Energy ministers reject nuclear, agree consumers will control their energy needs

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Meeting in Melbourne, Victoria at the Energy and Climate Change Ministerial Council (ECMC) Australia’s state and territory energy ministers have endorsed the National Consumer Energy Resources (CER) Roadmap.

The roadmap outlines specific measures, timelines, and a implementation plan to deliver equity in the energy transition and a coordinated vision for household solar and batteries, and other forms of CER.

The CER Roadmap also outlines how governments will work to enable CER’s potential to lower bills, improve reliability and cut network costs by reducing the need for grid-scale investment.

Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the CER Roadmap is the next big reform for the energy system.

“This is making sure that those consumers who have energy resources at their disposal whether they be solar panels or a battery or an electric vehicle are able to be in control of those resources to get maximum benefit out of it for themselves and also for the grid,” Bowen said.

“We want to also ensure that those Australians who don’t have solar panels or a battery or an electric vehicle benefit as well. This is about them as much as it is about the people with those things. It’s about ensuring grid stability. It’s about ensuring maximum use of every single electron.”

“Things like making sure that consumers can export as much of their solar as they want to, or they can. Things like making sure that people with electric vehicles can use it to charge their home or the grid, what we call bidirectional charging or reverse charging vehicle to grid or vehicle to X is allowed under all the rules; all the regulations.”

Bowen said everyone will benefit if there’s a freer flow of electrons through the grid.

“We have 22 GW of solar on our rooves, it’s by far the largest power station and we want to make sure we’re maximising that for consumers as well as for the entire country,” Bowen said.

Ministers discussed the importance of removing constraints on investment and the transition to low-cost renewable energy, including improving the connection process for new renewable energy generation and storage into electricity grids; workforce; supply chains; and strong engagement with First Nations Australians and communities.

They agreed to release national guidelines for community engagement for transmission infrastructure and a national statement of intent for regional and remote electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure.

At a post-meeting press conference, Bowen also read a statement from eighteen leading business and community groups.

“Australia’s existing national emissions and energy targets for 2030 are the critical foundations for the Investments we need to deliver reliable affordable and clean energy and backing AEMO’s Integrated Systems Plan as the best roadmap for the NEM, we endorse those remarks, by those eighteen leading business groups,” Bowen read.

“Business is crying out for policy certainty. The federal government’s supplying it, states are supplying it. It’s incumbent on everyone to try and deliver that investment certainty,” Bowen said.

He noted ministers where nuclear power plants have been proposed unanimously reiterated their opposition to nuclear.

“Ministers agreed that in Australia nuclear is too expensive and too slow as coal fire power stations age and exit. We spent a lot of time talking about the transition and how we need to get more energy on quicker and not more expensive energy on slower,” Bowen said.

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