Wednesday, 21 February 2024

Energy security

Renee HEATH (Eastern Victoria) (17:49): (721) My adjournment is for the Minister for Energy and Resources, and the action that I seek is for the minister to re-evaluate the ban on natural gas and consider including it in Victoria’s future energy mix as a low-cost, low-emission and weatherproof energy option. Last week’s storms devastated Victoria, particularly the Eastern Victoria Region, but when it comes to blackouts that saw half a million Victorians without power, it is less the fault of the storm and more a result of our fragile energy system, unreliable supply and substandard infrastructure. While the government cannot control the weather, they should be able to manage a reliable energy network. That includes contingencies for extreme weather events so that we do not have the level of disruption that Victorians have been and still are suffering. Transmission towers which the government knew were outdated and substandard failed. Loy Yang A tripped, taking out more than 20 per cent of Victoria’s energy supply. Load shedding followed. Renewables failed. Solar generates nothing during a storm, and wind generation, ironically, dropped.

What was there for Victorians, though, was gas. Victoria’s gas generators provided a quick response to this emergency and supplied more than a third of the state’s electricity at low cost. While overhead powerlines and transmission towers were failing, the underground network of pipes protected gas distribution during the storm. Without this source of energy Victoria would have been in a much worse situation. Victoria has large reserves of gas that are locked up. The minister is going as far as calling for national support to weatherproof our electricity grid but ignoring the resource that is in our backyard and can achieve that outcome.

In addition to this, the government’s ban on household gas connections that came into effect this year will leave more people at a disadvantage. All of those people without power during the storm who still had the luxury of cooking food and having a hot shower thanks to household gas connections will soon be a minority. This government’s energy policies are forcing Victorians into reliance on energy sources that are more vulnerable to weather, leaving them exposed to further energy crashes in the future, so I ask that you consider what I have just asked.