It will be a bumpy and challenging road, but Q + A panelists have backed Labor’s ambitious and grand plan to convert the country’s energy grid.
Key points:
- Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the government would seek to radically improve transmission in Australia
- Scientist Saul Griffith said the nation was far behind in modernizing the network
- Tony Wood said the re-wiring plan would be one of the most challenging in the country’s history
As Australia continues to go through a national crisis that has seen its wholesale electricity market suspended, Energy Minister Chris Bowen said on Thursday that the government would stick to its weapons and seek to radically improve transmission in Australia. significantly connecting more renewable energy to the grid. .
“We have to build 10,000 more miles of transmission lines, we have to increase our storage ninefold and that’s a huge challenge … and we have to move on,” Bowen said.
Massive challenge
But the task will not be easy and the nation is entering one of the most difficult points of the transition to cleaner energy, according to panel members, presented by Virginia Trioli.
Australian Energy Council Director General Sarah McNamara said it will be difficult to connect the large amounts of clean energy sources that are online.
“[We need] support renewable energy online and recognize that we also have many more energy resources distributed now, people in your home, when you have solar energy on your roof, you are also essentially becoming a generator in our network, that is a big challenge and this is a big reform of this complex machine that is our network, “he said.
Scientist Saul Griffith said the nation is far behind where it should be when it comes to modernizing the network.
“We are trying to take a system designed for a few dozen generators where we will have more than 10 million, we will have 30 million batteries on wheels,” he said.
Energy Minister Chris Bowen said more than 10,000km of transmission lines were needed. (P + R)
Tony Wood of the Grattan Institute said the re-wiring plan will be one of the most difficult in the country’s history and Australia currently lacks the materials and manpower to do so.
“This will be one of Australia’s biggest rebuilding projects, this is bigger than building Snowy Hydro after the war, getting manpower, mobilizing materials; any simple number will tell you it’s a huge challenge,” he added. .
Review of the functioning of the Australian energy market
Panelists hoped the current energy crisis would create political will to see a massive shift in the functioning of Australia’s energy market.
Dr Griffith said the government should look into investing more in homes to make sure they are part of the change.
“I think of Australia’s 10 million homes as national infrastructure … we need to fund homes in Australia with the same preferential funding we give to infrastructure in Australia and you should think about our cars and our homes in the same way we think of Snowy 2.0. “
Another consensus was reached in the panel when the discussion turned to the current grid and the fact that it just doesn’t work.
“In short, no,” Mr. Bowen said when asked if the system worked.
Sarah McNamara said the system had served Australia well, but it had overcome its final challenge and a “perfect storm” of events which meant it could not cope.
The often controversial issue of taxing generators was raised by newly elected independent Zoe Daniel, who proposed that power producers should be taxed as the price of gas rises.
Australian gas demand increased with the outbreak of war in Ukraine, as Russia is one of the largest gas producers in the world.
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Ms. Daniel suggested that generators could tax the difference on what companies did before the conflict.
“Think about how much money it can mean and consider what it can mean to put solar on the roofs and create that electrification we’re talking about,” he said.
Dr. Griffith agreed, saying, “We need to get today’s problem solved in the next few decades.”
He added that Norway had used gas export profit taxes to help subsidize a transition to electric vehicles.
But Ms McNamara, who represents power generators and retailers, said the task would be complicated.
“It is very difficult for governments to retroactively apply taxes and controls on resources that are already exported abroad on long-term contracts,” he said.
The panel agreed that reducing emissions was the ultimate goal, but there was still a long way to go before it could become a reality.
Watch the full episode on iview or on the Q + A Facebook page.
Posted 4 hours, 4 hours ago, Thu, June 16, 2022 at 2:30 PM, updated 4 hours, 4 hours ago, Thu, June 16, 2022 at 2:33 PM