December 3, 2024
Australia’s coal-fired power stations are outdated, unreliable, polluting and must be replaced soon. Australia’s Energy Market Operator (AEMO) expects them all to close by 2038 at the latest.
In November 2024 at least four of NSW’s 12 coal powered generating units were shut down for maintenance. As these power stations age, the time, expense and complexity of this maintenance has increased.
Coal-fired power stations generate power by burning coal, but this can also cause them to overheat during hot weather. This risks them suddenly switching off (known as a ‘trip’) during hot weather, which is a danger to our energy reliability.
AEMO tells us that large-scale solar and wind, backed up by storage (massive batteries and hydro power), can provide power 24/7. Unlike our existing reliance on a few big coal generators, the renewables-powered grid we are building will be powered by hundreds of wind and solar farms, linked by transmission and backed up by storage like big batteries and pumped hydro.
Already, about 40% of Australia’s electricity comes from solar, wind and hydro power. That’s doubled in the past six years.
The following leading energy experts are available to address the problems, and the solutions to this ongoing situation as we head into what is likely to be a hot summer.
David Leitch – Principal at ITK Services Australia
Location: Sydney
“There’s a lot of unsubstantiated finger wagging as to what is behind the projected blackouts for this summer, but some of the key drivers are the increased demand for power, in part due to increasing temperatures driving the use of airconditioning, and the delay in upgrading transmission infrastructure and bringing renewable energy projects online.
“If you look at the data, you can see there is a 44% increase in new wind, 35% increase in utility solar, 500% increase in battery MW and a 1000% increase in battery storage hours – all either actually under construction or in commissioning across the National Electricity Market (NEM).
“The increase in battery storage will do far more good than more gas and is absolutely guaranteed to be online much quicker than any new gas plants, other than the one at Newcastle being built by Snowy.
“We don’t need new gas or coal, we need to speed up the rollout of renewables to ensure we have a clean and sustainable source of electricity, with the added benefit that these green energy sources don’t fuel the climate change which is the root cause of increasing temperatures.”
Stephanie Bashir – CEO Nexa Advisory
Location: Melbourne
“It is clear from the ongoing unplanned outages reported by the energy regulator that our ageing coal-fired power stations are unreliable and put us at high risk of blackouts. We saw this clearly demonstrated during the heatwave in NSW last week.
“The answer is to enable consumers to manage their own demand, and unleash development and connection of renewables, including through orderly closure of coal plants.
“If we delay, Australians will pay as well as being in the dark! Nexa Advisory’s analysis shows that every year of delay in the building of the necessary transmission and replacement generation means consumer bills will be unnecessarily higher. In NSW, households could pay as much as $1,100 in the first year if we see the ongoing three-year delays observed in recent years.
“Yes, gas has a role to play, but largely as a ‘firming’ technology. If we continue to rely on fossil fuels, including gas, we will continue to be hostage to international markets. We need to act urgently, in the interest of families and businesses, and not fall into the hands of vested interests.”
Bruce Robertson – Independent energy analyst
Location: NSW
“The recent causes of potential shortages is the breakdown of old, coal-fired power stations.
“When we look to the solutions, gas is not economically possible – we pay some of the highest prices for gas in the world. Often we pay more than our customers for Australian gas right here in Australia.
“Gas has simply priced itself out of the system.”
Ty Christopher – Director Energy Futures at University of Wollongong
Location: NSW
“The most significant change which has occurred in the electricity supply industry since its formation is the uptake of distributed energy resources (DER), most particularly in the form of household solar installation. Recent figures indicate that the largest electricity generation source in the National Electricity Market (NEM) is solar on homes and businesses, with a total of 24 GW of capacity. Around one third of homes currently have solar generation installed and feed power into the grid during the day.
“It is significant to note that the electricity transmission and distribution grids, and their associated rules and regulations were all designed when the electricity grid involved unidirectional power flows. Power flowed ‘one way’ from these generators, through transmission assets, then distribution assets, and was delivered to end users.
“Unfortunately, the rules and regulations which govern the control and operation of the grid have not kept pace with the technological changes. From a regulatory perspective, we have a complete set of market structures, legal separation requirements, rules and regulations which are perfectly designed for an electricity system which no longer exists.
“Widespread DER is not a problem to be solved, it is an opportunity to be harnessed.
“The coordinated and dynamic management of large numbers of small controllable loads such as storage hot water, pool pumps, home batteries, community batteries and grid support batteries will provide the ability to match DER output at high production times during daylight hours with controllable demand, while also working to reduce the evening peak demand and in the case of batteries, extend the solar window into the evening demand period. The result will be reduced bills for consumers as evening peak prices are reduced as the so-called ‘duck curve’ of demand is flattened out.”
ENDS
FOR INTERVIEWS:
CMC director Danielle Veldre: 0408 972 997 – dan.veldre@climatemediacentre.org.au
CMC senior media advisor Sean Kennedy: 0447 121 378 – sean.kennedy@climatemediacentre.org.au