Energy Minister Chris Bowen will meet with AEMO staff today and has offered his full support to the market operator despite concerns about whether the generators are playing with the system.
“AEMO operated under the law of the land, and they did what they had to do. AEMO receives much of the credit for working to keep the lights on and to keep the system running, “Bowen told ABC News Breakfast this morning.
Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen says the risks remain in the electricity market. Credit: Rhett Wyman
“They had to make a big call last Thursday and they did it with all my support and the support of the ministers of state and territory. I saw some misinformed comments from some of the politicians who don’t know what they’re talking about, but that’s what we had to do and the system worked. AEMO worked very well.
“I went there this afternoon at AEMO to talk to the staff who have worked so hard over the last week to make this system work. It has been a difficult situation, and it was a great call, but we will do what we have to do as a government. They will do what they have to do as an operator to keep the lights on. Consumers come first.
“In the last decade we have not had enough generation to replace the generation that had to leave.
“There has been no plan for the transition to renewable energy. We have enough storage. We will fix it, but in the short term, the job is to keep the lights on, and we will continue to focus on that. “
Bowen said his government was committed to getting 82% of its energy from renewable energy by 2030.
“2030: It’s not really that far away,” Bowen told ABC News Breakfast.
“It is a big job to move it to 82% renewable energy by 2030. It is possible to have emission reductions and put our grain of sand to reduce the climate change we were chosen to do. We need to build 10,000 miles of renewable lines and the energy from where it comes from. And we have a lot of work ahead of storage.
“Deniers and retarders say renewable energy is unreliable, but when they store it, it’s very reliable. That’s what we need to do. Very little of that has happened in the last decade.
“We will work with states and territories to ensure that this is the case.”