5 March 2021
There’s a lot riding on predictions of the future, when it comes to climate. In Australia, the future of coal is mostly a debate about whether its demise is fast, or slow. For the country’s gas-fired power generation, the debate is slightly more complicated.
The government, for instance, believes that Australia ought to be building new gas-fired power stations, in order to buttress grid reliability and “affordability”. 1,000 megawatts of new gas in the Hunter Valley is erroneously justified on the grounds that it is “required” to ensure reliable provision of electricity. This view is supported by Australia’s Labor party, with their draft policy platform declaring that “Labor recognises that gas-power generation has a critical role to play in firming the National Electricity Market (NEM) to ensure reliability and price affordability as it transitions to net zero emissions and as other technologies emerge”.
Costly to downplay role of gas in power: report
Mar 3, 2021 – 10.00pm
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Keeping gas in the power generation system could reduce costs by as much as $7.5 billion a year, according to findings for the gas industry, which is pushing back against official assumptions that the fuel will play a minimal role in electricity supply.
Fresh analysis from Frontier Economics, to be released on Thursday, calculates major savings for consumers from retaining gas for power generation in a system aiming for net zero emissions compared with depending on renewables 100 per cent.
Going 100 per cent renewables and cutting out gas power generation will cost billions of dollars more, the analysis finds.