The Deputy Prime Minister said relying too heavily on renewable energy could "create vulnerability" to a state's energy supply.

“With a strong reliance on wind power there’s an exceptional draw that’s then put on the network from other sources when that wind power is unable to be generated,” Mr Joyce said.

“It doesn’t work when there’s no wind, it doesn’t work when there’s excessive wind, and it obviously wasn’t working too well last tonight because they had a blackout.”

However, recent reports reveal the blackout had nothing to do with wind power and was the result of 22 transmission towers being pushed over by the storm, along with the lose of numerous power lines. Mr Joyce said he believed some Labor state governments, such as South Australia, had set extremely aggressive renewable energy targets without enough planning or attention on energy security.

Despite his criticism of wind energy, Mr Joyce praised the $400m wind farm at Glen Innes which was announced in April. But Mr Joyce said the situation in NSW was different.

“Projects such as the Glen Innes wind farm will work in conjunction with coal-based power in NSW, providing another energy source to the state,” his spokeswoman said. “NSW does not rely on intermittent renewables for energy security.”