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The South Australian government has just announced its proposal to construct a gas power station and battery storage facility in a $550 million effort to combat their substantial power problems.
The plans were announced by Premier Jay Weatherill in a press conference this morning, following the fallout of February’s mass power outage across the state as it succumbed to extreme weather temperatures.
Key elements of the plan include:
-Implementation of Australia’s largest battery storage, funded by $150 million renewable energy fund
-State owned $360 million gas power plant will be built
-Legislation allowing the Minister of Energy local power over SA’s energy market will be introduced
-SA gas incentives will be created- unlocking the existing gas reserves
-An “energy security target”, forcing electricity retailers to purchase a minimum of 36% of power from local sources in South Australia will be introduced.
There is currently no word if billionaire Elon Musk will be involved in salvaging the state’s power problems, as has been reported over the past few days.
The Tesla founder has said he could fix the issue in 100 days by the installation of a massive battery farm, yet no mention of this was made in the press conference. Premier Wetherill also made it clear that the taxpayer would not be impacted by this project, claiming the money would instead come from budget surpluses.
