Ms O’CONNOR question to MINISTER for ENERGY and RENEWABLES, Mr DUIGAN
My question is also to the minister for Energy, who is a pretty popular guy in Question Time here. Minister, while national super funds run a mile from Firmus over concerns about the company’s leadership, it has made a request of Hydro Tasmania for 450 megawatts of energy – an amount equivalent to about a third of Tasmania’s current energy use. It’s a huge chunk of our power, as I’m sure you will agree. They’ve put out a so‑called energy policy. Have you seen it? It makes bold claims, including that Firmus is:
A vertically integrated manufacturing and engineering base.
A vertically integrated manufacturer is a company that controls the entire process of making a product, from producing source materials, like energy and water, to assembly, packaging and distribution. Minister, Firmus is expecting to fund its supply agreements requiring new‑build firming capacity equivalent to at least 2.5 megawatt hours of storage for every 1 megawatt of Firmus‑contracted load. They say they will use their agreement to require counterparties to support development of at least 2 megawatts of new‑build renewable generation capacity for every 1 megawatt of Firmus‑contracted capacity. Minister, this is very big, if true. What does this mean, to your understanding, this promise made by Firmus? Have you been briefed by Hydro Tasmania and had any understanding of the implications of approving that much power consumption? Do you believe this company, run as it is, by a convicted white‑collar criminal?
ANSWER
I thank the member for the question. I think the characterisation of people in this place –
Ms O’Connor – It’s just a fact; he’s a convicted white-collar criminal.
Mr DUIGAN – Well, it seems to be something that the Greens get very hung up on and I won’t. I certainly won’t be making any assertions about anybody. In terms of, have I been briefed by Hydro? Yes, I have.
Ms O’Connor – What did they tell you? No, were you not listening to the end of the question? Point of order?
Mr PRESIDENT – Explain the order.
Ms O’CONNOR – The question was, have you been briefed by Hydro, what did they tell you, what does this promise by Firmus mean, and do you believe them?
Ms Forrest – Is that the point of order?
Mr PRESIDENT – That’s a supplementary question?
Mr DUIGAN – A supplementary question.
Mr PRESIDENT – We’ll treat it as a supplementary question to clarify.
Mr DUIGAN – Right.
Ms O’CONNOR – I restated the first question you chose to ignore.
Mr PRESIDENT – Just to clarify.
Mr DUIGAN – Yes, I have been briefed by Hydro. Hydro are the experts in water management and providing hydro-electricity for our state. This would be a matter for the Hydro board to take into consideration. As I say, we have released today our draft statement of expectations for AI and data infrastructure –
Ms O’Connor – All 16 pages of it.
Mr DUIGAN – and it’s important to recognise that that stream of work is happening concurrently with the Commonwealth, a national piece of work. Data centres are not peculiar to Tasmania; there is a desire from data centre operators to build in probably every state and territory in the country. Tasmania is well placed though, because we are a cooler climate and we have a green grid. So, those conversations are continuing. At the end of the day though, it will be a commercial decision for Hydro Tasmania. I have written to all of our energy businesses, we have put out clear sets of expectations, there will be national legislation and laws enacted, I understand, in the not-too-distant future about these things and we will move forward. But, can I say at the outset that, as a government, we welcome investment into Tasmania. It is important that we have new industries seeking to build in Tasmania and to create jobs and opportunities in Tasmania. Firmus is one of those people seeking to do business here in Tasmania.
Ms O’Connor – You’ll do business with anyone.
Ms O’CONNOR question to MINISTER for ENERGY and RENEWABLES, Mr DUIGAN
Well, I’m going to have another go at the question, seeing as the minister chose not to answer it again.
Ms Palmer – He did answer the question.
Ms O’CONNOR – No, he didn’t.
Ms Palmer – No, he did answer the question.
Mr Duigan – Yes, I did
Mr PRESIDENT – Order.
Ms O’CONNOR – Thank you, minister for Education, Children and Young People, I’m not actually talking to you. My question to you, minister was, now that we’ve confirmed Hydro briefed you, what did they tell you about the proposal and the likely energy implications of that proposal? Do you, as minister, believe Firmus when they say to you that they plan to require an extra two megawatts of new build renewable generation capacity for every one megawatt that they use? Do you believe Firmus when they say that, and what did Hydro tell you about the Firmus proposal?
ANSWER
In terms of what Hydro told me about the Firmus project Southgate, is that it is a request for, as you outlined in your question, close to 450 megawatts of power for a particular period of time. Hydro, as I said, is going through what the implications of an ask like that would look like for it. As I say, Hydro are the other people who are armed with the understanding of whether that is feasible or not and whether they can take a commercial position on that.
In regard to Firmus’ Australian energy policy, I would point anybody who has an interest in the question of data centres to have a look at that, it is quite detailed, quite, I think as you would characterise it, generous and quite ambitious. The reason it would say that they would support 2 megawatts of built variable renewable energy for every megawatt that they use is that variable renewable energy is variable. Thereby if you install 500 megawatts of wind with a nameplate of 500 megawatts, it only generates that about 45 per cent of the time in Tasmania. So, essentially, you need to install 1000 megawatts of wind to leverage ‑
Ms O’Connor – They’re going to use gas as well, aren’t they?
Mr DUIGAN – Thank you. So, that is the reason that that is there. Again, Firmus have their policy out there for all to see. Hydro is doing its due diligence on Firmus as a company and on the ask of it as an energy provider.
Ms O’CONNOR question to MINISTER for ENERGY and RENEWABLES, Mr DUIGAN
To finish off my series of questions on Firmus for now, when Hydro Tasmania briefed you, minister, in relation to Firmus’ purported energy policy, did they raise any concerns that are now being expressed by super funds, particularly based in Melbourne, about Firmus’ leadership and their capacity to deliver this project?
ANSWER
I would say that no, none of those kinds of issues were raised. There was an understanding of Firmus and its energy policy aligning with our energy policy as government. We have always said that new load brings with it new generation, so there is a general alignment there, but certainly my conversations with Hydro were and are about energy and not about persons or other things that might be leading that.
