Malcolm Turnbull has taken another swipe at the renewable energy policies of some state governments as he and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews exchanged angry words over the issue.
Mr Andrews lashed out at the prime minister, accusing him of peddling "ignorant rubbish" over renewable energy after South Australia was blacked out in ferocious storms this week.
For his part Mr Turnbull said the premier was making one-off renewable energy deals "here and there" without any regard for maintaining energy security.
Mr Turnbull has criticised Labor state governments for setting aggressive and unrealistic renewable energy targets that put ideology before energy security.
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Mr Andrews told ABC radio on Friday Mr Turnbull was "peddling ignorant rubbish, lecturing people about things he knows nothing about and conflating an extreme weather event".
"It seems like Tony Abbott is back."
The prime minister had no credibility when he talked about establishing a national renewable energy scheme.
"We are the only jurisdiction in the developed world that had a price on carbon and got rid of it and had a renewable energy target and wound it back," Mr Andrews said.
The only way Australia could reach the Commonwealth's renewable energy target of 23.5 per cent by 2020 was through the ambitions of state schemes.
Queensland and South Australia are aiming for 50 per cent and Victoria for 40 per cent, although over longer time frames.
Queensland's acting energy minister Leeanne Enoch said her state was sticking to its target.
"You never know which Malcolm Turnbull you're going to get - are we going to get the renewable champion one day and then we're going to get an almost climate denier the next day," she said.
"It's bizarre."
Mr Turnbull rejected suggestions he wasn't a supporter of renewable energy, saying he had taken a great interest in the technology.
"I have a roof full of solar panels," he told Neil Mitchell on 3AW radio.
"But we have to remember that, yes, we have to reduce our emissions ... but we have to maintain energy security and reliability and affordability."
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