Federal energy minister Angus Taylor’s plans to introduce a new capacity market mechanism that would favour legacy coal generators appears in tatters after Victoria joined New South Wales in rejecting the idea dubbed “Coalkeeper.”
The opposition from the two key states – and the two biggest state grids in the country – comes ahead of a key meeting of federal and state energy ministers next Friday, and leaves the market unsure what, if any, new rules will be agreed in the Post2025 design being co-ordinated by the Energy Security Board.
The proposals for the “physical retail reliability option” have been described as “technology neutral” by Taylor and the ESB, but the market is convinced that they would effectively pay coal and gas generators paid to remain open, and Victorian energy minister Lily D’Ambrosio said she would have none of that.
“Victoria wants to reassure investors in wind and solar farms and storage such as giant batteries that it will not adopt any mechanism within the NEM that undermines the state’s ambition to cut carbon emissions,” D’Ambrosio said in a statement.
— , reneweconomy, Sept 17th for the full story
