Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister Angus Taylor has said Kurri Kurri would be firing in late 2023 to fill a 1000 megawatt demand gap which would open up when AGL’s Liddell coal plant shuts.

Australian Energy Market Operator chief system design officer said additional dispatchable capacity was a welcome addition to the market, but his agency didn’t take a position on what type of generation, either gas power or batteries primed by renewables, was preferable.

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“If you expect higher gas prices in the future and a decline of battery costs, really the future is predominantly dominated by batteries,” Dr Wonhas said in May. “If you believe in very low gas prices and maybe battery costs not coming down, then you’ll be seeing more gas in the mix.”

The Australian Energy Council, representing the nation’s big power suppliers including AGL, Origin and EnergyAustralia, criticised the Kurri Kurri investment. Chief executive Sarah McNamara said in May the market operator had not forecast any significant shortfalls after the Liddell closure, arguing the “private sector struggles to make final investment decisions” when government intervened in the market with investments like Kurri Kurri.

Monash University senior research fellow Ross Gawler modelled Kurri Kurri’s operating costs and said in July the project would deliver a $150 million loss each year for 20 years, totalling $3 billion, unless Snowy engaged in surge pricing to sell power at a high cost when there were shortfalls in the network.

Mr Broad rejected Mr Gawler’s analysis and said “increasing supply will have the effect of driving down electricity prices”. The modelling was “based on a fundamental misunderstanding of our business and will not be accurate or reliable,“ he said.