SA defends going it alone on power plan

The South Australian premier says his state couldn't afford to wait for the outcome of a national review of the country's energy market before acting.

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill MP (R) and Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis arrive at the energy plan conference in Adelaide Source: AAP

South Australian premier Jay Weatherill insists his state is not pulling out of the national electricity market as he promotes his own energy strategy.

The state government is on Wednesday selling its $550 million plan, which includes new battery storage for renewable energy, the construction of gas-fired power plants and tougher legislation to intervene in the national market.

But federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg hit out at the plan he fears will have knock-on consequences around the country.

"I'm getting advice as to whether that is in breach of the market rules that South Australia helped design, boasted that they were a part of it and just at end of last year said were working well for the people of SA," he told ABC radio.

He also questioned the motive of South Australia to go it alone while Chief Scientist Alan Finkel is conducting a review into the national market.

"What South Australia has done has gone ahead of that decision which is unfortunate," he said.

Mr Frydenberg acknowledged some of the plan's elements have been spoken about for some time.

"But what we don't want to see is the national market fragment by states taking it upon themselves to make decisions in their own jurisdictions which could be to the detriment of other jurisdictions."

Mr Weatherill hit back at the federal minister, describing the national energy market as broken.

"The reason it's broken is because the obvious policy response is being destroyed by a bunch of right-wingers in the federal parliament who love coal and hate renewables," he said.

The premier argued his state couldn't afford to wait for the outcome of the Finkel review, given the existing impact of price spikes and unreliable supply.

Asked whether his state was withdrawing from the national energy market, Mr Weatherill said: "No, of course not."

"What we're doing is making the national energy market work for South Australia."