Wednesday, 30 October 2024

Energy policy

Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (18:25): (1231) My adjournment matter is for Minister for Energy and Resources, and the action I seek is for the minister to urgently explore opportunities for renewable biogases to be used to supplement and boost gas supply in Victoria. I recently had the pleasure of welcoming attendees to the Shepparton bioenergy forum, which brought together industry groups, academics and government and business leaders to discuss future opportunities for renewable biogas in Victoria. We heard about the unique opportunity Shepparton has to develop a virtuous circular economy where organic waste from our significant agriculture and food processing sectors could be used to generate renewable biogas that could in turn power our manufacturing and production.

Gas has an important role to play in Victoria’s future energy mix, and carbon neutral alternatives to natural gas like biomethane and hydrogen will be important for maintaining energy security while decarbonising our economy. Victorian industrial manufacturers and food processors are significant users of energy and gas, and our state’s gas distribution network supplies more gas than any other state. Victoria has almost 900 industrial gas users, who are only 0.04 per cent of customers but account for 31 per cent of gas consumption. Energy reliability and quality are critical to their business performance because power failures cause very expensive plant shutdowns, wasted product and lost production. Many manufacturers depend on gas and simply cannot switch their operations to all-electric. Gas is required for the intense bursts of heat required in sterilisation procedures in dairy processing or in high-temperature galvanising, for example. These industries are particularly worried about the gas shortages and gas rationing that are predicted as a result of the Allan Labor government’s failing energy policies.

It is therefore vital that we develop alternative sources of gas. Biomethane is interchangeable with natural gas and fully compatible with existing pipe infrastructure, home gas appliances and industrial manufacturing processes. It can be pumped straight into the gas network to supplement natural gas supply and mitigate predicted gas shortages. But the Allan Labor government is dragging its feet on key regulatory reforms and sitting on a crucial directions paper. Submissions for Victoria’s renewable gas consultation paper closed over a year ago, in 2023, but since then nothing has been heard from the government about it. Unlike New South Wales, Victoria does not yet allow biogas to be pumped into the existing gas network. Consider the example of Melbourne Water, which produces 1.8 million gigajoules of biogas energy a year – 70 per cent of that is used to produce its own electricity for treating wastewater, but 30 per cent is left over and has to be flared because they are not yet allowed to deliver it into the gas network. I call on the minister to urgently explore Victoria’s biogas opportunities so that our organic waste can power a clean future.