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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2017-10-18 Daily Xml
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Power Supply

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (15:27): I rise to talk briefly today about what are called HELE power plants. There are currently 20 countries globally that are planning to build a staggering 588 new coal-fired power stations across the globe. Of those 20 countries, China is proposing an additional 299 new coal-fired power stations; India an additional 132; Vietnam an additional 34; Indonesia an additional 32; the Philippines an additional 22; while South Africa, Japan, South Korea, Turkey and Taiwan are all building upwards of seven plants each. Again that is 588 coal-fired power stations on the drawing board that we know of around the planet right now.

Australia, of course, is building none. We have a recognised power crisis, yet we are ignoring the benefits of high-efficiency, low emissions (HELE) technology and the cost efficiency of coal, one of our primary exports, and continuing our ever-increasing reliance on expensive and sometimes unreliable renewables.

Renewables are only affordable when subsidised, as we have seen. BAEconomics reported that the renewable energy target is by far the costliest subsidy scheme around, and the subsidies are only set to rise in the near future—of course we have seen some movement in that space by the federal government in the last 24 hours, which our party would support.

In 2015-16, the state and federal governments subsidised the renewable industries to the tune of $3 billion, and it has been reported that $2.1 billion was subsidised by the Australian consumer. This is an extraordinary amount of money. Furthermore, consumers are set to pay some $300 million in subsidies to a proposed outback solar farm, a farm that produces 50 times less power than the Liddell power station. So essentially we pay more money and get less power into the grid.

Research produced by the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) suggests that new HELE ultraclean coal-fired power stations are the best way to meet the three objectives of Australian energy policy that is to deliver reliable power at affordable prices whilst meeting Australia’s international obligations, whether one agrees with them or not.

The MCA report finds emissions intensity of the new HELE plants would be between 23 per cent and 32 per cent, lower than their predecessors, with some reports stating upwards of 50 per cent lower emissions. A HELE station replacing the Hazelwood station, for example, that has recently closed, would lower emissions by 43 per cent. If this was implemented Australia-wide, we would meet two-thirds of our Paris emissions agreement immediately. Again, it is not our policy to focus on those things but for those who do focus on these matters, this is a clear opportunity to provide a solution and also to provide affordable base load power.

In an interim report into power price increases released by the ACCC recently, it showed a 60 per cent increase in the rise of power prices over the last decade in real terms. Sadly, yet not surprisingly, some 35,000 households in South Australia cannot afford to pay their power bills, with some people forfeiting food and medicine to cover their electricity costs, as reported in The Advertiser this week.

Greg Pattinson, the CEO of Foodbank SA, has indicated that more than 102,000 South Australians per month access their services, which is up 21 per cent from last year’s 85,000 people per month, with many citing cost of living and electricity bill shock as their reason for accessing the service. I paraphrase him here, when he said, ‘Not one of those people expressed pleasure that we were meeting our emissions targets, but the majority of them complained about the price of power and said it was impacting on their ability to live comfortably.’ It is clear that both state and federal energy policy is failing the people of South Australia and the nation more generally.

Coal, next to nuclear power, is the most reliable and affordable energy there is. It provides invaluable base load to our grid, something which we do not currently have enough of. Despite the trend internationally towards implementing these HELE coal-fired power plants, Australia, and specifically South Australia, remains resistant. We insist on creating expensive and unreliable systems when there is clear evidence that coal is cost-effective and efficient. Indeed, we cannot export enough of it; they are buying it literally by the tonne overseas from our shores.

No South Australian, indeed, no Australian should have to go without food or medicine in order to pay for electricity. I am sure that is something we can all agree on. It is time to scrap some of these wasteful subsidies and pursue the new generation of HELE power plants and options which increase base load power, reduce costs and increase supply to the grid.

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