New analysis reveals dodgy data underpinning Qld's Energy Plan

New analysis by the Queensland Conservation Council demonstrates the Crisafulli Government’s recently-released Five Year Energy Roadmap significantly underestimates the amount of renewable energy and storage that will likely be built in Queensland by 2030 and beyond.

The analysis shows that the roadmap underforecasts renewable energy and storage by at least 3.4 GW by 2030. These projects represent over $6.5 billion of investment in Queensland’s economy, mostly in regional Queensland, along with more than 1,500 construction jobs.

According to the conservation council, this significant discrepancy underlines the Crisafulli Government’s ideological bias against renewable energy as they attempt to justify a pro-fossil fuel energy plan.

Queensland Conservation Council campaigner, Stephanie Gray said

The numbers in the Crisafulli Government’s Energy Roadmap collapse under the slightest bit of scrutiny. The data that’s presented is skewed to make the case for keeping polluting coal and gas operating for longer.

To try to make their pro-fossil fuel energy plan make sense, the Crisafulli Government is pretending that a number of renewable energy and storage projects that are well progressed in the pipeline will just disappear.

Between 2030 to 2035 the Roadmap forecasts that no large-scale solar or storage projects will get built in Queensland – a staggering assumption given that there are currently five solar farms and 31 utility storage projects under construction.

The much-touted savings figure in the Roadmap actually represents billions of investment that regional Queensland will miss out on if the Crisafulli Government continues their agenda to axe renewable energy and storage projects.

This plan is seriously undercooked. Even in the Government’s preferred scenario, stifling renewable energy development by 2035 would set up Queenslanders for a world of price pain in the late 2030s when coal units will have to retire.

It’s telling that the Treasurer wouldn’t say that this energy plan will reduce power prices because chaining Queenslanders to failing coal power stations and expensive gas will only drive up the cost of electricity.

The Roadmap suggests that Queensland’s gas generation will double, which should alarm consumers because so far in 2025 gas has been four times more expensive to run than wind.

Queensland’s ageing coal-fired power stations broke down 78 times over the last summer period. No matter what crafty accounting tricks the Crisafulli Government does, we’re going to have to replace these clunkers sooner rather than later.

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