10 June 2021
Energy market experts have raised more concerns over the Morrison government’s proposal to build a new 660MW gas peaking plant in the Hunter region, saying the benefits of the plant have been overstated and is at serious risk of blowing out the $600 million of public funds allocated to the project.
Analysis of the Kurri Kurri power station proposal, being developed by government-owned Snowy Hydro has been completed by energy sector experts professor Bruce Mountain, Dr Steven Percy and former energy executive Ted Woodley, and published by the Victoria Energy Policy Centre.
The paper, which assessed the merit of the proposed Kurri Kurri gas plant, found that the proposal put forward by Snowy Hydro has potentially significantly underestimated the true cost of building the gas fired generator and overestimated the project’s ability to both deliver power when needed and lower electricity prices.