Coal-fired power stations to operate in Queensland until at least 2046 as energy road map unveiled

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Queensland's energy minister has announced the state's coal-fired power stations will operate until at least 2046 as he unveiled a long-awaited energy road map.

Transcript

00:00Powering ahead with a plan to power Queensland.

00:06What I outlined today is deliberately pragmatic and dynamic.

00:10The LNP government is axing a Labor-era push to turn off the state's coal-fired power stations by 2035.

00:18Instead, each station will have a different closure date according to its technical lifespan.

00:24State-owned coal assets will play a critical role in Queensland's energy system until at least 2046.

00:31But the government says they could stay open for longer if needed.

00:35Ultimately, coal will be used for decades.

00:38That's good news for tens of thousands of Queensland regional jobs,

00:43for communities, for the energy system and for energy consumers.

00:48The figures in here really involve a bunch of blurred lines where we do not know now

00:53when coal-fired power stations will close.

00:56Good news for us here in Banana Shire.

00:58We always said we wanted to keep the coal-fired power station open here as long as we can.

01:02Labor has hit out at the plan.

01:05The destination of the LNP's energy plan is higher power prices for Queenslanders.

01:10Power bills will be cheaper under us than what they would have otherwise been under Labor.

01:15But will household power bills come down under this new plan?

01:18No-one's making that commitment.

01:20The government has also announced it will pass laws by Christmas to repeal Queensland's renewable energy targets,

01:26as it promised to do before last year's state election.

01:29There'll be no changes, though, to emissions reduction targets.

01:33We're committed to net zero by 2050 and there's no changes to that act.

01:37What we saw today was a new Queensland energy plan released where climate wasn't mentioned once.

01:43The Minister says the roadmap gives certainty to gas and renewables investors.

01:49I want to send a clear message that we welcome renewables.

01:51The roadmap isn't as ambitious as what we would have liked.

01:54However, there's a decision framework for coal closure which we'd like to see further detail on.

02:00We're really glad to see a practical plan.

02:02This is about making sure that we make the use of what we're endowed with here in Queensland.

02:08We've got such great gas, we've got such great coal.

02:11Jack Mackay, ABC News.

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