The Smart Energy Council, one of the country’s key renewable energy lobby groups, has called for a carbon price to be imposed on coal fired power plants that continue to generate beyond their previously agreed closure dates.
The SEC argues that coal-fired generators should be brought “properly” under the country’s Safeguard Mechanism, which seeks to put a form of carbon pricing on major polluters, and which is currently under review after being criticised as effectively toothless by many in the industry.
The SEC proposal would seek to draw a firm line under repeated extensions to coal closure dates, as witnessed with the country’s biggest coal generator Eraring, which was to close in 2025, but has seen successive extensions to 2027 and 2029, and many still believe it could be extended again.
The uncertainty – with Eraring and other closures – is enough to cause doubt about market pricing models and business cases for new generation, and even storage, making it difficult to secure finance and investors for new projects. It is cited as one of the main barriers in the Australian market.
“Renewable energy, storage and transmission projects require billions of dollars of long-term investment,” SEC chief executive David McElrea said in remarks prepared for the opening of the Queensland Smart Energy Summit in Brisbane on Tuesday. A copy of his speech was released beforehand.
