Labor calls for coal-fired power stations to come back online

An energy crisis gripping Australia’s east coast could trigger an emergency response to ease soaring demand and prices.

Coal-fired power plants have been begged to come back online as Australia’s east coast grapples with an energy crisis.

An urgent meeting of Commonwealth, state and territory energy ministers will be held on Wednesday to discuss solutions as the Albanese government weighs up measures to take pressure off prices.

A perfect storm of increased demand for Australian gas, unplanned outages at coal-fired power stations and a severe cold snap have stretched the electricity market.

Efforts to inject supply into the system by Resources Minister Madeleine King have been unfruitful as existing pipelines are operating at near capacity.

Gas producers are operating at near capacity but most of that is being exported off shore. Picture: AAP / Joe Castro

Ms King said the short-term solution would be for coal-fired power plants to come online.

“What we really need to do is to have the coal power stations come back online, because that is the missing piece in the puzzle right now,” Ms King told ABC Radio.

“There‘s been unplanned outages for many reasons; many beyond the control of those operators and I do accept that, but I hope they are doing their level best to make sure this power source comes online as well.”

But she brushed off suggestions the government should intervene and support the maintenance of coal-fired power stations.

“To be honest, it is the coal companies themselves and the operators of the power stations that need to get these power stations back online,” she said.

Ms King has called for the operators to fix their coal fired power stations.

“It‘s 30 per cent of the energy capacity that’s taken out of the mix because of unforeseen circumstances in many respects – and some of them are also planned outages.

“It wouldn‘t matter how much money anyone put in right now, we just need the operators to get moving on fixing their plants right now.”

The call comes just days after Energy Minister Chris Bowen stood with members of the Emergency Leaders for Climate Action and declared Labor would take “real action on climate change”.

Chris Bowen will meet with his state and territory counterparts on Wednesday to discuss solutions. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

But the government has argued against the move, which would not be enforceable until January.

Instead, it has heaped the blame on the Coalition for failing to shore up Australia’s energy market during its nine years in power.

“The former Government, unfortunately, spent the best part of a decade picking fights on energy, rather than building resilience and certainty into the system and getting that investment in cleaner and cheaper energy flowing,” Treasurer Jim Chalmers said.

Former energy minister Angus Taylor rejected the accusations.

“We’ve seen record levels of investment in household solar and renewables more generally – the highest levels of household solar in the world, one of the highest rates of investment per capita in renewables in the world,“ he told the ABC.

“But that‘s got to be matched with dispatchability – it’s why gas is crucial.”