In an address to the National Press Club, Federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen will argue that renewables investments would dry up under a Coalition government plan to build seven nuclear power plants in Australia by 2035.
Bowen warns that domestic and global investors won’t try to compete with “unlimited taxpayer subsidies for state-sponsored generation” and that in Australia, nuclear and renewables are incompatible and waiting 15 or 20 years for a new form of generation such as nuclear is a mistake.
“That investment chill wouldn’t come when the first reactor was delivered, in 2035 or 2037 or more likely the 2040s, it would come as soon as the Coalition was elected,” Bowen will say, according to a draft of the speech.
“And so Australia would be trading investment certainty and urgently-needed renewable investment for the hope of more costly reactors in two decades time.”
The Minister argues Labor is already investing billions of dollars to modernise the energy grid for the transition to renewables, with gas playing a role as coal-fired power plants are retired, deeming nuclear reactors “not fit-for-purpose” for Australia’s energy grid.
“Our grid is already almost 40% renewable. Renewable energy is incredibly cheap because its fuel is free, whether that is sunshine or wind,” Bowen will say.
“When the wind is blowing and the sun is shining, we have ample power flowing into the grid at zero marginal cost, which brings down the wholesale cost of power to zero and even delivers negative prices.”
“A base load nuclear power plant will need to keep generating even when there are ample renewables, losing money for every watt of energy produced.”
“Baseload nuclear plants simply don’t stack up economically in a grid with significant renewable generation.”
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and his energy spokesperson Ted O’Brien have previously announced plans to build seven state-owned nuclear power stations to achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
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