The new energy blueprint is a wake-up call to the Labor government, the opposition says.
The Energy Security Board of regulators has recommended gas and coal-fired generators as an ongoing part of the energy mix, while renewable energy and storage gradually takes over the national electricity grid.
The proposal has exposed the “nonsensical approach” of the new government, opposition energy spokesman Ted O’Brien said on Monday.
“The increase in renewables is welcomed, but they can’t do it on their own. They must be backed up. It’s all about balance,” he said.
“Ignorance always has a price and if Labor persists with its approach, Australians will pay.”
He said regulators have rejected Energy Minister Chris Bowen’s request for the capacity mechanism to favour new technologies at the expense of gas and coal.
But Greens leader Adam Bandt says the energy market is “a broken system” after companies withheld power due to supply not being in their economic interest.
He has hit out at the proposed new capacity mechanism, which would offer payments to coal-fired power plants among other energy sources.
Plants using a range of technologies including coal, gas and renewables would be paid to guarantee power under the plan prepared for federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen and his state and territory counterparts.
But Mr Bandt says coal and gas power generation are the causes of the energy crisis.
“Coal and gas are the causes of not only the climate crisis but the problem that we’re finding ourselves at the moment,” he told the ABC on Monday.
“Paying them to stay in the system for longer is only going to prolong the problems and also prolong the transition to renewables.”
Nationals leader David Littleproud has backed the plan, saying the government needs to ramp up investment in coal and gas.
Mr Littleproud says the government should look into nuclear energy – something the energy minister has already ruled out – and install technology to capture carbon from coal-fired power plants.
“All the investment signals that have been sent by this government is it’s just a race to renewables,” he said.
“When you don’t even have the technology to store that, then the problem you’ve got is not just being able to put the heaters on tonight, it’s also those men and women that are in the manufacturing sector whose jobs are now highly at risk.”
But Mr Bandt says the necessary battery storage technology technology is already available.
“The idea of paying coal and gas to stay in the system for longer isn’t just going to make the climate crisis worse, but it’s rewarding those big coal and gas corporations that have been holding us to ransom.
“It’s time now for a rewrite, not for a propping up of this broken system that hurts people and businesses.”
The post-2025 capacity mechanism plan has been released for industry input, with a July 25 deadline for submissions.
Energy ministers will meet on Friday to discuss the immediate energy crisis.
