Two coal state energy ministers come face to face and present wildly different visions of the future

Queensland energy minister David Janetzki and NSW energy minister Penny Sharpe came face to face on stage at the Australian Clean Energy Summit in Sydney this week, and demonstrated that they share at least one thing in common.

They are both in charge of the two state grids in Australia that are the most heavily dependent on coal: Queensland has had a 60 per cent coal share in its grid over the last 12 months, and NSW still has 53 per cent, according to Open Electricity.

The difference between the two state energy ministers is what they want to do about it. One talks about the future, the other talks about the past. One talks about climate and costs. The other talks about old fossils.

One wants to end the fossil addiction as soon as they can, even if they have approved two extensions to the planned closure of Australia’s biggest coal generator. The other wants to draw coal out for another decade or two, or even three decades, and is really excited about another highly polluting fossil fuel: coal seam gas.

“The future is not about running toward more fossil fuels,” Sharpe said in a panel session hosted by Clean Energy Council CEO Jackie Trad, a former Queensland treasurer. “We just need to remember the reason why we’re transforming our energy system … it is because of climate change and the need to reduce emissions.

“So, it’s about emissions. It’s also about cost. We know that doing this is, in the long term, the least-cost option, which is all about what underpins our economy and having energy that is affordable for everyone.”

Sharpe made clear that the state can no longer rely on its ageing “coal clunkers”, and she is doing everything in her power to get new wind, solar and storage built, underpinned by new transmission and renewable energy zones.

So far it has had mixed results, and she is envious of Janetzki for one thing – the government ownership of state energy assets, which would allow her to oblige those generators to write the crucial power purchase agreements that can get projects over the line, as the Western Australia government is doing.

But you need to be careful what you wish for.

“We do own all our generation, transmission and distribution,” Janetzki said. “So there’s a lot more levers. I have a lot more capability.”

And what is Janetzki’s government doing with those levers?

Ripping up the state’s renewable energy targets, cancelling wind and solar projects, directing the state-owned generators to withdraw from renewable energy investments, ignoring its climate goals, and pretending that the state can keep burning coal for power well into the 2040s, or even into the 2050s.

And now Janetzki wants to exploit a massive fossil fuel reserve locked 4km underground in tight shale – the Taroom trough – that critics say will require significant fracking, is unlikely to be economic, will certainly be highly polluting, and counter to everything responsible governments should be doing.

Asked by Trad about the state’s response to the global fossil fuel supply crisis, thanks to the US and Israel war against Iran, Janetzki ignored the obvious solution – electrification. He didn’t even mention it.

“It’s an all-in approach we’re taking,” he said, “… to lock in those rural and remote communities that rely on gas exploration and production, as well as the potential for the Taroom trough. But we’ve been really targeting biofuels.”

The problem with Queensland is that it is not just setting a climate bomb under its own energy plans, it’s doing its best to disrupt the co-operation between states, territories and the federal government that has been a feature of the last four years, when the Coalition lost government and Angus Taylor’s disastrous reign as energy minister came to an end.

Queensland has refused to sign joint communiques and won’t sign up for the proposal to ensure that data centres bring their own firm renewables as they expand their energy hungry operations in Australia. Janetzki said it was all about “being competitive” and giving (expensive and polluting) gas a go.

Queensland has now been joined by the CLP government in the Northern Territory, which wants to justify and grow its own climate bomb, the Beetaloo gas basin, and has also refused to sign up to the renewable mandate for data centres.

Australia now faces the prospect of having a majority of state governments under the control of far-right political parties, given the precarious position of Victoria’s Labor government, and the resignation of the country’s longest serving energy minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, just three months ahead of the state election.

Which makes the situation in NSW and South Australia, where there has been bipartisan report for their respective goals – 100 per cent net renewables in South Australia and the managed exit of coal in NSW – all the more remarkable, even if that shows sign of fraying.

Australia still has the opportunity of achieving a lot in the green energy transition, but Janetzki highlights the forces and the ideology that are mounted against it – the Coalition in its various forms around the country, One Nation, and much of mainstream media.

Which makes the approach and efforts of Sharpe, federal minister Chris Bowen, the departing D’Ambrosio and others even more impressive.

Sharpe and Janetzki at least found agreement on one thing – the benefits of rooftop solar and home batteries. Unlike Janetzki, however, Sharpe can see how this could change the shape and the future of the grid.

“It’s been transformational,” she said of the Cheaper Home Battery Scheme, the federal rebates program, noting its impact on reducing wholesale electricity prices, particularly in morning and evening peaks.

“I think we’re only beginning to understand the innovation that will be driven through the three-hours of free solar in the middle of the day,” she said of the newly introduced Shared Solar scheme that requires retailers to offer three hours of zero cost power each day.

“I don’t think we really know where it’s going, but I think it will fundamentally change the way in which the grid operates and accelerate (the transition), in a way. We’ve been challenged with some of the really big infrastructure issues …. but I think the whole consumer world is getting pretty exciting, pretty quickly.”

At least we have some in power who are excited about the future and looking seriously at how to get there.

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