Peter Dutton has put nuclear power at the centre of the Coalition’s energy policy.

Peter Dutton has put nuclear power at the centre of the Coalition’s energy policy.

However,AGL chief executive Damien Nicks on Friday rejected the idea outright,stressing that the prospect of establishing nuclear power plants in Australia was impractical.

“There is no viable schedule for the regulation or development of nuclear energy in Australia,and the cost,build time and public opinion are all prohibitive,” Nicks said.

AGL,the largest Australian power supplier,last year shuttered the Liddell coal-fired power station in NSW and remains the owner of the neighbouring Bayswater plant and the Loy Yang A generator in Victoria.

Loading

Nicks on Friday said the company was committed to ensuring strong social licence with the communities and traditional owners in the regions where it operates – Victoria’s Latrobe Valley and the Upper Hunter Valley in NSW – and would not expose them to “significant unanswered questions” about the storage of radioactive waste.

“AGL is already developing our coal and gas power station sites into low-emissions industrial energy hubs,” Nicks said.

“As the owner of these sites,nuclear energy is not a part of these plans.”

Advertisement

Given nuclear energy remains illegal in Australia,Opposition climate change and energy spokesman Ted O’Brien responded on Friday saying he would be surprised if any business confirmed intent to include nuclear as part of its future portfolio,“especially publicly listed companies”.

Loading

“I look forward to continuing to engage meaningfully with companies like AGL and the sector more generally,especially after our policies are released and industry has had an opportunity to be informed of the detail of our plans of a cleaner and cheaper energy future for Australia,” O’Brien said.

Australia is experiencing one of the world’s fastest energy transitions as coal-fired power stations,which supply about two-thirds of the main electricity grid,increasingly bring forward their closure dates while renewable energy’s share of the mix continues to grow.

Dutton and the Coalition are critical of the pace and scale of the Albanese government’s ambitious renewable energy rollout targets,which aim to boost the share of clean energy in the grid from its current level of 40 per cent to 82 per cent by 2030.

Dutton has argued that the cost of building vast new transmission lines linking far-flung wind and solar regions to population centres will be too high,while farmers and regional communities are unfairly being asked to bear the brunt of development.

He has said lifting Australia’s long-standing nuclear ban and building nuclear generators on or near the sites of coal-fired power stations – given they are regions with experience hosting large-scale generation assets and have access to existing transmission corridors – would provide the grid with an emissions-free,reliable power source to back up renewables when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining.

AGL,under pressure from shareholders including billionaire climate activist Mike Cannon-Brookes to target faster and deeper emissions cuts,has committed to fast-track the retirements of its coal plants and increase spending on clean energy.

Part of its strategy includes long-term plans to diversify its retiring coal sites into “hubs” for lower-carbon sources of energy,which may include big batteries,renewable energy and hydrogen production.

The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories,exclusive coverage and expert opinion.Sign up to get it every weekday morning.

License this article

Most Viewed in Business

Loading