“There’s no detail. We have the Prime Minister who’s come out and made some pronouncement without actually thinking through how much it’s going to cost, what does that mean for consumers, when it’ll actually be able to be delivered,” Victoria’s energy minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, said on local radio, adding that she heard about the plan on the morning news.
New South Wales energy minister Don Harwin said he looked forward to seeing the result of the feasibility study.
Industry experts said boosting hydropower storage would be an important long-term addition to power capacity, but would not meet immediate needs for more supply.
“The thing to stress is you need to plug a gap between now and the next five years,” said Gero Farruggio, managing director of Sustainable Energy Research Analytics.
He said the government could boost energy storage within a year for the same A$2 billion by subsidizing installation of batteries in just a quarter of the Australian homes that have rooftop solar.
Victoria and neighboring South Australia, which relies on wind and solar for 40 percent of its power, are seen at risk of blackouts next summer due to the closure of a 1,600 MW coal-fired power station this month.
South Australia suffered a state-wide blackout last September, which paralysed some industries for up to two weeks.
