The federal coalition is expected to release the long-awaited costings of its plan to establish nuclear power plants in Australia.
The costings due to be released on Friday come after research published earlier this week found nuclear energy does not offer a good deal for Australia.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is expected to release his party’s nuclear energy costings. (Steven Markham/AAP PHOTOS)
For the seventh straight year, the GenCost 2024-25 Report found renewable energy sources are the lowest-cost of any new-build electricity-generating technology.
Nuclear energy generation would be 1.5 to two times more expensive than large-scale solar, according to the analysis by the national science agency CSIRO and the Australian Energy Market Operator.
A one-gigawatt nuclear plant has a price tag of roughly $9 billion.
Energy market operators would also need to establish new connection points to safely supply the national electricity grid, experts have said.
The coalition is pushing for an end to Australia’s nuclear ban and has previously promised to have reactors online as soon as 10 years if it wins the 2025 federal national election.
The Australian on Friday published a report citing portions of the coalition’s nuclear policy, including that the total cost over the next 25 years would be $331 billion.
The coalition argued its plan would be cheaper than the Labor government’s model, which it put at $642 billion, citing modelling commissioned from Frontier Economics.
The government has previously said its renewables plan will cost $122 billion, citing a forecast made by the national energy grid operator.
The baseline for the coalition plan is that the first nuclear power plant to replace retiring coal sources will be operational by 2036, according to The Australian.
Fortescue chairman Andrew Forrest said on Friday, ahead of the coalition’s official announcement, that nuclear power doesn’t stack up for Australian families or businesses.
“As our national science agency has shown, ‘firmed’ solar and wind are the cheapest new electricity options for all Australians,” he said in a statement.
“The cost of electricity generated on a grid dominated by firmed renewable energy in 2030 will be half what you would have to pay if it came from nuclear, CSIRO found.”
Mr Forrest, who is a big player in the non-fossil fuels energy market, said that without continued action on “low-cost, high-efficiency renewable energy” Australians will be left with “pricier power and crumbling coal stations”.
Fortescue chairman Andrew Forrest says nuclear power doesn’t stack up for Australians. (Darren England/AAP PHOTOS)
“We must never forget – Australia has the best renewable resources in the world,” he added.
“Seizing these Australian opportunities must be our shared national goal.”
Meanwhile, polling published by Nine newspapers on Friday suggested renewable energy solutions were more popular with Australians than nuclear.
The Resolve Political Monitor found 21 per cent of voters were in favour of taxpayer investments or subsidies for nuclear power, while 45 per cent backed subsidies for rooftop solar and 34 per cent backed subsidies for home batteries.