Federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor suggests there is something missing from the ESG (environmental, social, and governance) priorities that dominate the nation's energy company boardrooms.
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"There is a lot of talk in this day and age about ESG but they forget the C, the customer. The customer really counts still. Delivering an affordable reliable service that means [people] can continue to pay their bills and can continue to have a job," Mr Taylor said.
The comment goes to the heart of why the Federal Government is determined to push ahead with the $600 million gas-fired Hunter Energy Project at Kurri Kurri on the eve of a federal election.
The project's critics argue it is unnecessary and a greenhouse polluting fossil fuel relic, but for Taylor it's a very pragmatic proposition - the need to keep the lights on and people in jobs during a period of unprecedented change in the world of energy production.
And recent announcements regarding the accelerated closure of coal-fired power plants have only fuelled the government's determination to have the gas peaker firing by the summer of 2023.
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In the last two months AGL has advised that Bayswater Power Station could close as early as 2030, while Origin Energy sent shock waves through the energy market when it announced it was bringing forward the closure of Eraring Power Station to 2025.
They are developments that will cause enormous social upheaval - Eraring directly employs 400 people and there are an estimated 2000 more in the wider community whose livelihoods are connected to the plant.
Of equal concern is the removal of a massive chunk of baseload capacity from the state's energy grid.
Taylor, who says he wasn't given advance notice of the Eraring decision, has challenged Origin to demonstrate how the capacity will be replaced.
"[the decision] surprised me in the sense that 2800 megawatts is a lot to lose and Origin hasn't explained how it is going to replace the 2800 megawatts. That surprised me because if you are an energy company you have a responsibility to your customers to provide them a service and it's not clear how that is going to be provided," he said.
"It is incumbent on Origin to explain how they are going to serve their customers and how those customers are not going to be out of pocket or out of a job because there is not a supply of energy; that is important work that Origin will need to lay out to everybody if they are going to convince them that they have a plan that is going to serve their customers."
As part of its response, the state government announced a $250 million commitment over five years to ensure local manufacture of new energy infrastructure.
It is estimated the initiative will provide up to 3700 jobs in future industry and renewable energy.
An Origin spokesman said the company was well advanced in its planning to replace the capacity lost by the shutdown of Eraring.
"Origin's ambition is to lead the energy transition to net zero, while continuing to provide reliable and affordable supply to our customers. We carefully weighed the decision on the potential earlier closure of Eraring for some time, before determining that the mechanisms are now in place to guide future investment in supply, including the NSW Roadmap, and firm commitments have already been made for other dispatchable capacity to come into the market, which are expected to more than compensate for any exit of Eraring," he said.
"In addition, Origin has well-progressed plans for a battery of up to 700 MW located on the Eraring site and will also seek to bring online additional renewable and storage capacity, including a potential expansion of the Shoalhaven pumped hydro scheme.
"We will continue to assess the market over time, and this will help inform any final decisions on the timing for closure of all four units."
AGL is also working on plans to develop the Hunter Energy Park on the 10 hectare site presently occupied by Bayswater and Liddell power stations. The project will incorporate a mix of technologies including battery, solar and potentially green hydrogen production.
The potential of emerging technologies and the need for governments to support displaced workers and communities tend to dominate discussions about energy transition in regions such as the Hunter.
But Taylor argues any successful transition must also be underpinned by reliable and affordable energy.
"You have got to keep a supply of affordable and reliable energy so that customer jobs in particular remain. If you look at the jobs in the energy sector, the biggest quantum of jobs is not in the energy production itself, they are very important, ... but the jobs in the customer industries are absolutely crucial - places like Tomago, Orica producing ammonia nitrate and so many others. It is crucial that we support those with affordable reliable energy," he said.
"On the coal side, it's crucial that we don't cut that supply off before customers move. And customers will move, let's face it, that is a reality. But we shouldn't be cutting them off before they shift and transition their demand."
"So that transition and making sure it's a well paced transition and a sensibly paced transition I think is the most important point of all.
Sceptics cite the project as an example of why new energy projects are unable to support the same number of jobs as those that will be lost in mining and coal-fired power plants.
Taylor argues that transition is not simple as switching from one energy sector job to another.
"You are going to need operators with those skills in a whole range of different industries, whether it's hydrogen production, whether it's gas generation, whether it's our capacity to expand our value added processing...We shouldn't see it as a simple transition from coal generation to renewables jobs," he said.
"The key is making sure there is a pathway where you don't drive up the cost of energy, where you don't end up with shortages of gas or electricity because that's where you lose the jobs, that's when those additional job opportunities are not there for people who are in businesses that are transitioning."
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