MEDIA RELEASE: LATEST AEMO DATA SHOWS NSW A LAGGARD ON DELIVERING ENERGY SECURITY AND PRICE STABILITY THROUGH RENEWABLES AND STORAGE INVESTMENT

30 January 2025

The latest AEMO data, released today, lays out clearly the pathway we are on to a renewable energy future - and lays down the gauntlet to governments like NSW who aren't doing enough.

Renewable power reached a record 46% of the National Electricity Market's electricity, peaking at over 75% in November. Renewable energy has long been the cheapest source of electricity, but despite this, NSW experienced record high Q4 wholesale prices of $143/MWh, driven by high demand, coal generation unavailability, and transmission constraints. This put the price of energy in NSW in Q4 around 40% higher than the NEM average ($88/MWh), or more than 300% higher than Victoria, at $45/MWh.

Negative price frequencies also hit record highs in NSW, and across the NEM, driven by an uptake of rooftop solar.

Like NSW, Western Australia saw a large drop in coal generation of 19.5% due to reduced coal plant availability. Unlike NSW, however, Western Australian energy prices remained steady, in large part due to increases in rooftop solar (20.3%) and a 1400% increase in battery contributions.

Last week marks six months since the NSW Labor Government's flagship energy policy election commitment - the $1 Billion Energy Security Corporation (ESC) - was passed into law. The ESC is designed to invest in energy security projects, like batteries and other storage solutions, and transmission infrastructure. The legislation to create the ESC passed NSW Parliament on 21 June 2024, and was formally assented to on 24 June 2024. Since then, there has been almost no progress towards establishing the Corporation, or getting any funding out the door to enable critical energy security projects.

The ESC was first announced as the then Opposition NSW Labor party's flagship energy policy in February 2023. The policy was reannounced in September 2023, with existing money from the Restart NSW fund earmarked for the Corporation, and no new funding allocation provided in the 2023/24 Budget. Legislation to create the Corporation took a further 9 months from that announcement (or more than 15 months since it was first announced as an election commitment) to come before NSW Parliament, where it was debated throughout the month of June 2024 before passing with amendments on 21 June 2024. Six months on, or 23 months since being promised as a key election commitment, and the Energy Security Corporation still hasn't appointed any members of its governing board - meaning any investment decisions to support projects to deliver energy security for NSW remain far in the distance.

Quotes attributable to Abigail Boyd, Greens NSW Energy spokesperson:

"The numbers and the facts don't lie. Once again, the NSW Labor government is failing to treat the climate emergency with the urgency that the public expects and the science demands.

"Despite being promised by NSW Labor as a way to accelerate investment in renewable energy, the Energy Security Corporation has stalled at the starting line.

"When we cast our eyes back over the legacy of this NSW Labor government and its record on significant energy commitments, what will they have to say for themselves other than handing $450m to Origin to extend the life of one of the most polluting coal fired power stations in the country?

"The NSW Labor government likes to posture and claim they are taking the energy transition seriously, but the proof is in the pudding. We're two years into this term of government and we're yet to see any real action - and it's the people of this state who are footing the bill for their inaction.

"The Net Zero Commission's first annual report, released in November 2024, identified storage solutions such as community batteries and pumped hydro, the very projects the Energy Security Corporation is designed to deliver, as being critical to ensuring energy stability and enabling the rapid rollout of renewables. But the NSW Labor government seems currently unable, or unwilling, to act.

"We have no time to lose. The Greens are calling on Labor to pull their finger out and get cracking on providing the energy security projects that are so vital to the rapid rollout of renewables and the decarbonisation of our energy supply."

A UNIVERSAL WELLBEING PAYMENT FOR NSW

No matter who you are or what you do, everyone has the right to share in the wellbeing of our country.

But at the moment the essentials so many of us need – a place to call home, food on the table, and everyday essentials like electricity, internet, medicine and water – are simply out of reach.

Instead of supporting us, our government is choosing to prop up huge corporations with massive subsidies, and to give away our collective wealth through record tax cuts for the wealthy. Meanwhile, the rest of us are left to live paycheck to paycheck or trapped in the dehumanising bureaucracy of our existing welfare system.

Now, in the midst of a pandemic, and following quickly on the heels of the bushfire crisis, more of us than ever before are experiencing what it’s like to lose our jobs, be without a home, or worry about where the food for our next meal will come from.

It’s time for us to choose to prioritise the wellbeing of everyone.

And that’s exactly what the Universal Wellbeing Payment will do.

It’s a regular payment made to each of us to ensure our minimum standard of wellbeing. No means testing, no bureaucracy, no strings attached.

It’s the amount you’re owed simply for being a participant in our society.

It means you are free to live your life and contribute to society as you see fit, whether you’re a carer, an artist, a student, a parent, an entrepreneur – you can get on with what you need to do, knowing that you will always be supported regardless of your income.

It means that we’re choosing to structure our economy for the benefit of all of us, not using our collective wealth to prop up the interests of big business and the wealthy few.

It means you will always have what you need to live a good life, no matter what.

The Universal Wellbeing Payment is for everyone. Help us make it happen.

For more information, head to universalwellbeingpayment.com.au

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MEDIA RELEASE: LATEST AEMO DATA SHOWS NSW A LAGGARD ON DELIVERING ENERGY SECURITY AND PRICE STABILITY THROUGH RENEWABLES AND STORAGE INVESTMENT

A UNIVERSAL WELLBEING PAYMENT FOR NSW

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