Bob Brown pushes for battery power to stop wind farms
Former Greens leader Bob Brown. Picture: Richard Jupe
Former Greens leaders Bob Brown and Christine Milne have stepped up their campaign to stop Tasmania becoming a “battery for the nation” despite the island’s hydro power potential and better conditions for wind farms.
A new undersea electricity cable linking Tasmania with the mainland has been supported by the federal government as a way to bolster electricity security in Victoria as coal plants are closed in favour of renewables.
The Tasmanian link, and new connections between Victoria, NSW, Queensland and South Australia, was included as a priority investment in sweeping plans by Scott Morrison to transform the nation’s energy market.
Dr Brown has already expressed concerns that a new electricity connection with the mainland could flood Tasmania with wind projects.
He has criticised the visual impact of planned wind farm developments in Tasmania and their potential impact on migrating birds and endangered eagles.
An economic analysis of the Marinus and Battery of the Nation project commissioned by the Bob Brown Foundation said the project would lift electricity prices in Tasmanians. It said building battery storage in Victoria would be a better solution.
The report said building new wind projects in Victoria would be preferable to building them in Tasmania despite Tasmania’s better quality wind resource.
Releasing the economic analysis on Friday, Ms Milne said Mr Morrison, Hydro Tasmania, TasNetworks and the Tasmanian government were going in the wrong direction with Tasmania’s energy future.
“Diverting $7.1bn of taxpayer funds to projects that will be stranded assets by the time they are built makes no sense,” Ms Milne said.
The economic analysis was prepared by Bruce Mountain and Steven Percy of the Victorian Energy Policy Centre. Professor Mountain has also been a vocal critic of the Snowy Hydro 2.0 project, describing it as an expensive white elephant.
He said the mainland did not need Marinus Link and Battery of the Nation to move to 100 per cent renewable energy; much cheaper options were available using batteries.
“One consequence of not building additional interconnection to Victoria, is likely to be less additional wind generation capacity located in Tasmania,” the economic report said. “This means foregoing the development of relatively more productive wind resources.”
However, the Mountain report said the cost advantages of the superior wind resources in Tasmania do not come close to recovering the much higher cost of transmitting electricity from Tasmania to Victoria.
Technology development, particularly in harvesting less consistent and weaker winds, through ever large blades, suggests that the advantage that Tasmania currently enjoyed through its more consistent and stronger winds would diminish in future, the report said.
The Mountain analysis said while Marinus Link and Battery of the Nation would facilitate the transition to renewable generation, it would increase carbon dioxide emissions until coal generation was eliminated.
“There is no need to follow this path when there are less greenhouse gas-intensive options available that will provide the same transition opportunity and for much less expense,” the report said.
