BY DAKOTA TAIT
New data has put a damper on the recently-approved Kurri Kurri gas plant project, with concern it doesn't add up in the wider energy picture.
The Climate Council found gas contributed just 1.5 percent of the State's energy in 2021, the lowest level in 15 years.
Renewable sources, however, supplied 24.6 percent, or almost a quarter of the energy generated in New South Wales.
Across Australia, renewables provided five times as much power as gas.
The Climate Council's Greg Bourne, a former BP Australasia President, says the Hunter Power Project doesn't make sense from either a commercial or environmental point of view.
"It really doesn't stack up, and many people have actually said, this does not make commercial sense and it's more sort of driven by the politics and so on," Mr Bourne said.
"What we're seeing everywhere, is gas as a percentage in the mix, going down and down and down."
"What we think logically should be happening, and we're seeing it elsewhere as well, is more batteries, more storage, more hydro power, virtual power plants, and demand management, doing what is needed as we go forward."
"So our belief is that Kurri Kurri need not go ahead."
The Federal Government has long insisted the Kurri Kurri plant is necessary for both long-term energy supply and affordability with the closure of Liddell Power Station in 2023.
Labor also said their government would endorse the project, if it began operation on 30 percent hydrogen, after opposing the project for years.
But Mr Bourne says both the Government and the Opposition need to look toward the future.
"If you build Kurri Kurri with turbines that basically can only take a small amount of hydrogen, then pretty sure, the plant is going to be redundant and obsolete almost before it's built," Mr Bourne said.
"If you build it, so that it is completely ready for up to 100 percent hydrogen or hydrogen plus biogas, then it may be useful, and that's actually a commercial decision."
The data comes as AGL says its Bayswater Power Plant could close as early as 2030, due to pressures over emissions and the rise of renewable sources.
It's announced a three year closure window between the end of the decade and 2033, despite previously aiming to shut its doors in 2035.
