CANBERRA, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Federal Labor Party leader Bill Shorten has defended the South Australian state Labor government's decision to collaborate with Tesla in building the world's largest battery storage facility, after it was criticized by the federal government on Wednesday.
Last week, Tesla founder Elon Musk announced plans to build the world's largest lithium-ion battery in South Australia, which would be used to store electricity generated by nearby wind farms.
The battery would provide 129 megawatt hours of storage and would be three times bigger than the current largest battery in the world. But on Wednesday, federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg said it wasn't the "silver bullet" the state required to avoid costly and damaging blackouts.
But speaking to the press on Wednesday afternoon, federal Labor leader Bill Shorten praised the South Australian government for the decision to work with Tesla, claiming that battery storage technology was a "step in the right direction" for renewables.
"I think the rapid expansion of battery storage for renewable energy helps cure some of the concerns people have about the intermittent nature of renewable energy. It is policy headed in the right direction," Shorten told the press in South Australia.
"I have no doubt that the SA government, as they conclude contracts and negotiations, will provide more detail to people. It has to be part of our energy mix."
Earlier in the day, Frydenberg said while the government welcomed the investment in the technology, it shouldn't be praised as being the solution to South Australia's electricity blackout woes, claiming the federal government's investment in a pumped hydroelectric scheme, dubbed Snowy 2.0, would provide much more energy security.
"I absolutely welcome any investment in storage, and I've repeated that uphill and down dale, but the reality is the public shouldn't be tricked into thinking that this is a silver bullet," Frydenberg told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
"This is 129 megawatt hours of storage. You know that compares to 350,000 megawatt hours of storage in Snowy Hydro 2.0."
