Bowen will claim the opposition’s nuclear plan would spook international investors and renewable project spending would falter if the Coalition were elected.

“Their ideological pursuit of nuclear reactors in two decades’ time would wreck the renewables rollout now,” he said.

“When David Littleproud says we need to ‘sweat the coal assets for longer’, he is describing a recipe for reliability ruin.

“In the context I’ve outlined of ageing and unreliable coal-fired power stations, we can only imagine what that would do for affordability and reliability.”

Bowen’s renewables target is key to Labor’s pledge to cut emissions by 43 per cent by 2030 and reduce household power bills by $275 by 2025.

But these goals have been jeopardised by community opposition to wind and solar farms and delays to crucial transmission lines.

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Experts warn the delays could add hundreds of dollars to power bills, but Bowen is adamant his aims are achievable.

He will challenge the Coalition to detail how it would incorporate nuclear plants into the increasingly renewables-dominated grid, given reactors are intended to run continuously rather than be ramped up and down in response to demand.

“In Australia, nuclear and renewables are simply incompatible,” Bowen will say.

“Is the Coalition’s plan to curtail zero-cost renewable energy to make room for expensive nuclear energy … or is their plan to bankroll these baseload plants to bid into the system at prices where they’ll bleed money? Either one is a recipe for Australians to pay much more.”

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