AUSTRALIA’S ENERGY FUTURE IS RENEWABLES AND STORAGE

Electricity storage will play a crucial role in ensuring the renewable energy system of 21st century Australia provides reliable energy when and where it is needed.

 

Technologies like battery storage, peaking gas generation and pumped hydro are perfect complements to solar and wind generation, and will ensure Australian business and households can look forward not secure and reliable clean power.  

 

That is why Labor is so pleased with the recent work of the ANU in mapping 22,000 potential pumped hydro sites across Australia.

 

Professor Andrew Blakers said “Australia needs only a tiny fraction of these sites for pumped hydro storage – about 450 GWh of storage – to support a 100 per cent renewable electricity system”, highlighting the lack of substance to Malcolm Turnbull’s opposition to Labor’s commitment to 50 percent renewable energy by 2030.

 

The total capacity of these distributed pumped hydro systems is greater than 33 Snowy 2.0 schemes. This highlights the need for the Snowy 2.0 feasibility study to be assessed alongside other options - including a distributed network of smaller pumped hydro projects identified in the ANU's ground breaking research.

 

While Labor supports the Snowy 2.0 feasibility study, ultimately these decisions will need to be made on the basis of economics and engineering rather than the Prime Minister's political interests and pet projects.

 

Malcolm Turnbull continues to oppose the renewable investment that justifies the need for pumped hydro and other storage. Instead, they are still proposing to build new expensive coal plants, at taxpayer expense. Malcolm Turnbull is trying to be all things to all people, spruiking pumped hydro storage while also supporting more coal power instead of renewables.

 

In contrast, Labor’s support for renewable energy, coupled with storage and other firming technologies, in a framework based on the Finkel Review, offers a consistent and credible energy policy to deliver cheap, secure and clean energy for all Australians.