Day 74: 'Economics and engineering'
An introductory weekday newsletter from Schwartz Media. Counting the days since Australia had an energy policy.
Good morning and welcome to day 74.
Today in summary: details emerge on the environment and energy policies Labor will take to the election, including plans for a national environment protection authority; the NSW Coalition government briefs industry on its A$55 million “Emerging Energy Program”; and Federal Labor has reportedly rebuffed an approach from the Greens to team up on energy and climate policy.
— Charis
Today’s policy spin level: 💨💨💨💨
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The ALP retains its commitment to a 50% renewable energy target, 45% emissions reductions by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050, but is moving away from its previous push for an emissions trading scheme, according to a draft reform platform it will take to its national conference in December. Instead, Labor says it will:
“work with the business community and others to introduce legal limits on carbon pollution that lets business work out the cheapest and most effective way to operate within pollution caps.”
The draft platform reportedly also includes plans for a US-style independent Environment Protection Authority that would be established with a federal environment act.
The AustralianNSW has committed A$55 million to an “Emerging Energy Program” it says will help accelerate a pipeline of large-scale projects as part of its energy transition. Capital funding of up to A$10 million is available for emerging and dispatchable energy projects offering emissions reductions and a minimum capacity of 5 megawatts. The types of technology could include pumped hydro, battery storage, or hydrogen. NSW Energy Minister Don Harwin said the program was:
“designed to help support the transition in NSW to a modern and clean energy system and ensure we have access to reliable energy. This change is rapid. Economics and engineering are driving it”
A pact on energy and climate policy proposed by the Greens earlier this year was reportedly rebuffed by Labor leader Bill Shorten. Common ground could include extending the Renewable Energy Target, and ongoing support for the small-scale renewable energy scheme. Shadow minister for energy Mark Butler said:
"We listen to the views of all parties and experts in developing policy, but Labor policy is determined by Labor.”
The Greens helped block former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s emissions trading scheme in 2009, and the carbon pricing package they later negotiated was overturned by the Abbott government.
Coming up
The Energy Users Association of Australia is holding a Queensland Energy Forum today in Brisbane. Speakers include Resources Minister Matt Canavan, and Gas Market Reform Group Chair Michael Vertigan.
The Commentariat
The states should work together to fill the energy policy vacuum left by federal government, and should write down the value of their networks to cut prices, say the Grattan Institute’s Tony Wood and Guy Dundas.
“Energy market reform was at the forefront of national competition policy in the mid to late 1990s. But reform has since slowed, and the states are partly responsible. The states can rekindle the fire by pursuing a clear, nationally consistent action plan for affordable, reliable and low-emissions electricity.”
The US electricity grid is vulnerable to cyber-attack and should be treated as a critical national security issue, not become a political football, writes Jason Bordoff, former energy advisor to President Obama, for the Wall Street Journal. The grid is exposed to hacking whether or not it uses renewable sources, though the rise of distributed energy resources creates a broader target, he says.
“But regardless of what energy sources generate and deliver our electricity, cybersecurity threats remain real and rising. This is an urgent national security issue, not a partisan one. Any efforts to trumpet one fuel over another on specious grounds that it can protect us from the threat of cyberattack only serve to polarize the issue and undermine a broad consensus that we must work collaboratively across the aisle to address this pressing threat.”
Three more things
Voters in Arizona and Nevada will next week decide whether to amend their constitutions to require utility companies to invest in renewable and clean energy. Nevada’s amendment would require electricity utilities to buy half their power from renewable resources by 2030, while Arizona’s would require 50% renewable generation for public utilities by 2030.
National Wind Farm Commissioner Andrew Dyer has been re-appointed for a further three-year term. The role has been expanded to include resolving complaints about large scale solar and storage, from the existing mandate of dealing with complaints about wind farms.
US energy exporters are competing to build crude oil terminals on the Gulf Coast to meet the booming supplies of shale oil from West Texas. Competing projects in Louisiana and Texas will face high hurdles to get state and federal permits, and oil market analysts say only one or two of the five proposed ports will be needed.
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