The astonishing collapse of coal-fired power facilities across Australia’s east coast is fueling the country’s increasing energy prices.
For the first time, the Daily Mail Australia can reveal the full breadth of the problems facing coal-fired power facilities across Australia, from Callide in central Queensland to Loy Yang in Victoria.
Outages at seven coal-fired power plants are wreaking havoc on energy infrastructure around the country – and driving up electricity costs.
The news comes only a day after Labor Resources Minister Madeleine King urged industry leaders to restart their idle coal power plants to meet rising demand as the east coast braces for a cold spell.
Wholesale electricity costs increased by 141% in the year to March, causing one power company’s CEO to advise his 70,000 clients to transfer providers.
From July 1, according to financial comparison site Finder, electricity costs would rise by up to 100%, practically doubling the price.
Damian Dwyer, acting chief executive of the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association, told the Daily Mail Australia that natural gas was critical to Australia’s greener energy future.
‘We are doing everything we can to look after customers and fill the energy void left by the failure of coal-fired power generators in particular,’ he said.
‘Our members have already acted to ensure gas flows to where it is needed using the mechanisms put in place to help us do so. ‘
A major incident at Callide in Queensland combined with another serious incident in Victoria have been compounded by various outages in New South Wales.
‘The problems we have seen with the energy system highlight how natural gas is central to Australia’s cleaner energy future, replacing coal as a lower emissions fuel and stabilizing renewables when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine,’ Mr Dwyer said.
‘There has been a 55 per cent increase in gas in the National Electricity Market as more than 800MW of coal and renewables have dropped out of the system.’
Jim Chalmers warned of a ‘perfect storm’ for energy price spikes in his first press conference as treasurer.
Last week, he stated, “This perfect storm of energy price surges is inflicting significant damage to our employers, our homes, and our national economy.”
On Tuesday, Labor asked that the country’s coal-fired power plants be restarted as soon as feasible.
At least a quarter of Australia’s coal-fired electrical generation is currently down, and the east coast is bracing for a bitter winter with skyrocketing electricity prices.
As consumer costs rise due to the global fuel crisis, some countries have already had to forsake their climate change promises in order to fulfill power demands.
Germany is now enacting legislation to prevent coal power plants from being decommissioned, instead mandating that they be kept on standby.
Italy, Bulgaria, Romania, and the Czech Republic are also planning to burn more coal as a temporary measure to minimize their dependency on Russian gas following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while the United Kingdom is drilling for more gas in the North Sea.
Due to scheduled and unscheduled maintenance concerns, AGL currently has three coal power units in NSW and Victoria that are either offline or operating at a reduced capacity.
The largest power station in NSW, Origin’s Eraring, has also been hampered by coal production cuts at a nearby conveyor belt-connected coalmine.
It has been forced to acquire coal on the open market as costs rise as a result of the global crisis triggered by the Ukraine conflict, which has pushed energy prices even higher.
The maintenance work at the impacted power plants isn’t slated to be finished until July at the earliest, and Callide won’t be back until December, but Labor is demanding that it be done now.
Ted O’Brien, a spokesman for the Albanese opposition on climate change, said the government needed to pull the ‘gas trigger,’ which allows exports to be diverted to domestic supplies.
Mr Bowen, on the other hand, has maintained that it is a complicated process, and that taking action now would not have an impact until January.
He accused the Coalition for leaving “Australia ill-prepared” and “our energy markets ill-prepared” for the current gas and electricity supply difficulties.
‘The previous government did not perform the effort required to grow renewables or storage,’ he noted.
‘If we had more storage and renewables and better transmission, we would be much better placed to deal with the current challenges.
‘That is exactly what our powering Australia plan seeks to implement but it will take some time to implement.
‘As I have said, you don’t overturn nine years of dysfunction, denial and delay overnight. But action is necessary.’