Stephen Galilee opinion: Energy shortfalls loom if we don’t make this the year of energy security

We must declare 2025 the ‘Year of Energy Security’, where we abandon half-measures and a blinkered approach and lay out a comprehensive plan to lock in affordable, reliable electricity for decades, writes, Stephen Galilee.

This year marks the first quarter of the 21st century.

It’s also the half-way point to 2050, the target year adopted in the Paris Agreement for signatory countries to reach net zero emissions.

Australia’s path to net zero has been rocky, marred by some of the highest electricity prices in the world, and the regular threat of power outages on hot days every summer.

According to a 2024 Statista Energy Report on household energy prices, Australia experienced the eighth highest electricity prices in the world, ahead of countries like Turkey, Mexico, Spain and the USA. It’s a far cry from just a few decades ago when we enjoyed some of the world’s lowest power prices.

Australians like pensioner Bob Blackwell, 74, of Port Adelaide, suffer some of the highest power bills in the world. Picture: Dean Martin

It’s time to collectively say, ‘enough is enough’.

We must declare 2025 the national ‘Year of Energy Security’.

This should be the year we abandon half-measures and a blinkered approach to energy security and lay out a comprehensive plan to lock in affordable, reliable electricity for decades to come.

This should involve short term, medium term and long term approaches to energy strategy that are technology neutral.

That means waking up to the fact that our current coal-fired power stations need to be maintained in the short term while medium term replacements are fully developed to keep our energy grid functioning.

Inevitably, the long-term plan to lock in our energy security must involve nuclear power.

Nuclear power plants are expensive. They take time to plan and build. However, the long lifespan of nuclear plants, their extremely low emissions, and the reduction in energy costs for households and business over the long term must make nuclear a critical component of our future energy mix.

Storms in Broken Hill recently left the town blacked out for days.

The Albanese Government remains stubbornly on the wrong side of a growing international consensus for nuclear power.

Leaders from around the world and across political divides have declared that nuclear power must be part of the solution for their nation to secure affordable, reliable electricity and to meet their Paris Agreement obligations of net zero emissions by 2050.

The Albanese Government is focused on renewables, but it needs to consider all options. Picture: AFP

The Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, has been urged to make this the year of energy security. Picture: NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

The Labour Party in the United Kingdom embedded nuclear power at the centre of its energy platform in the lead up to its election victory last year. Britain’s Labour Prime Minister, Keir Starmer declared “ … nuclear combined with renewables is going to power our country for decades and decades to come.”

Former Democrat Presidential Candidate and US Special Climate Envoy, John Kerry recently stated “the reality of facts and evidence tells us that you can’t get to net zero 2050 without some nuclear.”

Chief Executive, NSW Minerals Council, Stephen Galilee. The author of this piece. Picture: NSWMining

In her national statement to the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP29, Sweden’s Minister for Climate and the Environment said that “nuclear power has a pivotal role in achieving global net zero emissions by 2050.”

In Finland, even the Greens Party supports nuclear power. The most recent nuclear power plant commissioned in Finland – the Olkiluoto 3 plant – took a long time to plan. It also experienced delays and ran over budget. However, once it was switched on, the Olkiluoto plant resulted in a sixty per cent fall in electricity prices for businesses and households.

Australia’s first step to make nuclear power a reality must be to remove the archaic legislative ban on nuclear energy. This ban is a cold war relic of another age, and an obstacle to rational future planning. Lifting the ban will allow interaction between government and the market to find the most effective path for secure and reliable nuclear power as part of our overall energy mix.

This year we need to see an end to the stubborn refusal of our national government to even consider all the energy options available to us. With a federal election due sometime in the months ahead, 2025 must be the year our country reclaims control of our national energy security.

Stephen Galilee is CEO, NSW Minerals Council

Originally published as Stephen Galilee opinion: Energy shortfalls loom if we don’t make this the year of energy security