Early inquiries into South Australia’s blackout say it was not caused or exacerbated by the state’s dependency on renewable energy, the federal energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, has said, calling for a “real debate” on the issue regardless.
Extreme weather in South Australia has included widespread flooding and a severe storm last week saw more than 20 power pylons destroyed and electricity knocked out for the entire state. More rain and possible thunderstorms have been forecast.
In the immediate aftermath of the blackout a number of politicians and commentators sought to connect it with South Australia’s 41% reliance on renewable energy, despite a lack of any evidence to suggest a link.
Speaking to Sky News on Sunday, Frydenberg said preliminary advice told him the high proportion of renewable energy levels was not the catalyst for the blackout.
However, the minister said a full inquiry into exactly what happened was needed and it would be the subject of discussions at a Council of Australian Governments meeting, expected this week.
Frydenberg said the states were pursuing “ridiculously high and unrealistic” renewable energy targets and they “have an illusion” about the impact of renewables on the energy system.
He said a “real debate” was needed, in particular about the intermittent supply of wind and solar power and how it impacts the stability and price of electricity.
“When you have a high use of renewables, some 41% in South Australia, it leads to a lack of consistency in the quantity of generation, namely that when the wind’s not blowing, or the sun’s not shining, electricity is not being generated, and that means there’s a higher reliance on interconnectors,” he said.
Government officials admitted to a Senate inquiry last week there had been no modelling to determine if existing policies could achieve the emissions reduction targets Australia agreed to in Paris in 2015, of lowering emissions to between 26% and 28% below 2005 levels by 2030.
The energy advisory firm RepuTex recently advised Australia’s emissions will likely remain at the same level through to 2030 based on current policies.
State governments have said the state level targets are what’s needed to reach the Paris goal.
Frydenberg said the federal government was confident it would reach its target of 23.5% renewable energy by 2020, through policies already in place and those still in development. The current mix is 15%.
“And, of course, reducing our emissions is vitally important but, for the states, for the Greens, for the Labor party, they seem to put that ahead of energy security, and we don’t,” he said.
“We’re unapologetic that keeping the lights on and energy security is our No 1 responsibility and our No 1 concern.”
He said the states seemed to have adopted their targets “without understanding the impact for energy security”.
Labor’s energy spokesman, Mark Butler, told Sky News there had to be recognition that Australia could not continue to operate power generation infrastructure, much of which had been built in the 1960s and 70s.
“Over the next 10 or 15 years, even if there was not a climate change imperative or a renewable energy revolution sweeping the world, Australia would have to be having a discussion now about how we were going to renew our electricity generation infrastructure,” he told Sky News.
Frydenberg also criticised the South Australian senator Nick Xenophon for claims made on the night about the blackout and for going to the last election with a renewables target of 50%.
