 Advice given to former Labor Government advised no sale of gas-fired power station
 Treasury says selling off TVPS would place Tasmania at risk of energy crisis
 Groom and Gutwein must release their own advice
 Document makes complete lie of Groom’s claim that energy crisis could not have been forseen
Treasury advised that it would be “easy to visualise” a prolonged Basslink outage coinciding with low water storages as a warning against the sale of the Tamar Valley Power Station.
The explosive document makes a complete lie of the Liberal Government’s repeated claims that last summer’s catastrophic energy crisis could not have been foreseen.
And it highlights the shocking recklessness of Matthew Groom and Peter Gutwein’s decision to sell the Combined Cycle Gas Turbine in return for a $75 million dividend from Hydro Tasmania.
Labor Leader Bryan Green said the advice provided to the former Labor Government in 2013 was unequivocal in its recommendation not to sell the gas-fired power station.
“For the past year Mr Groom and Mr Gutwein have gone to extraordinary lengths to keep their own advice around the TVPS hidden from Tasmanians,” Mr Green said.
“The Treasurer and the Energy Minister now have no choice but to release that advice.
“If they refuse there can be no doubt that is because it shows the Hodgman Government ignored clear warnings and plunged the state into the worst energy crisis in history.”
The advice given to the former government said:
“It would be easy to visualise an event, such as a prolonged failure of Basslink at a time when storages are low.
“In addition, a catastrophic failure of Basslink, such as multiple cable breaks or the loss of two transformers, could render it out of service for a period in excess of 60 days.
“Given the significant negative impact on the Tasmanian economy of electricity rationing, it is desirable to retain this additional level of security.”
“The Treasury could not have been clearer that it was vital the state retain this critical asset as insurance against the combination of a Basslink outage and low Hydro levels – precisely the scenario Tasmania experienced this year,” Mr Green said.
“Instead the CCGT was decommissioned in the middle of a drought and the workforce was sacked.
“The consequences of the energy crisis are still being felt – with Hydro Tasmania posting a $200 million loss and uncertainty hanging over our major industrials – the state’s biggest employers.”
Bryan Green MP Labor Leader