shutterstock_666056947

Labor lies yet again on promising renewables it won’t deliver

Labor’s Energy Minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, has spruiked plans for renewable energy projects that she alleges “will help drive Victoria’s economic recovery from coronavirus.”

While the Liberal Nationals support renewables, and the need for a considered clean energy transition to reduce emissions, the Andrews Labor Government has consistently failed to effectively manage the introduction of new renewables into Victoria’s energy grid. 

Minister D’Ambrosio’s recent media release claims the Labor Government’s Victorian Renewable Energy Auction Scheme (VREAS) has delivered 928MW of renewables. This is false. 

None of six projects the Government supported under VREAS is listed on the Government’s own website as operational. Five are listed as ‘under construction’, one is ‘approved but not operational’. 

Only 13 of 82 announced Victorian large-scale solar are actually operational, providing a tiny 8.4 per cent of the total energy promised. Of 55 announced wind projects, only 28 are operational, providing just 37 per cent of the energy promised. 

The Government’s own website estimates these projects will now only deliver 669.5MW of renewable power, 32 per cent less than the 928 MW the Minister referenced today. The Minister is either ignorant of the truth or simply attempting to mislead Victorians

Daniel Andrews’ failure to invest in Victoria’s transmission network means the power which is being generated is not actually reaching Victorian homes. 

The Government has known since at least mid-last year that its poor planning of renewables projects in Western Victoria required $370 million in transmission network upgrades d for power to be transmitted to Victorian homes. Construction on those upgrades has not even started. 

This means, staggeringly, almost a quarter of the energy produced by some renewables projects is lost in transmission. That is power from the few projects that are fully operational, entering the grid but being lost before it gets to Victorian homes. 

With all these failures on renewables, it is no wonder that Victorian electricity prices have gone up 21 per cent in under five years, which times where over 200,000 homes suffer blackouts. 

Comments attributable to Shadow Minister for Energy and Renewables, Ryan Smith:

“The Victorian Liberal Nationals support renewables. We do not support Daniel Andrews’ approach, which produced just 8.4 per cent of promised solar and 37 per cent of promised wind.

“You cannot trust Daniel Andrews and Labor to deliver renewables or keep power prices down. 

“With Labor’s complete failure to invest the $370 million needed to upgrade our electricity grid, is it any wonder power prices have gone up and energy is less reliable?”

Share this post