What is the true cost to the Australian people of Labor’s ‘all eggs in one basket’ renewable energy?

Sep 18, 2024 | Speeches

The Nationals and Liberals are absolutely aware that renewables need to be part of the mix. But we do propose bringing nuclear into the mix. Labor wants us to be all renewables, which is an expensive ambition. If you look at just the Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zone in New South Wales as an example, the costs have skyrocketed. Under the former New South Wales government, the estimate was that it was going to cost $650 million for that zone to add three gigawatts of power to the energy market. When you actually add in the cost of the transmission lines that are required to connect that zone to where the power is going to be used, the cost is now $3.2 billion to connect 4.5 gigawatts into the system. If that’s the cost blowout we’re seeing in just one renewable energy zone, then imagine the others. In New South Wales alone, we’ve also got New England, Illawarra, Hunter and the South-West. If they’re all going to go up by around 300 per cent, what is the true cost to the Australian people of this ‘all eggs in one basket’ renewable energy intermittent power supply unicorn that the Labor government is chasing?