Renewables to play key role in Peter Dutton energy plan

Renewables will make up the vast majority of electricity generation under Peter Dutton’s nuclear plan, according to energy experts.

Opposition energy spokesman Ted O’Brien. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

Renewables will make up the vast majority of electricity generation under Peter Dutton’s nuclear power plant plan, as the Coalition flags rolling out more gas, wind, solar and battery strategies ahead of the next election.

After senior Labor figures circulated anti-nuclear social media posts with cartoons insinuating the policy would create mutant animals, the Opposition Leader labelled Anthony Albanese’s fear campaign as “juvenile” and pledged to release the costings on his energy policy.

The campaign came despite top energy experts questioning the ALP’s nuclear claims and former BHP chairman Don Argus saying the “subsidies that we’ve given out so far on just wind and solar are mind boggling”.

“The subsidies that we’ve given out so far on just wind and solar are mind boggling,” he said.

“The costs of transitioning from an established electricity system (are) huge and those big-bang approaches have never worked. It is time that people paused and demanded that we do some comparative analysis to understand what these costs are.”

The Labor and union campaign comes despite former chief scientist Alan Finkel finding deaths linked to nuclear power are equivalent to those associated with wind and solar power generation, roughly a third of deaths associated with hydro power, and 50 times lower than those from coal-fired power.

“The safety record of nuclear power is excellent. That is despite high-profile accidents such as Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima,” Dr Finkel wrote earlier this year.

Opposition energy spokesman Ted O’Brien vowed to release the costings of the nuclear energy policy ahead of the election, after Mr Albanese said the lack of modelling around the “fantasy” meant it had “fallen apart in 24 hours”.

The Australian revealed on Wednesday the Coalition’s modelling on the cost to build a large-scale nuclear plant would be broadly in line with the CSIRO’s $8.6bn forecast, equating to about $60bn if one plant is built on each of the seven identified sites. Liberal sources said small modular reactors of about 300MW could be built for $3.5bn to $5bn.

A coalition of clean energy investors – which members include BlackRock and Macquarie Bank – said on Thursday the Liberal leader’s nuclear plan could make international financers “reassess” their investment in Australian renewable projects.

“A stable and predictable policy environment is essential for attracting and retaining the significant capital required to achieve our renewable energy targets,” a statement from the Clean Investor Group said. “Substantial changes of policy direction would risk derailing the momentum we have built for Australia’s decarbonisation journey.”

Mr O’Brien said nuclear was just one plank of the Coalition’s energy policy, with details on its gas and renewables plans to also be rolled out.

“Batteries are going to be key, and we’re yet to release our renewables policy, our gas policy and other aspects,” he told Sky News. “What you will see is we will definitely be leaning into the importance of storage, and that includes batteries.

“We are wanting to focus right now on the nuclear part of our policy, but we are yet to release the renewables and the gas.”

Mr Dutton said there would need to be more investment in renewables under the Coalition’s plan, despite attacking Labor over the rollout of large-scale wind and solar projects.

Australian National University emeritus professor Ken Baldwin said more than 200GW of generation would be needed to be added to the grid by 2050.

This would far exceed the capacity added by seven nuclear plants, which experts predict would be under 10GW.

“It’s really important to understand what the energy transition looks like. It’s not just the replacement of coal-fired power, it is going to be a doubling and tripling of the capacity of the grid,” Professor Baldwin said.

“By 2050, Australia will need 300GW in generating capacity, and the vast majority will be rooftop and utility solar, and onshore and offshore wind.

“In order to provide flexible dispatchable supply for times when solar and wind aren’t operating, you will need some form of generation to provide that.

“And that’s where the issue is whether you have an investment in small modular reactor power equivalent in value to the anticipated contribution from gas with  (carbon capture and storage), or you massively overbuild renewables with a very large investment in transition and storage.”

Grattan Institute energy program director Tony Wood said the proposed nuclear power would meet only a fraction of the country’s expected additional energy requirements by the second half of the next decade.

Senate crossbenchers were open to repealing the ban on nuclear energy, with the Coalition’s proposal likely to gain support of the upper house of parliament if it wins government.

The Coalition on Wednesday identified seven sites hosting retired or ageing coal-fired power stations to be converted to nuclear facilities.