Snowy 2.0' will go ahead but cost increases 50 percent

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's much-hyped 'Snowy 2.0' expansion has been given the green light, however, the scheme will cost at least 50 percent more than first thought and won't be switched on for at least six years.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in a tunnel near the Tumut 2 power station.

The government will now officially proceed with the ambitious plan – nine months after the iconic Snowy Mountains scheme emerged as a solution to the country's fragmented and increasingly unreliable energy network.

Read the story by Bevan Shields in today’s Melbourne Age - “‘Snowy 2.0' will go ahead but cost increases 50 percent.”

Malcolm Turnbull's energy policy offers hope via carbon price

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's electricity and climate package is a welcome attempt to end a decade of policy mismanagement by providing the stability and certainty industry has been pleading for to underpin much-needed investment.

Let there be light: Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull
discusses his climate and energy package.

The potentially crucial breakthrough is that the package appears to envisage a market-based price on carbon emissions, widely acknowledged as the most rational and cost-effective mechanism for the transition to renewable energy, the price of which is becoming compellingly competitive.

It is too early to assess whether the policy is the "game-changer" Mr Turnbull claims; it is yet to be fully detailed and depends on the support of the states, a number of which want a faster shift to renewables. Federal bipartisan support is also vital to the certainty and confidence required by investors.

Read today’s Editorial in today’s Melbourne Age - “Malcolm Turnbull's energy policy offers hope via carbon price.”

Malcolm Turnbull's 'energy revolution': lower prices, lower emissions, greater supply

Coal-fired power plants have been thrown a lifeline by Malcolm Turnbull's "game-changing" new energy policy, which boasts it can cut electricity bills, end summer blackouts, and meet Australia's Paris emissions commitments with "no subsidies, no taxes, and no trading schemes”.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull with Environment
and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg. 

The Prime Minister said the framework, which is scheduled to begin from 2020, was recommended by "real experts in this field, in the national energy market and its operation”.

"It creates a level playing field for the first time. No more industry policy, no more picking winners, no more favouring one technology after another, but simply ensuring that we have a reliable energy system, that we keep the lights on, that we do so in a way that is affordable and, of course, we meet those international commitments," he said.

The proposed system, which requires the approval of states leaders at future Council of Australian Governments meetings, will work by requiring electricity retailers to source a minimum component of their power from so-called "dispatchable" or baseload suppliers - that is, not intermittent energy such as wind and solar but coal, gas, and hydro.

Read Mark Kenny’s story in today’s Melbourne Age -  “Malcolm Turnbull's 'energy revolution': lower prices, lower emissions, greater supply.”

Malcolm Turnbull's former chief of staff to be new energy 'tsar' under alternative to Clean Energy Target

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's trusted adviser and former chief of staff Drew Clarke will take a key role stopping electricity rip-offs of Australians, the ABC can reveal.

The PM has picked one of his key advisers on energy for the new role.

Mr Clarke, a former secretary of the Resources Department and a key adviser to the PM on energy in recent months, will become chairman of the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO).

The ABC understands he is expected to use the role to drive for rule changes to the electricity market, including targeting pipeline owners who have been found by the competition watchdog using "monopoly prices" to transport gas.

Last year, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) found that a large number of pipeline operators had been setting higher prices for domestic access because they were largely unconstrained by regulation.

Read the ABC News story - “Malcolm Turnbull's former chief of staff to be new energy 'tsar' under alternative to Clean Energy Target.”

Path cleared for release of Turnbull's reliable energy package

Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg -
he has failed Australians.

Malcolm Turnbull's long-awaited energy package will be released as soon as next week after the energy committee of cabinet approved the package on Wednesday, clearing a major hurdle to the policy's release.

The energy package will dump Chief Scientist Alan Finkel's proposal for a clean energy target and, instead, focus on a clutch of measures aimed at fixing reliability issues in the National Electricity Market, and improving electricity affordability.

The full cabinet is now likely to examine the package of measures next Monday ahead of the package being presented to the Coalition party room as early as Tuesday morning.

Along with resolving the same-sex marriage issue this year, finalising its post-2020 energy policy is a key political objective Malcolm Turnbull has set his government, and is seen within the Coalition as a necessary hurdle to be cleared if the government is to revive its fortunes in 2018.

Read the story by James Massola and Mark Kenny in today’s Melbourne Age - “Path cleared for release of Turnbull's reliable energy package.”

(It's time the Turnbull Government got serious about resolving Australia's energy crisis and within that made a genuine attempt to reduce Australia's carbon dioxide emissions. There is, sadly, no silver bullet solution rather, achievement of such a target needs a many facetted attack from societal behaviour to a serious and sweeping change about our approach to energy creation and its use.

One thing a bold and innovative government should be doing is building a renewable energy infrastrucfure in that it should be working toward making every premises, domestic and business, its own power station, through the use of solar and batteries, and wind, and a smart grid the draws both hydro and wave power, not to mention geothermal.

Beyond, thatit shoudl be helping Australians better understand how they can continue to lead fulfilling and complete lives while using less energy.

It won't be easy, it will be confrontational and controversial, but ultimately, comforting - Robert McLean)