THE uncertain future of big power consumers in Tasmania is raising fears of a surplus of renewable energy in the state, with nowhere for it to go.
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However, the state government is standing by its decision that a second Basslink cable would not be viable on advice from the Tasmanian Renewable Energy Industry Development Board.
That is despite its chairman last week urging the government to start planning one.
Former Hydro Tasmania chairman and current chairman of the development board Peter Rae, Australia's chief climate commissioner Professor Tim Flannery and Australian Innovation Research Centre director Professor Jonathan West are all in favour of a second Bass Strait electricity interconnector.
Mr Rae said that if either BHP Temco or Rio Tinto wound back production, it would create a surplus of power in Tasmania.
Rio Tinto currently used one quarter of the state's electricity.
Basslink is the world's second longest undersea power cable and connects Tasmania to the national electricity grid, running from George Town to Loy Yang in Victoria.
It is owned by Basslink Pty Ltd, which is owned by CitySpring Infrastructure Trust and financially contracted to Hydro Tasmania.
The cable was rated to transmit 500 megawatts of energy on a continuous basis in either direction and up to 630 megawatts exported from Tasmania for limited periods.
Power is exported from Tasmania during good market times and there is capacity to export more.
Professor West said there was enormous potential for expanding wind power in the state.
``It would be a major earner for us - you're talking billions of dollars,'' he said.
But he said wind power depended very much on how energy markets in the state panned out, and depended on the future of the big power consumers.
``If one or more of our big power consumers was to fail and stop buying it, we will have a gigantic surplus and a real problem so we really need a second cable across the Bass Strait as a spur for the further investment in developing the clean energy sector,'' Professor West said.
Last month Professor Flannery said the state government needed to start planning for a second Basslink cable in order to take advantage of an increased demand for renewable energy.
``The existing Basslink will be okay for a while but if you start planning for a second Basslink now, we probably won't get it until 2020,'' he said.
