Green energy alternatives put grid reliability at risk

Nick Evans and Sarah Ison’s article highlights the need for new transmission lines to support Australia’s emergence as a green hydrogen superpower (“Energy grid on the line in coal exit, says AEMO”, 15/12). Before committing to the construction of such infrastructure, it is crucial to assess the variability of green hydrogen and understand the historical reasons for its limited use as an energy source.

Throughout history, hydrogen has struggled to compete with natural gas, primarily due to engineering challenges and its inability to match the commercial competitiveness of natural gas. Historical instances highlight these challenges. Hydrogen, not naturally abundant in usable quantities, is typically obtained from water or methane. Green hydrogen, derived from water molecules, faces a fundamental challenge: it requires 52 kilowatt hours of energy to produce 1kg of H2, which generates only 32kWh of energy.

This inefficiency makes green hydrogen economically unsustainable without substantial commercial subsidies. While it may find applications in steel and fertiliser production, as an overall energy source its economic viability remains a persistent issue, hindered by inherent inefficiencies.

Don McMillan, Paddington, Qld

Our move to power from wind and solar is not the best option, partly due to the need for new networks of high-voltage transmission lines plus firming capacity. The Australian Energy Market Operator ignores more effective and economic options used elsewhere. Many European countries have zero waste to landfill, with power brought from what can’t be recycled. The use of biomass for producing power and heat has much bigger potential, with Denmark getting about a quarter of its power on demand from agricultural and forestry residues. These energy sources reduce the need for an extended grid and firming capacity. Plus emissions reductions are greater and more permanent regional jobs are created.

Andrew Lang, Lismore, Vic

The saying “Those whom the gods would destroy they first make mad” is appropriate when considering the proposed solutions to our self-inflicted energy crisis. The solution is to throw away stuff that works (coal), and overbuild chaotically intermittent renewable energy generators with the hope that enough energy can be stored during the times that nature co-operates to run the place when it does not. The cost of this overbuilding and the associated transmission costs to join them all up, the cost of all the storage capacity plus the cost of replacing them after 20 years, guarantees that Australia will never have affordable and reliable electricity again. All this is being done for absolutely no gain, for us or the planet, which will bob along as it has always done, regardless of man’s attempts to control it.

David Bidstrup, Plympton Park, SA

Would it be over-egging the pudding to suggest recent energy restrictions in NSW are a concerning and prescient indication of the economic catastrophe facing our nation on account of energy insufficiency? The energy produced from wind turbines and solar panels is weather dependent and highly inconsistent so it is highly unlikely those sources will support a stable electricity grid. Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen seems impervious to this reality and its potentially disastrous consequences for our nation. In a country that competes with Qatar as the largest exporter of natural gas, it should not be beyond the capacity of intelligent and creative human beings to ensure that this valuable and relatively clean fuel should provide intermittent firming capacity for the eastern states electricity grid as it does in Western Australia. In the longer term, Australia should join the throng of nations that realise wind and solar alone will never achieve net zero and are looking to nuclear power generation as a solution.

Bill Pannell, Dalkeith, WA

With our baseload coal power plants destined to be closed by 2038, to be replaced by a wish list of 5000km of additional transmission lines, a tripling of wind and solar farms and a doubling of dispatchable storage, hydro and gas-powered generation, all without providing any guarantees of reliable, secure or affordable power, you have to ask why this country is putting itself through so much pain for no gain.

Ron Hobba, Camberwell, Vic