GLOBAL WARMING, page-110

Cheaper, cleaner, more reliable: How renewables are winning energy trifecta

Last week, the three business lobby groups that did more than most to undermine the Labor-Greens carbon price, and who hoorayed loudly when Tony Abbott put it the sword in 2013, joined up with unions and super funds and research groups to urge the same Coalition government to aim for a zero emissions target by 2050.

It begs the question: What has prompted the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Industry Group and the Australian Energy Council to perform such a majestic backflip, and seemingly turn their backs on the fossil fuel industry and the carbon pollution they once claimed was an honourable by-product of their members’ money making endeavours.

The answer is quite simple: It is no longer tenable to dispute – unless of course you are a member of the governing Coalition and the conservative commentariat – that wind and solar are clearly the cheapest and cleanest option, and with the backing of smart systems and storage, the most reliable too.

The experts have made this abundantly clear.

The fact that wind and solar offer the cheapest source of bulk generation has been known for some time. Solar prices have plunged more than 90 per cent over the past decade, and wind by around 60 per cent.

The two leading expert bodies in Australia – the CSIRO and the Australian Energy Market Operator – have made this abundantly clear: Even with storage, wind and solar offer the cheapest option for dispatchable power, and battery storage costs continue to fall and the technology continues to amaze with its versatility.

All major bodies have recognised that the introduction of wind and solar has been a key factor is bringing down wholesale electricity prices over the last year – with some help from increased efficiency and lower gas prices.

And last week, AEMO made a point in its annual Electricity Statement of Opportunities that it was the addition of more than 4,200 megawatts of new wind and solar capacity over the past year that had improved grid reliability, so much so that it saw no shortfall of the country’ strict reliability standards for the next 10 years.

Its chief concern was the increasing frailty of the ageing coal fleet, and the threat of sudden losses of large units as the machinery struggled to cope with intense heatwaves and other extreme conditions.