Renewables magic has the power to switch off our lights

We have reached peak lunacy with the latest pronouncements of Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen, where he rubbishes reliable electricity generation and would have us believe that chaotic renewables, solar and batteries will provide a better system (“Bowen jeers ‘always-on’ generation”, 3/12).

Watching the politicians destroy the power system is akin to watching a magician who takes a valuable watch from someone in the audience and smashes it with a hammer, only to realise that he does not know the rest of the trick.

The past 20 or so years show that our huge sacrifices to save the planet have ended up as a disaster that will take years to unravel.

David Bidstrup, Plympton Park, SA

Chris Uhlmann provides Australian Bureau of Statistics information that we have recently seen the biggest drop in electricity prices in Australia’s history and points out that this drop was the result of federal and state government decisions to provide households and businesses with cost-of-living relief through public energy subsidies (“Bowen plan threatens to leave us in the dark”, 30/11-1/12).

Before those subsidies, household energy bills rose sharply in line with global inflation arising from supply disruptions caused by the pandemic and war in Ukraine and worldwide pandemic spending by governments.

During that time, gas companies reaped super profits and we continued to export around 80 per cent of our gas to countries such as Japan, which often sold it at further profit to other countries.

Our governments have a duty to act in the best interests of Australian citizens. They should provide appropriate public subsidies on utilities as necessary, but also have a national gas reservation policy to ensure our energy needs are given priority over the profits of multinational companies.

The public subsidising of households and industry as we shift to a clean energy system based on renewables will dwarf the total public funding of any future nuclear fantasy dreamed up by the Coalition.

Julia Croatto, Kew, Vic

Rooftop solar will continue its upward march until it is compelled to pay its fair share towards reliability. Unlike other regular electricity customers, it leans on the grid with about the same certainty as the weather. The consequential increases in grid uncertainty should be penalised instead of rewarded by subsidies.

Gordon Thurlow, Mooloolah Valley, Qld

The nearly four million households with rooftop solar will not be impressed with the Australian Energy Market Operator’s proposal to restrict their supplies to the grid (“Rooftop solar’s grid stability risk”, 3/12).

The obvious answer is to store the excess power in home batteries, particularly in electric vehicle batteries, which are six to 10 times larger than standard household batteries. Linking these home systems creates a so-called virtual power plant capable of supporting the grid in the evenings if needed.

The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis notes “the establishment costs of any VPP are relatively small compared with large-scale generation and transmission” and “VPPs have the potential to provide fast, cheap decarbonisation, especially if governments can support electric vehicle uptake with managed charging”. Now that vehicle-to-grid charging has been approved in Australia, the only obstacle is financially supporting homeowners to make it happen.

It would also reduce their cost of living.

Karen Campbell, Geelong, Vic

Could it be that we’re thinking this the wrong way around (“Empty slogans can’t hide the reality of renewable fairytale”, 3/12)?

We’re like a dog chasing its tail with our energy mix. The weather’s certainly becoming more extreme; you only have to stick your head out the window or watch the nightly news to see that. This and our switch to a digital economy are placing extra loading on our energy grid. Yet even with the effort put into developing a sustainable grid, we can’t get ahead.

Existing fossil fuel capacity is unreliable and market forces discourage their upgrading. The reality is we can’t keep our economy or our households operating under the current power grid.

To cut back on the greenhouse gas emissions, we may have to amend our lifestyle and tough it out like the early settlers.

John Mosig, Kew, Vic