Energy and climate change minister Chris Bowen has been criticized for blaming coal-fired power stations for power outages while defending renewable energy.
"This is about what I've been saying for some time, that the biggest threat to reliability in our energy systems is coal-fired power stations," he told Sky News on Thursday.
The minister, who was dubbed 'Blackout Bowen' over the outages, pointed to ageing fossil fuel stations as the cause of the state's blackout woes.
"The least reliable part of our energy grid at the moment is coal-fired power. That's just a statement of fact. There hasn't been a day in the last 18 months when we haven't had a breakdown in a coal-fired power station."
Bowen emphasized that renewables are currently the cheapest form of energy available to Australians and warned against pausing renewable investment.
"It would be a disaster for emissions, for reliability and prices, to pause that renewable investment and wait for nuclear to come on in the late 2030s or 2040s."
There were three expected outages in NSW on Wednesday in preparation for summer, according to Mr. Bowen. Additionally, two power stations broke down unexpectedly.
"That means we've got to get more (renewables) investment on earlier. That's what we're doing," he said.
However, critics have raised concerns about whether green energy projects will replace coal quickly enough as it is phased out. Some pointed out that renewables couldn't fill gaps during scheduled maintenance of coal and gas plants.
A third critic highlighted Australian Energy Market Operator data showing that coal was providing nearly 60% of NSW's electricity on Thursday morning while solar contributed 27%, and wind one percent.
"Oh sure Chris Bowen, who needs coal?" they wrote.
Parts of Sydney experienced blackouts due to soaring temperatures and subsequent outages affected thousands due to flooding at substations causing major disruptions including traffic light failures leading to delays.
Expert Opinions
Energy market analyst Saul Kavonic claimed that winding down coal-fired plants without adequate replacements has led to crisis conditions:
"The government and regulator has been asleep at the wheel and have only addressed this once it got to crisis mode," he said.