Antinuclear

Mr Frydenberg has said Friday’s national energy ministers’ meeting will discuss topics including the transformation of electricity markets to ensure a greater use of renewable energy and new technologies, such as battery storage.

In an interview with The Advertiser, Mr Koutsantonis renewed a push for a high-voltage interconnector cable to New South Wales, at a cost of about $700 million, saying this would result in cheaper prices and improved supply by connecting SA to more sources of electricity.

He said competition in SA was limited by the high-voltage transmission link to only one state, while Victoria’s lower prices were explained by cables connecting to three states — SA, NSW and Tasmania.

Mr Koutsantonis said state and federal taxpayers might be willing to fund up to $300 million of the NSW interconnector project if electricity supplies were improved.

Federal Industry Minister Greg Hunt blames high electricity prices on growing use of renewables by states Jackson Gothe-Snape, Paul Starick, The Advertiser August 17, 2016 FEDERAL Industry Minister Greg Hunt has lit the fuse for a fiery national energy summit on Friday by blaming high electricity prices on the failure of some states to plan for the growing use of renewables.

In a thinly veiled attack on SA’s embrace of solar and wind, Mr Hunt will on Wednesday use a speech in Port Pirie to condemn a pretence that integrating renewable energy into power grids is free of cost and other impacts.

Mr Hunt’s comments contrast sharply with those of Cabinet colleague and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg, whose stated aims in calling Friday’s ministerial meeting in Canberra were to “strengthen co-operation” between governments to ensure energy markets remained “stable and secure”.

Mr Frydenberg called the summit in the wake of last month’s SA power crisis, revealed by The Advertiser, during which the state’s biggest employers were on the verge of costly shutdowns caused by skyrocketing electricity prices.

Declaring his deep belief in the need to reduce carbon emissions and increase the use of green energy, Mr Hunt will use a resources industry conference to attack state governments ahead of the national energy ministers’ meeting.

“Some states … have wilfully ignored the need to plan to do this (integrate renewable energy) and pretended that it is cost and impact free,” Mr Hunt will tell his Port Pirie audience.

“The impacts of a failure to plan at a state level are very real — higher prices and a residual concern with supply reliability.”

Mr Hunt argues that recent electricity price increases in South Australia can be explained by four main factors: a cold snap leading to an increase in demand, a spike in gas prices, an outage in the high-voltage interconnector cable to Victoria and “issues with integrating increased intermittent renewable energy”…….

Mr Frydenberg has said Friday’s national energy ministers’ meeting will discuss topics including the transformation of electricity markets to ensure a greater use of renewable energy and new technologies, such as battery storage.

In an interview with The Advertiser, Mr Koutsantonis renewed a push for a high-voltage interconnector cable to New South Wales, at a cost of about $700 million, saying this would result in cheaper prices and improved supply by connecting SA to more sources of electricity.

He said competition in SA was limited by the high-voltage transmission link to only one state, while Victoria’s lower prices were explained by cables connecting to three states — SA, NSW and Tasmania.

Mr Koutsantonis said state and federal taxpayers might be willing to fund up to $300 million of the NSW interconnector project if electricity supplies were improved.

“I think a lot of South Australians would say: ‘Well, that’s good value for money’ when you compare it to what we’re doing on other pieces of infrastructure,” said Mr Koutsantonis, also the state Energy Minister…..

Newly privatised NSW electricity transmission operator Transgrid has said it is prepared to help build the interconnector, saying this is preferable to options such as putting gas generators on standby or installing large batteries to store renewable energy. http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/federal-industry-minister-greg-hunt-blames-high-electricity-prices-on-growing-use-of-renewables-by-states/news-story/a297b3b7c22b7b003b8d4252eac394a1