Nuclear option to break logjam

Peter Dutton has finally started to turn up the heat on the Albanese government to get its house in order on the expensive and unruly decarbonisation challenge. The Opposition Leader has proposed converting old coal-fired power sites into small-scale nuclear plants as part of the Coalition’s future energy plan. Given the difficulties being experienced in the delivery of a reliable energy future through renewables, backup and storage, it is an idea that deserves serious consideration.

All governments have been guilty of underestimating the enormous task of decarbonisation, one made even tougher by the Albanese government’s rush to legislate a 2030 target that requires 82 per cent of electricity to come from renewable sources. The latest appraisal is that delivery of renewable projects is running at about half the pace required to meet the target. As Chris Bowen has detailed, Australia must install 22,000 500-watt solar panels every day for eight years, along with 40 seven-megawatt wind turbines every month, plus 10,000km of additional transmission lines. On top of this there must be backup generation and storage for when the sun doesn’t shine and there are periods of wind drought that can becalm fleets of wind turbines for days or weeks.

The Snowy Hydro 2.0 scheme remains a cautionary tale of how difficult the task can be. Construction of the pumped hydro project is years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget. The latest news is that the government will soon sign a cost-plus agreement with the contractor because it is not possible to make accurate forecasts on costs. As former power executive Ted Woodley detailed in our opinion pages on Tuesday, the government has committed additional, unlimited taxpayer funds in the 2023-24 budget to build Snowy 2.0 and its grid connection without any review and regardless of the cost or viability.

Progress is equally slow on securing the land needed to build a cross-state system of transmission lines. Offshore wind is being touted as the next big thing but the slow process of securing public support and environmental approvals has yet to begin in earnest. Policymakers eager to do deals to bring offshore wind to Australia would be wise to study what has happened in the United Kingdom, where prices have run out of control and the bill has been handed back to the government.

Mr Dutton is attempting to outflank the government on its net-zero agenda. He is betting that voters will wake up to the disconnect between claims that renewable energy is the cheapest form of energy and seeing their power prices continue to soar. Claims that nuclear is too expensive relative to alternatives is being challenged by experience when the additional costs of delays, storage and backup are included in the renewables equation.

Proper cost-benefit analysis has been sorely lacking in the rush to net zero. Nationals leader David Littleproud told ABC listeners on Thursday about the high environmental price being paid as well.

Nuclear is back on the table in Europe, and it should be here as well.