‘No coherent plan’: experts reject Coalition’s rationale for taxpayer-funded gas power plant

The Morrison government seized on a recent electricity shortage as a dress rehearsal' for life without Liddell, but market experts insist there's more than enough power

Energy experts have rejected Morrison government claims an electricity shortage forced a major aluminium smelter to shut down three times in a week and that building a publicly-owned gas-fired power plant will fix the problem.

The energy and emissions reduction minister, Angus Taylor, this week confirmed taxpayers would pay up to $600m for Snowy Hydro Ltd to build a new 660MW fossil fuel plant at Kurri Kurri, in the Hunter Valley, saying it was needed to help replace the Liddell coal plant when it shuts in 2023.