The NT Government needs to develop a serious plan for our energy future, writes Matt Cunningham

WE can get down on one knee and promise our hearts to renewable energy for all time but without a solid plan and costings, our love affair is doomed to fail, writes MATT CUNNINGHAM

We can get down on one knee and promise our hearts to renewable energy for all time but without a solid plan and costings, our love affair is doomed to fail, writes Matt Cunningham

I LOVE renewables. I need to make this clear from the outset.

For in this age of ideologically-driven debate over energy policy, a failure to do so will soon have you branded a knuckle-dragging Neanderthal who denies the existence of climate change.

But in this increasingly Orwellian world, there are no limits to the amount of public “love” renewables need to be shown.

Perhaps that’s why these declarations of devotion seem so important to the NT Government. On Valentine’s Day the Chief Minister wrote on social media: “Find someone that looks at you the way the Territory Labor Government looks at renewables,” accompanied by a meme designed to show just how deep that love is.

Unfortunately, simply loving renewables does not make for sensible energy policy.

You can kiss it and cuddle it and take it out to dinner but that will do nothing to solve the difficult problem of how to accommodate an increasing amount of intermittent renewable energy into an ageing electricity grid designed for stable base-load power.

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The extent of that problem was revealed last week when the Utilities Commission handed down its final decision on the Power and Water Corporation’s proposed amendments to Generator Performance Standards.

As the Commission notes, integrating intermittent renewable energy into a grid designed for synchronous energy supply is a problem the entire country is grappling.

But here in the NT, the issue is even more complex.

Our only source of renewables is solar, meaning there is no wind or hydro to pick up the slack if the sun stops shining.

The Territory’s power systems are also “small and islanded”. This means there’s no interconnector to interstate power supplies — as there is in South Australia- to keep the lights on if things go wrong.

Yet our love for renewables has meant their growth has continued at rapid pace.

In the next 12 months Power and Water predicts more than 60 megawatts of solar photovoltaic generation will be connected to the Darwin-Katherine grid, and it has received inquiries or applications for at least double this much.

An inevitable tipping point has been reached.

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The Commission notes that without change, two likely events would occur; “conservative operating limits leading to constraints on solar generation, or unexpected insecure operation, risking customer load shedding”.

In other words, Power and Water would have to reject solar energy coming into the system to maintain stability, or there would be a serious risk of widespread blackouts.

This problem has occurred with less than 10 per cent renewable energy. Imagine then the implications of hitting the Government’s 50 percent renewable energy target.

Power and Water’s response has been to put new restrictions on solar generators.

Under its now-approved Generator Performance Standards, the burden of ensuring reliability will fall to solar generators, who will now have to install their own batteries to ensure certainty of supply.

This will greatly increase their costs and they have warned that it could jeopardise the commercial viability of their projects and future investments.

The requirement has been necessary because the NT Government has failed to make the necessary infrastructure investments — most notably centralised battery storage.

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There are two possible reasons for this. It’s either been too busy professing its love for renewable energy that it’s failed to do the work required, or it’s done the work and it knows the cost is prohibitive.

I suspect it’s the latter.

For whenever an NT Government minister is asked about the cost of upgrading the grid to accommodate its planned increase in renewable energy, they fail to give a straight answer.

This whole issue has been a serious policy failure.

But it’s clear this has become more about politics than policy.

A game where renewables are good and everything else is bad, especially when there’s a by-election to be won in a green-leaning seat.

Minister for Renewables Dale Wakefield was at it again this week, taking to social media to attack CLP Senator Sam McMahon after she told The Australian the Territory should be looking to nuclear power.

“Clean and cheap renewable energy is the future,” Wakefield wrote.

“NOT nuclear power plants. It is incredulous that Senator McMahon and the CLP will not give up until they litter the Territory with nuclear reactors.”

McMahon has done her share of politicking on this issue, using her maiden speech to describe renewables as a hoax.

But if Labor is serious about net zero emissions by 2050, can it really afford to rule out nuclear altogether?

Wakefield’s claim that renewables are cheap looks shakier by the day.

The Utilities Commission report shows significant infrastructure investment is required to accommodate more renewable energy.

The only question now is who should bear the cost of that transition?

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The solar generators — risking their commercial viability — or the taxpayer through Power and Water, adding more debt to an already dire situation.

The Government needs to do more than profess its love for renewables.

It needs to develop a serious plan for our energy future and come clean about what that plan will cost.