Turnbull’s Snowy dream to drive PM’s renewables push

Scott Morrison will rely on Malcolm Turnbull’s dream of a Snowy 2.0 hydro scheme to drive his renewable agenda but the cost will rise substantially.

Then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull during a tour of Tumut 3 power station at the Snowy Hydro Scheme in Talbingo last March.

Scott Morrison will rely on Malcolm Turnbull’s dream of a Snowy 2.0 pumped-hydro scheme as the centrepiece of his renewable ­energy agenda, with taxpayers to spend $1.38 billion on a project that won’t produce electricity for at least five years.

The Prime Minister will today visit the Snowy region in southeastern NSW to announce the final tick off for Mr Turnbull’s pet project to expand the historic hydro scheme and increase its ­capacity by 50 per cent.

The total cost of Snowy 2.0 is expected to be up to $4.5bn, up from initial estimates of $2bn when the expansion was first flagged by Mr Turnbull in 2017. The balance of the cost of the ­expansion will be raised through debt finance by the federal government-owned Snowy Hydro Limited.

The Turnbull government spent $6bn buying out Victoria and NSW from the Snowy Hydro company, increasing its stake from just 13 per cent.

“Snowy 2.0 will inject the ­energy supply and reliability our electricity market needs, helping cut costs to families and businesses, and cut Australia’s emissions,” Mr Morrison said ahead of today’s announcement.

Mr Turnbull welcomed his successor’s decision to forge ahead with his pet project.

“Very pleased to see Snowy 2.0 being given the green light by @ScottMorrisonMP,” he tweeted this morning.

“The project makes renewables reliable and is the key to a lower emission, more affordable and reliable energy future. It will reduce price peaks in the energy market and thus reduce energy costs.

“As the cost of wind and especially solar becomes less with improved technology, storage is the key to reliability. And while batteries are improving rapidly, for large scale storage the best option is Pumped Hydro, like Snowy 2.0 set to be the biggest scheme in Sthn (Sout

hern)Hemisphere.”

Very pleased to see Snowy 2.0 being given the green light by @ScottMorrisonMP The project makes renewables reliable and is the key to a lower emission, more affordable and reliable energy future. It will reduce price peaks in the energy market and thus reduce energy costs.

— Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) February 25, 2019

The Prime Minister’s embrace of Mr Turnbull’s Snowy 2.0 ­ambition follows his pledge of $2bn for Tony Abbott-style “direct action” measures to tackle climate change.

Speaking in Melbourne yesterday, Mr Morrison flagged further investments in low-emission technologies, including $56 million for a second interconnector from Tasmania to the mainland, which would accelerate the delivery of the Marinus Link that could keep the lights on for households in Victoria and reduce emissions by 25 million tonnes by 2030.

He also pledged a national electric vehicle strategy, including wider access to charging stations, as part of his plan for “practical” climate change policies to appeal to environmentally conscious ­voters.

However, there were internal rumblings over strategy, with Mr Morrison’s hand-picked drought envoy, Barnaby Joyce, declaring he was sceptical of Snowy 2.0.

“The concerns I have about Snowy is you need two times the amount of power to get one unit of output and it is a long way down the track,” he said. The former deputy prime minister also said people in regional areas would scoff at the government’s new-found focus on electric cars.

“How are you going to sell electric cars to someone living in (the NSW town of) Weabonga?” Mr Joyce said.

Bill Shorten yesterday said the national energy guarantee — once championed by Mr Morrison and Mr Turnbull — was the best policy to reduce prices and emissions.

Mr Morrison said creation of the direct action-style “climate ­solutions package” and investment in clean energy would help Australia meet its 2030 Paris targets “in a canter” and not impact the economy.

“We don’t believe you have to choose between our environment and our economy,” Mr Morrison said.

Under pressure from a group of Liberal MPs who want more investment in renewables, Mr Morrison also talked up two government-funded renewable investment agencies that Mr ­Abbott tried to abolish when he was prime minister: the Clean ­Energy Finance Corporation and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.