It comes comes just five days after Mr Bowen appeared on stage with leading members of Emergency Leaders For Climate Action and declared the new government will take 'real action on climate change'. The maintenance work at affected power stations is not expected to be completed until July at the earliest while Callide is out until December, but Labor is demanding the work is now fast-tracked.Įnergy Minister Chris Bowen will meet his state and territory counterparts on Wednesday to discuss solutions as the Albanese government considers short- and longer-term solutions to take pressure off prices.
Queensland's Callide coal power station is also offline after an explosion at the plant, creating a perfect storm just as the bitter cold snap hit Australia's east coast. It's had to buy coal on the open market as prices surge because of the global crisis sparked by the war in Ukraine, which forces electricity prices up further. Origin's Eraring power station, the largest in NSW, has also been crippled by coal production cutbacks at its neighbouring conveyor belt-connected coalmine.Īt least a quarter of Australia's coal-fired electricity production is currently offline while the east coast shivers through a freezing winter amid soaring price rises
Italy, Bulgaria, Romania and the Czech Republic also plan to burn more coal as a temporary measure while they reduce reliance on Russian gas, and the UK is drilling for more gas in the North Sea.ĪGL currently has three coal power stations in NSW and Victoria either offline or on reduced capacity due to scheduled and unscheduled maintenance issues. Germany has drafted laws to prevent coal power stations destined for the scrapheap from being axed, ordering them to be kept on standby instead. There is global pressure on gas prices as nations reject abundant Russian gas following the country's invasion of Ukraine.
'There's been unplanned outages for many reasons, many beyond the control of those operators and I do accept that, but I hope they're doing their best to make sure this power source comes online as well.' 'In the very short term, what we really need to do is to have the coal power stations come back online because that is the missing piece of the puzzle right now,' she told ABC radio on Tuesday. Labor wants cheaper renewable sources to supply 82 per cent of electricity by 2030, claiming this will save households $275 a year by 2025, and $378 by 2030.īut Ms King said more coal was needed for now. While the east coast braces for soaring prices, power bills in the ACT are set to fall from July 1, providing an annual saving to households of $23. 'The lesson from the ACT could not be clearer: go 100% renewables, break up with fossil fuels and reap the benefits of cheaper, cleaner, reliable energy,' Mr Bandt said. The ACT is currently paying less than a quarter of the NSW market price for its electricity because it relies on solar and wind and is less vulnerable to global price shocks. Mr Bandt said Australia should follow the example of the ACT which has generated all of its electricity from renewables since 2020. 'No amount of patching up these dirty clunkers will fix the problem.'
'Propping up these aging plants would be throwing good money after bad,' he told Daily Mail Australia. He also cautioned the government against subsidising coal-fired power. Greens leader Adam Bandt (second left) insists that burning more coal is not the answer to rising power pricesīut Greens leader Adam Bandt said this is the wrong move and the focus must be on renewable energy.