Totally agree,
I don't see why the AU government is not considering following this path. It is so much potential in the solar power generation here and the perfect conditions; especially when the pick usage in AU is in the summer when AC is full on
Regarding NZ, I use to live there (moved to Sydney a year ago after 10 years in Wellington) and loved it, however the weather is much better in SYD. So, NZ is totally different from the energy generating perspective: more than 75% of electricity is from renewables; lots of hydro in south island and recently lots of wind farms deployed (in the range of 100MW - 200MW each farm).
From this point of view, reaching 100% renewable is not far; this will be mind blowing.
If I remember well the Cook Strait power cable is high voltage DC - 300kV and it is in fact much longer (than just the Cook strait) as it has to carry the power all the way from hydro in the mountains, which would be close to 1000km in total.
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