The Coalition’s nuclear plan released today is a disaster for Australian households and their power bills, prioritising high-cost and inflexible nuclear power along with a dramatic slowdown in the installation of renewable energy including rooftop solar, according to the Clean Energy Council.
Clean Energy Council CEO, Kane Thornton, said the proposed plan caps renewable energy at 54 per cent by 2050, but Australia is already on track to hit 48 per cent by the end of 2025, with over 30 per cent of that coming from rooftop solar on homes and small businesses.
“This new target would represent a dramatic slowdown in the installation and investment of renewable energy across Australia and will be a massive shock and concern to investors who have invested $40 billion into large-sale renewable energy in Australia since 2020,” Mr Thornton said.
“Australia has been a world leader in rooftop solar with over four million systems installed on homes and small businesses and an additional 300,000 plus systems being installed every year. The Coalition’s plan means millions of Australians would miss out on the chance to install solar.
A nuclear-powered energy grid would also be a disaster for the four million Australian homes that have already installed a rooftop solar system as a way to lower their power bills. These systems would have to be switched off regularly if Australia was to move to inflexible nuclear power.Kane Thornton Clean Energy Council Chief Executive
“This would be absurd, forcing the cheapest form of generation on people’s homes to turn off so that the most expensive could continue to operate around the clock.
“The Coalition’s plan prioritises high-cost nuclear power - that won’t be ready for 20 years – over low-cost renewable energy that is readily available in Australia – it’s a recipe for higher power bills and energy blackouts.
“The evidence is clear that the lowest cost way to replace Australia’s old coal generation is a combination of renewables, energy storage, pumped hydro and gas along with a stronger grid”, he said.
The release of the CSIRO’s GenCost report earlier this week once again highlighted that nuclear energy will be two to six times more expensive than renewable energy while the first plant would not be operational until at least 2040.
"No amount of misleading and flawed modelling can change the reality that nuclear power is multiple times more expensive and would therefore lead to higher power prices,” Mr Thornton said.
“Nuclear might play a role in other countries, but it can’t compete against Australia’s world leading wind and sun. The fact that we don’t have an existing nuclear power industry, means it would take decades for the first plant to be built and time is not on our side.
“The current challenge with the energy transition is caused by continued failure and closure of old coal generation and underinvestment in new and least cost solutions that are essential to keeping power prices lower and ensuring energy security.
"Waiting 20 years for expensive nuclear power would only make this worse.
“The Coalition’s plan also assumes Australia’s existing coal generation remains in operation for much longer than currently expected. This is a high risk plan, given Australia’s coal generators are increasingly unreliable and expensive to operate as was evident in the recent power shortages in NSW caused by a number of unexpected outages of coal generators that threatened energy security and saw power prices skyrocket.
“Put simply, nuclear power and old coal is a high-cost and high-risk plan that would increase power prices and risk our energy security,” he said.
ENDS
For more information or to arrange an interview, contact:
Liam Straughan
Clean Energy Council Media Officer
+61 409 470 683