Reliable, affordable baseload power is the energy system’s main goal

Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen has talked a big game about the positive impact of wind and solar farms on regional communities in the energy transition to net-zero emissions. Powering Australia’s clean-energy future, he has promised various regions, will bring “thousands of new jobs” in new industries such as green power, green hydrogen and green steel. And with 97 per cent of land under onshore wind farms either grazed or cropped, “there are many cases of the benefits of co-locating solar farms with animal grazing”, including shade and water efficiency. The more regional communities encounter large-scale renewables projects, however, the less enthusiastic they are becoming about them. That is the finding of the Mood of the Bush survey, rural reporter Charlies Peel writes.

Commissioned by News Corp ahead of The Australian’s Bush Summit in Port Hedland, Western Australia on August 30, it found regional communities on the frontline of the renewables rollout are the least supportive about the energy transition and the most concerned about the fast pace at which it is changing their surroundings. While a majority of regional Australians still backed the plan for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, that support has declined from 64 per cent to 55 per cent over the past two years. And regional residents in states with the most large-scale renewables projects under construction are the least supportive of the transition and of relaxing regulatory approvals to speed up the rollout.

In a concerning finding for Peter Dutton, the survey found large-scale wind and solar farms and new transmission lines in regional areas were more popular in all states than nuclear power plants on the sites of coal-fired power stations connected to existing transmission lines. The Coalition is committed to building seven nuclear reactors on the sites of existing or former coal-fired power stations. It remains to be seen, however, whether renewables remain more popular than the nuclear option.

The survey showed that in regional Queensland, where construction of renewables projects is highest, positive community sentiment has fallen from 61 per cent in 2022 to 49 per cent. Regional Victoria (53 per cent positive), NSW (56), and South Australia (57) are less supportive than regional WA (71) and Tasmania (70).

The Coalition is yet to release the cost of its policy, and the government’s renewables plans also lack cost-benefit details. What matters most is the ability of the different options – renewables and gas, or nuclear, renewables and gas – to provide the most reliable, affordable baseload power for households and industry.