the grid and make sure we have power when we need it. If the member opposite is actually saying to me that the opposition does not support any generator operating in the NEM that increases these emissions—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Now it's debate. Now the hands are thrown in the air and the same nod of the head we had at the press conference where he didn't know what was going on. We will see exactly what these emissions standards are, and I will get back to the house very quickly.