Aussie Leader Slams Renewables ‘Obsession’ as Energy Chiefs Meet

  • Blackout brings energy security into question: prime minister
  • South Australia premier refutes outage link to wind power

Malcolm Turnbull.

Photographer: Andrew Taylor/AP Images
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Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull accused some state governments of putting too much emphasis on generating electricity from wind farms, putting Australia’s energy security at risk and “distorting the national energy market.”

Turnbull is claiming that Labor party-run states are too reliant on wind and solar power as they seek to cut greenhouse gas emissions. His Liberal-National federal government called state energy ministers to a meeting in Melbourne on Friday after fierce storms last week knocked down transmission towers in South Australia, causing blackouts in a state that gets 41 percent of its power from renewables.