Coal power lifeline risks unreliability, bill shock
A move to keep a state’s coal-fired power plants on longer could undermine climate goals and leave households facing higher bills if aging generators repeatedly fail.
The Queensland government’s five-year energy plan confirmed a well-stated promise to extend the operating life of state-owned coal power plants “for as long as needed”.
Finance Minister David Janetzki described the roadmap as a “pragmatic” improvement over the former Labor government’s “implausible” plan, which included closing all state-owned coal power plants by 2035.
“This is a sensible and pragmatic plan based on economics and engineering, not ideology,” Mr Janetzki told the Queensland Media Club on Friday. he said.
The average Queensland household can expect to save $1035 a year on electricity bills compared to current policy settings, its government has promised.
But NEXA Advisory managing director Stephanie Bashir said cost savings calculations did not take into account unplanned outages that could be expected from aging coal stations.
“Nobody is saying they’re going to shut coal down any earlier than needed,” he told AAP.
“But everyone wants coal to be shut down in an orderly manner, which means setting a date.
“Unreliable power equals high bills, and that’s something that’s not accounted for in some of the numbers I’ve seen at a high level in that plan.”
Gas condensation plants, which are essential for electricity system reliability during the transition, are also expensive to run, and Ms. Bashir said any new project flagged by the government would likely face delays due to five-year waiting periods on gas turbines.
Nancy Spencer, an energy expert at Griffith University, said the state government was unlikely to extend the life of coal-fired power plants beyond what experts consider reliable and safe.
“The most important condition in the road map is the words ‘technical life’,” he told AAP.
“Even though they promise coal will be there until after 2040, that actually comes down to what its technical lifespan is.”
Longer use of coal and gas has led climate advocates and environmental groups to fear that the result will be additional greenhouse gas emissions.
The Queensland government has pledged to cut the state’s emissions reduction target by 75 per cent by 2035 and to net zero by 2050.
But the Australian Marine Conservation Society has warned that the state’s 2035 climate target is at risk, and with it the World Heritage status of the Great Barrier Reef.
Lissa Schindler, the charity’s campaign manager, said the pledge to cut emissions by 75 per cent had helped remove climate-sensitive coral reefs from the World Heritage ‘endangered’ list.
“Extending the life of coal-fired power stations will make it impossible for Queensland to meet this commitment,” Dr Schindler said.
