With the clock ticking on coal power plants across Australia, the federal government’s aspiration to run the grid on 82 per cent renewables by 2030 is on shaky ground. Here’s why.
A clearer indication of the bumps on the road to a greener grid would be difficult to find.Not all that long ago, shortly after Westerman was appointed head of the AEMO in 2021, he strode to the front of a business lunch in Melbourne to give his first public address.
“If we don’t have enough renewable energy, firming and transmission in the system, then consumers are not going to enjoy low-cost and reliable power,” he says.Access to reliable, affordable power underpins the health of every section of the economy; it’s crucial to our daily lives and the cost of the products we consume. But unlike water or petrol, electricity is hard to store, which means that basically all demand must be served instantly by available supply.
“It’s alright to be in a place where you’re not exposed to it, but us people are going to live underneath it, work underneath it, and try to keep our livelihoods going.” Community opposition will prove difficult to overcome. Key projects across the east coast, including HumeLink, the Western Renewables Link and VNI West, face further delays amid objections over feared impacts on property values, the environment and farming practices. Last week, farmers drove tractors into central Melbourne to protest in front of Parliament House.
As the clock continues to tick and differences remain irreconcilable, a move to compulsory acquisitions seems inevitable. Part of the response to Dunkelflaute is the rollout of big batteries. Think of the Tesla Big Battery, as it was first known, that Elon Musk and renewable France’s Neoen built in South Australia in 2017. When it was launched, it was the world’s biggest. Many more have since been built or are being developed across the eastern seaboard.
Batteries, however, have limitations. Their typical size today means they will often exhaust their stored energy in one to two hours of maximum output. If Dunkelflaute lasts longer, what options are left to bridge the gap?Pumped hydro is another kind of storage, which uses motors to pump water uphill to a higher reservoir, then release it downhill to spin turbines. The technology can operate for many hours, even days. The federal government’s Snowy 2.
“Everyone is focused on the closure of coal-fired power stations, which we are also committed to, but there needs to also be a solution once coal has disappeared – what is happening thereafter?”
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