The shadow energy minister and longtime nuclear advocate Ted O’Brien accused Labor of weaponizing a CSIRO report which found renewables to be the cheapest form of energy.
The Australian Energy Market Operator/CSIRO report found that renewable energy is the cheapest form of power. This prompted Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen to say the opposition’s crusade for a nuclear option was not viable.
O’Brien has long been an advocate of nuclear power as a solution to Australia’s energy transition for reducing emissions.despite the prohibitive cost and the Coalition government he belonged to showing no serious appetite to embrace nuclear power while in power.
In response to the latest report, O’Brien said it was investigating costs through an investment lensrather than a consumer lens.
Investment costs are passed on to consumers so that investors can recoup their investment and profit from it. The report deliberately examines technology costs, which are one of the main drivers of energy investment, to help guide both government and private investor spending in the Australian energy market.
“If an energy plan is to lower household energy prices, it needs to put consumers at the center, not investors,” O’Brien said.
“But Labor is ignoring this distinction and instead weaponizing GenCost by deliberately misrepresenting the report and assuring Australians that its ‘renewables only’ policy is lowering power prices.
“Labor points to GenCost to argue that renewables are the cheapest form of energy, but they fail to complete the sentence – renewables may be the cheapest form of energy for investors but not for consumers.”
Bowen said the report, which is used to provide guidance to both the government and investors on the cheapest forms of energy, Labor’s energy transition policy confirmed.
“The draft report today makes it crystal clear, the cheapest form of energy is renewable energy,” he said.
“Renewable energy is cheaper than coal, cheaper than gas, much, much, much cheaper than nuclear energy. Nuclear energy is the most expensive form of energy available.”
The authors of the report looked at the one feasible small nuclear reactor project in the world, the carbon-free power project in the US, to draw its cost and timing conclusions.
The company projected costs of A$18,200/kW in 2020 rising to A$31,100/kW in 2022 due to global inflation. With cheaper energy options, CFPP has had difficulty obtaining energy supply contracts and the project was canceled in November this year. The project was previously held up by O’Brien as proof of that An “emerging” global nuclear industry.
By comparison, the GenCost report found that under existing policies, the cost of a new offshore wind farm would be between $5,545/kW to $6,856/kW (fixed to floating), while rooftop solar in 2023 would be $1,505/kW food
Bowen said the opposition should question whether it will continue “with their ideological fact-free appeal to nuclear energy”.
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“Nuclear energy is a fantasy wrapped in a pipe dream for Australia,” he said.
“It’s also not available by 2030, so if the opposition thinks it’s going to play a role in Australia meeting 2030 targets, they’re engaging in a fantasy.”
The report found that if Australia did decide to make a nuclear small modular reactor part of its energy mix, it would take until at least 2038 to be fully operational in a best-case scenario based on the deployment timing of the canceled American project.
It also found that renewable energy was likely to be at least three times cheaper than nuclear energy by that date.
O’Brien argued that the government should adopt an “all of the above approach to technology” and that the Coalition will continue to push for a serious exploration of nuclear power.
Renewable energy technology costs are expected to continue to fall over the next six years to 2030, although it found that almost all energy technology capital costs have increased in recent years due to inflation.
Capital costs for onshore wind farms and solar farms both increased by 8%, batteries increased by 2% and gas turbines increased by 14%.
Fossil fuels have been more complicated, given their reliance on long-term energy supply contracts and increasing investor reluctance due to climate policy risks.
The report will be open for consultation for six weeks.
