Labor is trying to win an election. It's as simple as that. They have looked at the standout issues from the last election and they are adjusting them accordingly That's why they have softened/altered their position on gas generation.
I note that they are still against nuclear power.
" However, Labor will remain steadfast in its opposition to the development of any nuclear power industries and will look to incorporate elements of ‘just transition’ – supporting workers in industries impacted by the need to take action on climate change – directly into its policy platform. "
https://reneweconomy.com.au/labor-t...de-zero-carbon-target-in-new-policy-platform/
I agree with your view that nuclear has missed it's window. Unless they come up with a fusion solution soon of course.
People suggesting that we build large nuclear plants on the east coast are living in the past. Large power stations are already going the way of the dinosaur. We are already seeing that the future is a largely distributed grid. Solar, wind and hydro spread out all across the country connected by a hv grid. Local energy generation such as solar on every building. At the moment we have only been targeting domestic solar and a smattering of solar farms. We have really only scratched the surface. Now we are starting to put solar on commercial roofing. Vast expanses of industrial buildings with large footprints. Buildings like warehouses that don't use a lot of electricity themselves generating power adjacent to where it is used. Spread right through a city. For sure local batteries ( small footprint ) will be incorporated on these sites further adding to their output capacity.
Just imagine every roof in a city generating electricity ? The mind boggles on how big that number might be. Then add to that a fleet of a few million evs that are parked 95% of their lives. That's a very large, distributed, mobile energy storage system. Two very large systems that grow progressively ( and can be replaced progressively ) that are right across the community. Completely the opposite of the large power station model.
If you build a large generator it will become a white elephant. We are already seeing how our existing coal fired power stations are struggling with competition from renewables. They can't respond to fast load changes hence the need for expensive peakers and they simply can't compete on price. The duck curve smashes them during the day almost every day with the amount of solar we have now. Double or triple that duck curve and they will be out of business . I haven't even mentioned offshore wind yet. South Australia is already over 60% renewables with onshore wind. Just wait till we get really big wind outputs like the Star of the South in Victoria.
https://www.starofthesouth.com.au/
While nuclear can respond to load changes quicker than coal, it is still slow and it works against their main business model. Large power stations need to run at a steady rate for a large load. A big power station idling most of the time will just lose money hand over fist.
Storage. There is plenty going on in storage and it's not going to be one solution. Pumped hydro for the east coast is going to be a good solution as we have plenty of sites in the right places right up the coast. They might be ideal for the larger loads . Already there are other simple solutions like gravity energy storage. Using existing well proven technology. Largely automated. Easily incorporated into those industrial areas I suggested earlier.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/ba...nergy-storage-will-show-its-potential-in-2021
Here's another energy storage solution that looks very promising. Particularly as it stores heat. Heat in industrial processes requires a lot of energy. It's one fifth of global energy demand.
https://saltxtechnology.com/
