The Hunter's energy could be up for a restructure after Chief Scientist Alan Finkel's review into Australia's energy market, but it hasn't gone down well overnight with Federal Coalition MP's.
The review suggests the introduction of an energy target and the orderly closure of coal-fuelled power stations in a move to renewable energy. The energy policy would see electricity prices fall by $90 a year and replace the current renewable energy target by 2020.
The review also calls for an emission intensity scheme which involves setting limits on how much greenhouse gases can be used at power stations.
However, the Prime Minister's push for an energy target which rewards businesses which use renewable was rejected by the majority of Coalition MPs amid fears it will do nothing to reduce electricity prices.
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| Alan Finkel Image www.chiefscientist.gov.au |
"This will actually drive innovation and investment in renewable energy so we could well see new jobs and a big investment in large scale solar in particular in the Hunter Valley and there will be a transitioning of skills from people who've been employed in the old energy sector into the new energy sector."
With many MP's fearful of the future of coal, Federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg has told the ABC overnight his colleagues have no reason to worry.
"Certainly people are very concerned about the future of coal and rightly so too, they understand that coal is a critical source of baseline power and under Dr Finkel's recommendations it would still provide more than 50 per cent of the power across the national electricity market by 2030."
He adds that a practical solution will be reached in time and that Dr Finkel's report isn't recommending a specific baseline for a clean energy target, "It's not the government's report, it's a report to government from Dr Finkel and it's important that we are at the very early stages."
Chief Executive John Grimes believes the energy system urgently needs to be modernised because "the power system is broken. It's not delivering cheap energy for households and for businesses so we need to modernise the sector, that's what this is about - it's about giving incentive for new cheaper technology to compete with the old technology and push electricity prices down for everybody".
"Certainly people are very concerned about the future of coal and rightly so too, they understand that coal is a critical source of baseline power and under Dr Finkel's recommendations it would still provide more than 50 per cent of the power across the national electricity market by 2030."
He adds that a practical solution will be reached in time and that Dr Finkel's report isn't recommending a specific baseline for a clean energy target, "It's not the government's report, it's a report to government from Dr Finkel and it's important that we are at the very early stages."
Chief Executive John Grimes believes the energy system urgently needs to be modernised because "the power system is broken. It's not delivering cheap energy for households and for businesses so we need to modernise the sector, that's what this is about - it's about giving incentive for new cheaper technology to compete with the old technology and push electricity prices down for everybody".
