Labor splits over Hunter power plans

“We have a capacity gap that must be filled and filled quickly.″⁣

Given the taxpayer-owned Snowy Hydro Limited will build the facility, taxpayers will continue to own it and “make good money“, he said.

Tomago chief executive Matt Howell agreed.

“The lights and heaters stayed on in Sydney because Tomago aluminium came off,” he said of the three big outages to the smelter’s pot lines.

“These are enormously disruptive events,” he said.

“The gas plant at Kurri Kurri is absolutely essential as coal closes. We absolutely welcome it.”

Last week, Labor MP Meryl Swanson who holds the NSW seat or Paterson, urged the government to get on with the project “and stop mucking us around”.

“This project could be a game changer for local employment and the Hunter deserves this opportunity.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison pointed out the station aimed to firm renewables, not replace them.

He said the industry opposed the project because it wanted prices to stay high.

“I’m not here to spruik for the energy companies, I’m here for households.”

Energy Minister Angus Taylor gave the go-ahead for the $600 million project on Wednesday, saying the extra generation capacity was required to force down prices.

As revealed by The Australian Financial Review, the federal budget contained provision for the power station to be built at Kurri Kurri by government-owned Snowy Hydro Limited. The project will be in addition to plans by Energy Australia to build a 316-megawatt, $300 million Tallawarra B project in the Illawarra.

Both projects will fill what the government says will be a 1000MW gap in generation capacity when the Liddell coal-fired power station closes in April 2023.

Last year, Mr Morrison gave the private sector until the end of April 2021 to detail investment plans to fill the gap or the government would step in.

Mr Taylor said the government had “given the private sector every opportunity” and was now “fulfilling its promise to deliver the cheap, reliable power that NSW households, businesses and industries needed to prosper and grow”.