PM energised over Battery of the Nation hydro plan

PRIME Minister Scott Morrison has talked up his support for Tasmania’s Battery of the Nation project in a national interview with Sydney shock jock Alan Jones.

Premier Will Hodgman and Prime Minister Scott Morrison at Lake Plimsoll on the state’s West Coast. Picture: CHRIS KIDD

PRIME Minister Scott Morrison has talked up his support for Tasmania’s Battery of the Nation project in a national interview with Sydney shock jock Alan Jones.

Mr Morrison, who visited Hydro Tasmania facilities on Friday, contrasted the viability of Battery of the Nation with pursuit of nuclear power.

“I was down in Tasmania last week and I was down there at the Battery of the Nation project,” Mr Morrison told Jones on Monday.

‘Now, this is exciting, 2500 megawatts of hydro currently, built between 1910 and the early 1990s in Tasmania, basically one of the biggest engineering projects Australia has ever seen over that period of time.

“Will Hodgman has a plan to double that capacity, put an interconnector between Tasmania and the mainland and that will double what Tasmania does in terms of reliable, fair dinkum power coming into the energy markets on the east coast of Australia.

“Now that’s another great project and I’ve talked about how excited I am about that project.

“The interconnector, the pumped hydro assets that go right across Tasmania, I mean Tasmania is the capital of hydro in Australia and it can be the nation’s battery.”

MORRISON VISTS STATE’S WEST COAST

Mr Morrison said the problem with nuclear power was “the investment doesn’t stack up”.

But he said he could consider overturning the ban on building a nuclear reactor if it would bring electricity prices down.

Mr Morrison dismissed a suggestion from Jones that Australia should withdraw from the Paris Agreement on emissions, saying the 26 per cent target would be met in a canter.

“What is to be gained from ripping it up,” he said.

He said that when Australia signed up to something it meant something and that the agreement was an important issue for Australia’s strategic partners in the Pacific.

Energy is a touchy issue for the Coalition after it fractured over the National Energy Guarantee, leading to the toppling of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.

The state Liberal council passed a motion at the weekend that called for the Paris Agreement on CO2 emissions to be rescinded before it destroyed the Australian economy and lifestyle.

The motion was supported by Liberal Senators Eric Abetz, Jonathon Duniam and David Bushby but opposed by Richard Colbeck.