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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-02-13 Daily Xml
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Grid Scale Storage Fund

Mr TRELOAR (Flinders) (14:26): My question is to the Minister for Energy and Mining. Can the minister update the house on the Grid Scale Storage Fund?

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart—Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:26): Yes, I can. I would be very, very pleased to. I thank the member for Flinders for this important question. The member for Flinders very regularly makes representations to me and to my staff with regard to seeking improvements for the people in his electorate with regard to their electricity supply, so that is exactly what we were doing with the Grid Scale Storage Fund. Again, it is another commitment from the Marshall Liberal government made before the election, which we are delivering on—a hallmark of our government. All of our MPs are committed to delivering on our promises to South Australians.

The $50 million Grid Scale Storage Fund very specifically is about storage, not necessarily batteries. It could be batteries, could be thermal, could be pumped hydro, could be hydrogen, could be biofuel. It could be a range of different ways of storing energy at a large scale so that the often overabundant renewable energy that we have in South Australia can be stored and then used for the benefit of consumers, to be dispatched for consumers on demand when they need it.

Connecting consumers and renewable energy generation was something that the previous government failed to do, didn't consider. We are bridging that gap for their benefit. I don't have too many details of the specific proposals we've received. They are all with the department at the moment for their assessment but, in a manner of transparency, I will certainly share as much as I possibly can.

The fund closed last Thursday. We received slightly in excess of 50 applications to this fund, keeping in mind that we are not necessarily intending to give $50 million in one lump to just one proposal. We'll make the best decisions on behalf of South Australians that we possibly can. There were over 50 applications and they came from Australia, China, Taiwan, Italy, Germany, France, Canada, USA and the UK, so worldwide interest in our government's program to fix the electricity and energy woes left to us by our predecessors. They all want to get on board. They see the value of this $50 million Grid Scale Storage Fund.

Of course, not all of them will get to participate. We will pick the very best of those applications that we possibly can. Getting this right is very important. You will remember that the previous government finally listened to the pleas of the Premier, the then leader of the opposition, who said, 'Look, nothing wrong with renewable energy. We're great at making electricity from sun and wind in South Australia, but you have to make storage part of the picture'. He said that for two to three years.

Finally, the then Labor government announced the big Tesla battery at Hornsdale and, at the time, we supported it. We said at the time that it was a good thing to do and it has been. We are true to our word and we are going to do more of that. As I said, it doesn't have to be a battery, but it does need to be genuinely large, grid-scale storage that will allow consumers to receive electricity as and when they need to consume it, not just when it is sunny and it is windy.

This will be very positive for South Australia. It fits with our policy for interconnection, it fits with our policy that we are rolling out of small batteries for households and it fits with our policy of demand management and demand response trials. This will be an outstanding development for the people of South Australia. As I said previously, the department is assessing the details of the information. I don't know any of the companies that have or haven't put proposals forward but, as soon as I am in a position to share more information with this house about this outstanding policy development and policy delivery so that we can offer South Australians cheaper, more reliable and cleaner energy, I will certainly do that.

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