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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2017-02-14 Daily Xml
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Pelican Point Power Station

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:29): I have a question of clarification. The minister in his answer said that he would come back to the house and advise how long it takes to turn on the 250 megawatt generator at Pelican Point. On 9 February, he told a broadcaster that it takes an hour. Does he stand by that statement made then?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy) (14:29): Again, I will get more advice from ENGIE but, like I said on radio, it all comes down to demand management. If you are the market operator, you plan for demand. You look at supply and you look at demand. People involved in the industry know that ENGIE owned Pelican Point and they owned Hazelwood, so they have positions in the market that they need to protect.

It is prudent that they will be planning to turn on that second unit at Pelican Point to protect their position once Hazelwood closes. Of course—surprise, surprise—they were. How do we know that? Because on Thursday, when the market operator directed a second unit on, like they should have on Wednesday, they were ready to go. Why? They had been prepared to de-mothball that plant. The question is: why didn't AEMO forecast better on Wednesday the lack of available supply and direct that second unit on? Why didn't they do it? We want to know. If the market operator can't guarantee supply under a privatised system, we are going to intervene and unpick the mess they created.

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