Tuesday, 15 October 2019

 Mr LIMBRICK (South Eastern Metropolitan) (12:20): My question is for the Minister representing the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change. Given the large growth in intermittent renewables being added to the electricity network in Victoria, there is also required to be backup for the times when these renewables are not producing. Although our coal power stations still provide the bulk of our electricity supply, they cannot easily ramp up and down their output to cope with these network additions, so capacity needs to be added in the form of batteries, pumped hydro or, more typically, gas peaking plants. What actions is the government taking to ensure that Victoria’s electricity network will be able to cope with these fluctuations in the approaching summer?

 Mr JENNINGS (South Eastern Metropolitan—Leader of the Government, Special Minister of State, Minister for Priority Precincts, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs) (12:21): I thank Mr Limbrick for his question. I appreciate his concern to make sure the Victorian government has taken action to ensure that there are appropriate energy supplies over summer and that all contingencies are accounted for in terms of what will be required to keep Victorian households and industry ticking over in those circumstances where summer leads to increases in energy demand during very, very hot days and a sequence of hot days which leads to those demand pressures, because for the vast majority of days in the Victorian calendar there is absolutely clear air between the amount of supply and the demand for energy supplies.

Victoria works with the Australian Energy Market Operator, which is the manager of the national electricity industry sector in terms of the distribution network and the regulator of supply. Indeed the government meets with them regularly through the minister and other parts of government to ensure that we do account for those demand pressures. The mix that Mr Limbrick has described in his question is exactly the range of investments that have been made and will continue to be made to actually make sure that we have reliable security of supply. Just in the last few days I participated in conversation with my colleagues across government about the focus on this summer. In terms of the individual investments, I will rely on my colleague to provide you with the answer, but you already know—in the preamble to your question—the range of investments that have been required and are already undertaken in Victoria. My colleague will fill in the details of that, and probably, without anticipating, I imagine that this might be a feature of a discussion we will have later in the week in relation to the renewable energy bill that will be before the Parliament on Thursday.

 Mr LIMBRICK (South Eastern Metropolitan) (12:23): I thank the minister for his answer. I would not want to breach the anticipation rule, so I would not ask a question about that. I have done that once already. Another issue with the large-scale rollout of renewables is that the large amount of materials required for their construction, combined with the short life spans, results in very large amounts of waste. It would be expected that in a few years we will be facing a very large and continuous waste stream from decommissioned renewables infrastructure. Griffith University estimated that solar panel waste could reach 1.5 million tonnes by 2050, and we are already seeing other countries having difficulty in disposing of non-recyclable wind turbine components such as blades, which are made from fossil fuels. I am not aware of any solar panel recycling facilities in Victoria, and I understand that panels are simply being stockpiled in e-waste storage facilities. What actions is the government taking to ensure that this waste stream will be able to be managed in the future?

 Mr JENNINGS (South Eastern Metropolitan—Leader of the Government, Special Minister of State, Minister for Priority Precincts, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs) (12:24): I thank Mr Limbrick for his question. Whilst he has not breached the anticipation rule—because he is 48 hours in advance—he has provided for me in terms of my being able to get an answer in 48 hours, so I appreciate that, because that is probably the time frame in which he will ask me a series of questions along those lines. Probably you would like some degree of satisfaction beyond what I will be able to provide you today, so I will talk to my colleague. I will gear up and be prepared. I thank you for your question.