Queensland election: we don’t need a new power station, says Palaszczuk

Queensland does not need a new coal-fired power station, Annastacia Palaszczuk says..

Queensland Minister for Main Roads Mark Bailey. Picture: Steve Holland

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has insisted the state does not need a new coal-fired power station in north Queensland, despite the leaking of a secret government report that confirms a generator could be viable.

Energy security again dominated the election campaign yesterday, after The Australian reported the leaked government document appeared to back the LNP’s plan to help smooth government approvals for the private sector to build a new, efficient coal-fired power station in the north of the state.

The report was commissioned in February by Queensland’s Department of Energy and Water Supply but never released. It says an ultra-supercritical coal-fired power station would have a lower marginal cost with reduced fuel supplies, and a reduced amount of carbon emissions, compared with existing coal plants.

But Ms Palaszczuk and Energy Minister Mark Bailey said they knew nothing about the department’s report before The Australian asked questions on Tuesday.

The Premier said the report’s contents did not change her belief that Queensland did not need a new coal-burning power station.

“It would take seven years to build a new coal-fired power station, we already have a young energy fleet of coal-fired power stations here, providing not just Queensland with energy but exporting to other states,” Ms Palaszczuk said. “It’s very clear Queensland does not need a new coal-fired power station.”

Labor has committed to a target of 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030, an aim the LNP opposition calls “reckless”.

To combat negative perceptions sparked by the leaked document, the government released a briefing note from the department to the department’s director-general about the report in July.

The briefing note said the report “identifies that an ultra- ­supercritical coal-fired power station could only be commercially viable under scenarios with sustained high wholesale prices and no threat of a carbon price over the life of the plant”.

Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls rejected the Premier’s suggestion that if the power station were built it would keep prices high for 40 years. “What that report shows is that at half the cost of the current average cost for power — so power is currently at $100 a megawatt hour — at $50 a megawatt hour, which is a price that hasn’t been seen in Queensland for four years, that project would be viable and deliver cheaper baseload power,” he said. “The real question is why is Annastacia Palaszczuk, why are Labor, denying the people of north Queensland the access to cheap, reliable power.”

He said the report found it would reduce emissions by 10 per cent, generate more power using the same amount of coal and deliver reliable baseload power.