Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has vowed the Coalition’s election pledge to build seven nuclear reactors will cost less than what he claims are Labor’s $1.3 trillion renewable energy strategy, but he has again declined to give anymore costing details.
However, the $1.3 trillion price tag has been disputed by Labor, which says the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has costed the building of the wind and solar generators, plus the storage and transmission lines at an investment of $121bn up until 2050.
Mr Dutton made the remarks in his speech to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia on Monday, where he said the Coalition would ‘release our costings in due course – at a time of our choosing’.
However, he said he would be ‘upfront about the locations of our nuclear sites, we will be upfront about the cost of nuclear energy’ and it would be independently costed.
He added a nuclear reactor’s 80-year lifespan would work out to be cheaper than solar and wind projects that would need to be replaced every 25 to 40 years.
The oldest operating nuclear power plant, the Swiss Beznau nuclear power plant, is 55 years old.
‘Yes, our nuclear plan does have a significant upfront cost, but a whole new and vast transmission network and infrastructure won’t be needed. Moreover, the cost of our nuclear plants can be amortised and spread over a reactor’s 80-year lifespan,’ Mr Dutton said.
PETER DUTTON NUCLEAR POWER
‘Under Labor’s renewables-only plan, every solar panel and wind turbine will need to be replaced three to four times over the same period.’
Mr Dutton also said embracing nuclear was Australia’s only chance to reach its 2050 net-zero target, which would require a mix of energy sources.
Australia’s energy mix is currently composed of about 40 per cent renewables, with aims to increase it to 82 per cent by 2030.
He also ruled out implementing a cap on the contribution of renewable energy to Australia’s grid.
‘I think what we want to achieve is an outcome where we have a proper mix, where we have an eye on price,’ he said.
Dutton expresses support for gas, lashes renewables
Mr Dutton also acknowledged it would take time for Australia to move to nuclear, flagging the Coalition’s support to increase Australia’s domestic gas production.
‘We can’t switch nuclear power on tomorrow, even if the ban was lifted overnight,’ he said.
‘Like other countries, we need to ramp up our domestic gas production in the more immediate term to get power prices down and to restore stability to our grid, but what we can do is also ensure that Australia doesn’t miss the nuclear train.’
Mr Dutton said Australia needed to rely on ‘domestic gas production in the more immediate term’ despite its unpopularity with the teals and Greens,
‘You do need more gas, and we’ve been very clear about our desire to improve the approval processes while still being environmentally responsible and bringing more of those projects on more quickly,’ he said.
During his speech, Mr Dutton attacked a ‘renewables only’ approach that he said would be ‘disastrous’ and was ‘doomed to fail’.
He said a ‘renewables-only energy policy’ was ‘an act of economic self-harm’ and argued Australia should generate its energy in Australia.
He cited energy bills in California where residents paid the ‘highest residential electricity prices in the US’ despite having solar and wind account for more than 49 per cent of its energy mix.
Mr Dutton also said ‘weather-dependent energy cannot power a nation’, adding that nuclear energy would produce more energy with less land.
His comments follow backlash from farmers and regional communities who say transmission line developments have reduced land values.
‘In other words, the nuclear plant delivers the same energy using less than 1 per cent of the land needed for solar,’ he said.
‘With nuclear, there’s no need to carpet our landscape and coastline with industrial-scale solar and wind farms or the 28,000 kilometres of new transmission lines needed to make them work.’
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