Victoria is right to rule out “coal keeper” payments

Responding to the news that Victoria will reject electricity market payments that prop up old coal or gas generators, Environment Victoria Campaigns Manager Dr Nicholas Aberle said:

“We welcome Minister D’Ambrosio’s strong stance against payments to coal and gas power stations.

“We agree with Minister D’Ambrosio’s position that any changes to the electricity market to address reliability as coal power stations close must focus on zero emissions technology like battery storage.

“Victoria has worked hard to create an attractive market for renewable energy investment and so the Minister is right to reject any changes that would undermine that effort.

“The United Nations and the International Energy Agency have made clear that wealthy countries like Australia need to close all coal power stations by 2030. Changing our National Electricity Rules to pay coal power stations to stay open is fundamentally at odds with what needs to be done to address the climate crisis.

“Coal power stations are likely to close much sooner than their official closure dates. Some of these official dates are fanciful – there is no way AGL’s Loy Yang A and Alinta’s Loy Yang B will still be operating in the late 2040s.

“We need governments to accelerate the roll-out of renewable energy, storage and grid upgrades to replace coal. Minister D’Ambrosio is right to focus on this rather than the Morrison government’s attempt to keep highly polluting coal power stations in the system.

“The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis has found that plans to prop up coal generators with capacity payments will increase household electricity bills by $182 to $430 per year.

“By taking this stance, Victoria is sticking up for households who don’t want to pay more just to keep old coal power stations open.”