Partway during Friday's summit of the nation's energy ministers, Victoria's Lily D'Ambrosio interrupted a presentation by the Energy Security Board to query a dot-point about concessions for low-income earners.

"Where did that come from?" she reportedly asked, wondering who had directed that research. Such a proposal at this point was a "non starter".

The problem, though, is not so much the board's unsolicited research but the torrent of studies that comes out of the Melbourne gathering – and the fault lines that they may open up.

That work – presumably to be done well before the ministers meet for a "final determination" on the National Energy Guarantee (NEG) on August 10 in Sydney – includes more details on emissions targets, offsets, the reliability standard to accompany the emissions one, market power mitigation, and the thorny issue of "additionality".