Lol.
I have to laugh at the biased commentary here. It always gets in the way of the real story.
For sure, we still need coal fired power as baseload in Australia.
For the time being.You are correct that we need a considerable amount of energy storage. However, we also need considerably more renewable energy generation anyway. We simply don't have enough now. If we had more generation we would reduce the intermittency. We wouldn't remove the intermittency entirely but we would reduce it.
Back to coal. The sensible policy would be to find a way to give coal some security to run. The enemy of coal right now is the intermittency of renewables. When the wind is blowing or the sun is shining, coal can't compete on price. Turning coal up and down is inefficient and problematic. For extended periods of high renewable output, it just makes it harder for coal.
So, as more and more renewable generation is built, it is going to get harder for coal to compete. At some point the fossil generators will give up potentially leaving an unexpected hole in the market. As happened when Hazelwood shutdown.
That smart thing to do would be to have an integrated plan that gives some security to generators to maintain baseload while investing in renewables. That would give them the opportunity to maintain their coal generation for a period while replacing it with renewables plus storage. A much smoother transition for everybody. It would give some more direction, particularly in the storage area. We are already curtailing renewable generators because we have put the cart before the horse in some areas. We are now rearranging that with new interconnectors but that will take a long time and is the less efficient way of doing things.
There are now many storage projects in planning or underway across the country.
Unfortunately, we still have states doing their own thing because the feds are running a separate agenda.
That's not very smart.
Renewables plus storage is the future of electricity supply. The argument around that is over. That's why the deniers ranting and raving make me laugh. They can rant all they like. The may as well go and shout at the sky for all the good it is going to do them.
The only issue is how efficiently we manage the transition. We can either do it the hard, more expensive, inefficient way. Or we can do it the easy way. It seems we are now getting closer to the latter fortunately.
About time, I say.
https://reneweconomy.com.au/big-battery-storage-map-of-australia/
