Halting new wind farms while coal plants buckle: Is this the LNP’s plan for Queensland?

Brisbane’s temperatures are in the high 30s today. Geckos ate the wiring in my air conditioning so I struggle to work from home in this heat – but at least I’m reducing my demand on the grid because it’s also struggling. 

Three coal units are unexpectedly down across Queensland, threatening our power supply. We know our ageing coal-fired power stations are unreliable, especially in the heat, and we know it’s only getting hotter with climate change. 

Given how tight our energy system is, it’s an interesting time for the Queensland government to start halting assessments of new wind farms. And it raises serious questions about the Liberal National Party’s plan for our energy system. We’ve been receiving mixed messages from the fresh government. 

First, they voted in favour of climate action by supporting the legislation of Queensland’s 75% by 2035 emission reduction target. Then they said they’d repeal the state’s renewable energy targets. Are they now saying Queensland is closed for business?

If their plan is to halt new clean energy supply that would have devastating implications for energy reliability, our power bills, regional jobs and the environment. 

We’re still hopeful that the Queensland government will stay true to their word and take serious action on climate change while improving renewable energy regulation. It’s essential that we get this balance right, so solar and wind farms are well-sited and benefit nature and communities – but stopping new projects puts entire regional economies at risk. 

Heavy industry is turning to renewable energy backed by storage to remain globally competitive. We see this in Townsville where the Sun Metals zinc refinery built their own solar farm to reduce their power bills and emissions. 

We’re seeing this in Gladstone, where Queensland’s largest energy user, Rio Tinto, has a plan to repower their smelter and aluminum operations with firmed renewable energy. A major wind farm in the pipeline that Rio plans to purchase clean power from has now been halted by the state government. 

Rio Tinto’s aluminum processing operations in Gladstone directly employ 4,500 people and thousands more indirectly. What happens to those people and the Gladstone community if this international organisation can’t meet their decarbonisation objectives or remain competitive in Queensland?

What happens to the new clean industries that are hoping to set up shop in Queensland that need renewable energy supply: the proposed hydrogen, minerals processing and green iron projects? 

Regional communities in central and north Queensland have a long, proud history of being the energy and industrial heartland of our state. For the long-term prosperity of regional communities, we need to keep building new renewable energy and storage. 

And the good news is that we can improve the roll out of renewable energy, so that communities are consulted and nature is protected. To do that and get the balance right in Queensland we need the State Government to:

– Implement the regulatory reforms currently under consultation;

– Fast-track regional mapping to guide renewable energy development outside of environmentally sensitive locations;

– Increase funding for the uptake of distributed solar, storage and energy efficiency measures, so homes and businesses can cash in on savings; and

– Urgently develop an energy plan that ensures enough renewable energy and storage is coming online to meet our emissions reduction targets, bring down power bills, and power new and existing industries. 

Queensland is blessed with abundant solar and wind resources. Queenslanders can be winners in the energy transformation – but we can also be losers.

If we stop development, dawdle on regulation improvements, and fail to plan for the future, it’s our communities that will ultimately suffer as industries close up shop and we’re burdened with the cost of limited energy supply and climate inaction.