So effective, in fact, that both major parties have now taken on a 50 per cent renewable energy target by 2030.

Not to be outdone by Labor in this election’s green wars, the social media feeds of CLP politicians are filled with promises of “cheaper, greener” electricity.

But just as social media can be far removed from real life, these Facebook feeds are a galaxy away from the reality of our immediate energy future.

The dire state of that future is spelled out in the Utilities Commission’s Northern Territory Electricity Outlook Report for 2018-19 — prepared with the Australian Energy Market Operator — that was released in June with little fanfare.

The report raises the alarm about the security of future electricity supply at the current level of 16 per cent renewable energy.

The commission deemed the prospect of 50 per cent renewable energy so difficult it didn’t even bother to model it.

“The commission with AEMO found during an initial modelling of an updated RE50% scenario, to more closely align to the government’s renewable energy target than in previous years, it was extremely challenging (if not unrealistic) for the Territory to source 50 per cent of its electricity consumption in the three regulated systems from renewable energy sources relying on solar PV and battery storage alone,” the report said.

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“In short, the initial modelling showed for each percentage step increase in renewable energy consumed, it was exponentially more challenging to achieve in terms of the amount of installed capacity required and subsequent costs of large-scale solar PV and or battery storage, noting the modelling did not take economic considerations into account.”

Fifty per cent renewable energy was not technically impossible, the commission said, but there was a catch.

Achieving it would be “complex and expensive”. Just how expensive?

Well, no one seems willing to say. The commission said it would “likely require a mix of other technologies, such as but not limited to, synchronous condensers, solar forecasting, new fast-start thermal generation and or demand-side management, which are beyond the scope of the modelling in this report.”

So, is renewable energy really cheaper? Well, in some cases it is, especially if you don’t need to ensure its reliability.

In fact, sometimes it’s so cheap you can’t even give it away.

This has been the case in the US, where over the past four years California has had to pay neighbouring Arizona to take its excess solar energy, to prevent it overloading its own powerlines.

Which brings us to the CLP’s plan to connect the NT to the national electricity grid. It’s an admirable goal.

And if the commonwealth is looking for nation building infrastructure projects — and willing to foot the bill — this might not be a bad place to start.

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It could, as the CLP says, add stability to our electricity grid. But the idea that east coast states would pay to take our excess solar energy might be a triumph of hope over reality, particularly if we need to shed this power to stop overloading our own system.

The CLP is at least attempting to find a solution to mess created by Labor’s pursuit of an unrealistic renewable energy target.

The ALP’s pre-election promise in 2016 — seemingly taken straight off the shelf from other Labor states — was clearly made with no understanding of the Territory’s unique structural and economic circumstances.

Chief among them, an ageing, islanded grid, no access to wind or hydro, and a take-or-pay contract for gas from the Blacktip field that runs until 2034.

In the past few months – under the cover of coronavirus – the government has finally taken its own steps to rectify the mess. It announced $30 million of new money for a battery and drastically reduced its ridiculously generous solar feed-in tariff.

But even if it halts renewables at current levels, danger lurks ahead.

The pending retirement of thermal generators at the Channel Island power station are of particular concern to the Utilities Commission.

“This may impair the power system’s frequency control, in particular the ability to keep the rate of change of frequency (RoCoF) low enough to allow sufficient time for the system to respond to a contingency event to prevent the risk of system blackouts,” the commission’s report says.

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It says planning to prevent these blackouts needs to start now, but warns “the costs are likely to be borne by electricity consumers and or Territory taxpayers”.

Despite this, the CLP — supposedly the party of fiscal responsibility — has promised to freeze power prices for the next four years. It seems the ever-ballooning budget bottom line will again be left to suffer.

CLP leader Lia Finocchiaro said this week: “The Country Liberal Party has been very clear that we support the 50 per cent renewable energy target by 2030 so long as it ensures reliability and affordability for all Territorians.”

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The Utilities Commission makes it clear such a target ensures neither reliability nor affordability.

It’s time all our politicians were upfront about this situation.