Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

The government's policy, the National Energy Guarantee, facilitates investment in all technologies, including coal, and also the retrofitting of existing base load power stations by market participants. The guarantee values dispatchable power like coal, gas and hydro. It also brings together energy and climate policy for the first time, and will facilitate a wide range of innovative solutions, combining technologies like coal or like solar and pumped hydro, as planned for Kidston in Queensland.

Coal will continue to play a key role in the electricity system into the future. Based on modelling by the Energy Security Board, under the National Energy Guarantee coal will provide 60 per cent of the electricity in the national electricity market in 2030. The National Energy Guarantee will help bring down the cost of electricity and improve the reliability of our energy supplies into the future.