‘Untested, risky, dangerous’: Renewables shouldn’t be ‘100 per cent’ of grid

National Party Senate Leader Bridget McKenzie has criticised the Albanese government’s push to 100 per cent renewables as it is “untested, risky and dangerous” and suggests renewables should be “firmed by nuclear”.

‘Untested, risky, dangerous’: Renewables shouldn’t be ‘100 per cent’ of grid

Opposition Energy Spokesman Ted O’Brien has said if Australia was open to nuclear, Liddell could be used to install four 300-megawatt small modular reactors or one 1.1 gigawatts larger reactor.

“I think you can’t say you have ambitions to get to net zero by 2050 as a country and not have a pathway that is credible to get there,” Ms McKenzie told Sky News Australia.

“What we’ve seen from the Labor Party and their pathway and the pathway that Zali [Steggall] would be advocating is that we’re 100 per cent renewable, and that is just unrealistic.

“It’s untested, it’s risky, it’s dangerous – we’ve seen the implications right now, this week, in my home state of Victoria.

“There is a way to use existing fuel sources longer, as we transition, and then have renewables firmed by nuclear, which is going to be much more realistic for an industrial-sized economy such as ours.”