Pay for our green power, says Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein

Mainland taxpayers should be willing to help pay for a second $3.5bn power interconnector under Bass Strait, says Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein.

The Catagunya Hydro Dam in Tasmania. Premier Peter Gutwein argues the $3.5b Marinus Link will provide other states greater access to Tasmania’s renewable, dispatchable hydro power. Picture: Hydro Tasmania.

Mainland taxpayers should be willing to help pay for a second $3.5 billion power interconnector under Bass Strait, given it will provide access to Tasmania’s dispatchable green energy, says Premier Peter Gutwein.

Mr Gutwein said he believed private investors would back the project, pointing to private ownership of the current Basslink interconnector. However, he said funding from other states and federal taxpayers would be justified, given the benefit of more fully accessing Tasmania’s “Battery of the Nation”: renewable, dispatchable hydro power.

This would act as a “firming” power source, he said, supporting other states when the wind was not blowing nor the sun shining sufficiently to support their non-baseload renewables.

“The argument is not about linking Tasmania; the argument is about transitioning Australia’s energy supply from more traditional generation sources to green energy,” Mr Gutwein said. “And Battery of the Nation can play a significant role in that.

“It comes back to generation … Many states don’t have hydro options available. Wind and solar both need firming energy. Tasmania can play that role, so I think the argument stands up.”

Mr Gutwein said the federal government remained “very positive” on the 1500 megawatt-capable Marinus Link, most recently during talks with Josh Frydenberg last week. “We are working through the design and approvals assessment process at the moment – that’s funded and under way and we’d expect to get to a financial investment decision in 2022-23,” he said.

Despite being a champion of renewables, Mr Gutwein was unfazed by the Morrison government’s decision to invest in new gas generation in the Hunter Valley to compensate for closure of Liddell coal-fired power plant.

“Gas is certainly a lower emissions energy source than coal and in terms of the retirement of Liddell, there needs to be a step change,” Mr Gutwein said.

“I don’t think one new gas plant is going to dent the appetite for Battery of the Nation.”

The Victorian government is non-committal, a spokeswoman saying: “Marinus Link is a significant, complex project that has a number of important issues to be addressed.”