Dan Tehan slams the government's energy transition as solar farms face forced shutdowns amid grid bottleneck crisis

Sky News AU

11-07-2025

Shadow energy minister Dan Tehan has accused the Albanese government of mismanaging Australia's energy transition, warning delays to critical infrastructure are forcing solar farms to switch off and drive power prices through the roof.
His comments come in the wake of alarming new forecasts from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), which reveal that nearly every major solar farm in Victoria and South Australia will be required to curtail at least one third of their output by 2027 due to grid congestion.
Some projects are expected to lose more than 65 per cent of their generation capacity.
In an interview with Sky News, Mr Tehan laid blame squarely on Energy Minister Chris Bowen, accusing him of ignoring the real-world cost of the transition and failing to deliver the infrastructure needed to support it.
"Well, the problem is that Chris Bowen's made a complete mess of our electricity transition,' he said.
"Everywhere you look, it's a mess. And the one thing that he doesn't want to answer is, what is the cost of this mess?
"We know that his plans don't take into consideration the cost of this rollout of new poles and wires. He won't put a figure on it. We now know that that's delayed.
"So, what does that mean when it comes to the grid's reliability going forward, and also what does it mean for consumers?"
With key projects like the $3.3 billion VNI West interconnector now facing multi-year delays, the energy grid is struggling to accommodate the surge in renewables production, leaving solar farms with no choice but to shut down during periods of peak generation.
Mr Tehan also took aim at the broader approach to renewables in Victoria, where much of the grid congestion is concentrated.
"It's because they've focused on this renewables only approach and they've completely demonised gas - they've completely demonised the idea that we should have gas peaking plants and now in Victoria, to try and overcome these delays, they're taking property rights away from farmers," he said.
AEMO has warned that unless key transmission lines are fast-tracked, large-scale solar farms will increasingly be forced offline, even as coal plants close and the grid becomes more dependent on renewable sources.
For Mr Tehan, the solution lies in abandoning the narrow focus on renewables and adopting a more balanced, technology-neutral strategy.
"If they had a technology-neutral approach we wouldn't be in the mess that we are in at the moment," the shadow energy minister said.
"Everyone says we need more gas into the systems and rather than running roughshod over communities when it comes to putting increased grid costs on everyone, look at simple things you can do right here and how to alleviate costs on power bills, but also making sure that you're going to have a much more stable system going forward."
The Coalition has long criticised Labor's handling of the energy transition, arguing that excluding technologies like gas from the long-term plan would put Australia's energy security at risk.
With energy prices continuing to rise and reliability coming under threat, Mr Tehan said Australians are being left to pick up the tab for policy failure.
"The message from these customers to Chris Bowen, who is sunning himself in the Pacific Island at the moment, is they want an apology because Chris Bowen promised these customers a $275 reduction in their power bills, and yet here he is when they get another increase saying, 'oh, we've got this under review'.
'Everywhere you look, it's just a mess."