{"id":348951,"date":"2024-06-04T20:41:15","date_gmt":"2024-06-04T10:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=348951"},"modified":"2024-06-04T20:41:15","modified_gmt":"2024-06-04T10:41:15","slug":"mp-labels-powerlines-claim-myth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2024\/06\/04\/mp-labels-powerlines-claim-myth\/","title":{"rendered":"MP Labels Powerlines Claim ‘Myth’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Energy Minister Chris Bowen (Photo: ALP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

June 4, 2024<\/strong><\/p>\n

Opposition claims that 28,000km of powerlines will have to be built to cater for renewable energy projects have been labelled a “lie” and a “myth”.<\/p>\n

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen, speaking to host Steve Cannane on ABC RN on Tuesday morning, said 4000km of transmission lines were planned to be built by 2030.<\/p>\n

“We have around 40,000km of transmission (lines) in Australia at the moment, and we need to add about 4000km by 2030 … a bit more than 900km are either built or substantially under construction of those 4000km,” Minister Bowen said.<\/p>\n

“This myth that we have to build 28,000km by 2030 is just a myth, absolutely.”\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Minister Bowen said the Coalition’s energy policy was a “delaying tactic” to keep Australia reliant on coal-fired electricity for longer.<\/p>\n

“Which not only means higher emissions but also means a much less reliable system because the coal-fired power stations are ageing and increasingly unreliable,” he said.<\/p>\n

Minister Bowen said the Opposition wanted to see the renewables rollouts paused while they developed the “fantasy” of nuclear energy.<\/p>\n

Small Nuclear Reactors “do not survive contact with economic reality” as they were very expensive to build.<\/p>\n

“No other country has them commercially operating anywhere in the world,” Minister Bowen said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He again called on the Coalition to release its energy policy, which he said Opposition Leader Peter Dutton had promised to release “in a couple of weeks” 12 weeks ago.<\/p>\n

“We can’t have the debate (on nuclear energy) until Mr Dutton releases the costings, the locations, the modelling and all the implications,” Minister Bowen said.<\/p>\n