Leadership needed for Australia to deliver green energy grid

Delivering a green power grid won’t be easy, but no other country has the competitive advantage Australia has to produce low-cost, zero-emissions power.

No other country has the competitive advantage Australia has to produce low-cost, zero-emissions power.

It was a view that I’ll never forget, one that as a child would have been beyond my imagination.

A few weeks ago, I was standing on top of a wind turbine in the Golden Plains of Victoria.

High in the air, it offers a fresh-air, 360-degree uninterrupted view that otherwise would only be possible sitting on top of a plane or standing on a skyscraper.

The land we looked out at wasn’t unfamiliar to me, though I never imagined seeing it from this angle.

My family has lived and worked on the land in this region for over 160 years.

It’s where I grew up and I will always have a special connection to this place.

When I was 18 my grandfather told me I didn’t need to go to university in Melbourne because he could get me a job here, working on the land.

Prospects for farming at the time weren’t great and I thanked him for the advice, but left anyway.

Now, a few decades later, my work has brought me back and I couldn’t be prouder.

This southern hemisphere’s largest wind farm is under construction on the Golden Plains, between Ballarat and Geelong.

It’s impossible not to be in awe of what is being built by more than 1000 workers. Some are from afar but many are from the region.

It’s creating jobs, building local infrastructure and leaving a lasting legacy.

The region is undergoing a revival, like many other rural areas right across Australia, on the back of an extraordinary renewable energy opportunity.

This very opportunity – and what it means for our nation – will be discussed at the Australian Clean Energy Summit in Sydney on Tuesday.

No other country has the competitive advantage Australia has to produce low-cost, zero-emissions power.

It will build prosperity for all Australians, many of whom may never stop to consider what it took for their lights to turn on or for their heaters to warm their family rooms.

The decisions we make now have the potential to define our nation for centuries to come.

Power is the backbone of modern economies – the power to drive our resources sector, revitalise modern manufacturing, our farms and our smart and electric homes and businesses.

Kane Thornton, chief executive of the Clean Energy Council. Picture: Tony Lewis/CEC

Meanwhile, we need to recognise that change doesn’t always come easy.

For some people it can create anxiety and uncertainty.

We all have a role – governments, industry, community leaders – to bring clarity and confidence to regional communities about their future and what a clean energy future looks like for them.

As the recent Integrated System Plan by the Australian Energy Market Operator confirmed, 90 per cent of our coal generation will close over the next decade, whether anyone likes it or not.

We need to be deploying in the order of six gigawatts of large-scale renewable energy on top of some 3GW of rooftop solar, every year.

This is ambitious but achievable. There are many sources of inspiration.

Investors have delivered massive investment in large-scale batteries in the past year alone. Some 27 big batteries were committed to in 2023, worth nearly $5bn and delivering over 5GW of storage capacity. That momentum has continued into 2024.

The government’s Capacity Investment Scheme is one of the last missing pieces of the energy transition jigsaw puzzle. This will be the key to driving power prices down.

It needs to move quickly and deliver the investment confidence the market is seeking. If it works, we can expect a wave of large-scale renewable energy projects come forward.

It’s doable, but it won’t be easy.

It will take resolve and strength for such a generational change. It also requires bipartisanship on energy policy.

And it’s here that I have the gravest concern. I fear that our nation’s ability to deliver generational reform and change is fragile.

Bad-faith actors are preying on communities increasingly anxious about the uncertainty and tensions in the world around them, trying to tear things down.

If we can’t have a sensible discussion about energy policy, then our problems as a nation go far beyond balancing our energy mix.

We have suffered for over 15 years through the climate wars. They have returned today in the guise of a debate about nuclear power – a technology that’s several times more expensive than renewables and would take 20 years to deliver.

These distractions and the inaction are why power prices are higher today and the energy transition is all the harder.

It’s why we are playing catch-up to reform our energy markets, fix and build out the grid, train the workforce, and develop the standards and practices we should expect.

There is a lot to do to develop this industry and overcome the barriers inherent in an energy system that was built for the 20th century instead of the 21st century.

This is complex and it’s difficult. It requires leadership, but working together, we can get there.

Kane Thornton is chief executive of the Clean Energy Council. The Australian Clean Energy Summit is being held at the International Convention Centre in Sydney on July 16 and 17.