Federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg slammed online for response to South Australia blackout

THE Federal Energy Minister has been blasted online for turning the South Australian storm into an attack on renewable energy.

Minister for the Environment and Energy Josh Frydenberg has created a storm of his own on social media. Picture Kym Smith

A BITTER political row over the use of renewable energy has erupted in the wake of the statewide blackout in South Australia overnight.

Strong winds from a major storm event knocked over a number of transmission towers triggering the blackout. But as power returns and the state is left to clean up, the Federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg has sparked controversy after suggesting that South Australia’s strong commitment to renewable energy has left the state vulnerable.

Outside of Tasmania, South Australia has the highest rate of renewable energy in the country with more than 40 per cent of the state’s power generation coming from renewables — a situation that Mr Frydenberg reportedly told fellow MPs has left the state exposed.

“Questions are raised by the virtue of the increasing amount of renewables,” he told the ABC on Wednesday night.

While he did underscore the fact that the power outage was the result of an “extreme weather event” he continued to cast doubt over the stability of renewable energy Thursday morning in a radio interview with ABC’s AM program.

“Now there are questions with renewable energy particularly the fact that it’s intermittent — it’s not supplied all the time — but also the frequency of which it is supplied and the stability that it brings to the system,” he said.

Federal Minister for Environment and Energy Josh Frydenberg. Picture: Mick Tsikas

The federal minister conceded South Australia’s use of renewable energy was not at fault in the blackout but warned against other state’s pursuing “unrealistic renewable energy targets.”

South Australia has a 50 per cent renewable target by 2025, Victoria is seeking a 40 per cent target by the same year and Queensland is seeking a 50 per cent target by 2030. Western Australia and NSW, however, base their policies on the national target.

When pressed on why such targets were unrealistic, Mr Frydenberg said: “It’s because they do bring challenges to the stability of the system, plus they bring higher costs.”

Mr Frydenberg also appeared on ABC News Breakfast to continue the discussion. Again he repeatedly stated renewables were not to blame for South Australia’s blackout but plenty of people on social media expressed anger over his attempt to bash renewables in the wake of the blackout.

Josh Frydenberg just did a whole interview on AM conflating renewable energy and the SA blackout.

— some media guy (@axmcc) September 28, 2016

Absolute disgrace the way Josh Frydenberg is using SA Storm power outage as an opportunity to bash renewable energy. #RN #auspol

— Sandra K Eckersley (@SandraEckersley) September 28, 2016

Farcical interview w Josh Frydenberg on @amworldtodaypm
RN: Did renewables cause it?
JF: No
RN: So what's the prob?
JF: Renewables#SAStorms

— Major Tom (@mrtomhartney) September 28, 2016

"We don't have that information yet"...

BUT we need to look at the Renewal energy...

Josh Frydenberg is lower than a snakes belly :(

— Cranky Pants Noely (@YaThinkN) September 28, 2016

Josh Frydenberg sort of not-quite but almost blaming ("raising questions") about the impact of SA's heavy use of renewables on ABC.

— Michael Harris (@MichaelH_PhD) September 28, 2016

It says much about Australia that when the worst storm in 50 years hits SA we blame renewables, not coal fueled climate change #auspol

— Richard Denniss (@RDNS_TAI) September 28, 2016

Josh Frydenberg @BreakfastNews "no connection between outages & renewable energy" then tries to link the two with everything he says!

— just Phil (@Phil_B7) September 28, 2016

Josh Frydenberg blaming #SAStorms on renewables is as fatuous as Trump blaming losing the debate with HRC on a faulty microphone.

— Duncan Watson (@DuncanWatson8) September 28, 2016

Ok I get it. The wind created by the wind turbines blew the transmission towers over. pic.twitter.com/KwYwtmPyWF

— Tim Beshara (@Tim_Beshara) September 28, 2016

On Wednesday South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill said the state’s infrastructure had worked as it was designed to.

“This is a weather event, not a renewable energy event,” he said. “The system operated as it was planned to operate ... just like a household if there’s a surge of power through a faulty piece of equipment a trip occurs ... to protect the various assets, so that it can be restored within hours.”

Greens senator from South Australia Sarah Hanson Young also took to Twitter to express her disappointment with the politicisation of the storm.

Ms Young said it was “pathetic” to see people “politicking over renewables while our emergency service officers & volunteers are flat out responding.”

However Mr Frydenberg wasn’t the only one to express concern over renewable energy as popular senate crossbencher Nick Xenophon said the state had “relied too much on wind rather than baseload renewables, rather than baseload power, including gas which is a fossil fuel but it is 50 per cent cleaner than coal.”

Meanwhile a renewable energy expert who authored a report issued by the Gratton Institute this week detailing the pressure a high uptake in renewables had put on the state’s wholesale power prices said there was no link between renewable energy and the blackout.

“There’s no evidence to suggest this was caused by too much wind power, or the dependence on wind power, or anything else,” Tony Wood told the ABC.

“If you’ve got a wind farm or a coal-fired power station at the end of a transmission line, and that system either is taken out by a storm or is forced to shut down to protect itself from a storm, it doesn’t matter what the energy source is.”

Josh Frydenberg’s office has been contacted for comment.

The storm system rolling over Port Augusta power station, looking very angry Wednesday. Picture: Craig Element