'Expensive and underperforming': energy audit finds gas power running well below capacity

Report challenges justification for government underwriting of up to five new gas-fired generators

Australia's existing gas power plants are running well below capacity, challenging the justification for a Morrison government program that may support up to five new gas-fired generators, according to a new report.

Energy analyst Hugh Saddler, from Australian National University's Crawford school of public policy, found the combined-cycle gas plants in the national grid - those expected to be available near constantly, sometimes described as "baseload" - ran at just 30% capacity across the past 18 months.