Michael McCormack and Scott Morrison say increased climate action will lead to 'higher taxes and higher electricity prices'.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Sadly,last Friday,Scott Morrison and Michael McCormack were at it again,warning that increased climate action would lead to “higher taxes and higher electricity prices” and implying it was the desire only of “those in the inner city”.
Of course,this is nothing more than marketing fluff. You could be forgiven for thinking that they must have missed the memo on the record take-up of ultra-cheap solar and wind power,now generating nearly 20 per cent of Australia’s electricity supply,with more than 50 per cent renewables expected by 2030.
Reducing emissions via a transition to renewables does not lead to higher taxes and electricity prices:in an updated study on current and future generation costs by the CSIRO and the Australian Energy Market Operator,wind,solar and storage technologies are by far the cheapest form of low-carbon options for Australia,and they are likely to dominate the global energy mix in the future.
With all subsidies taken out,solar PV and wind wipe the floor with gas,coal and nuclear. Levelised cost of solar and wind is about $50 per megawatt hour,half that of gas and coal’s $100 per megawatt hour even without a carbon price. Nuclear is way off the money,priced anywhere between $250 and $330 per megawatt hour.
The Snowy 2.0 scheme will allow vast quantities of renewables to be added to the grid.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Solar plus storage is now also cheaper than coal,and getting cheaper. The cost of batteries is falling rapidly and it will drop by as much as 50 per cent over the next 10 years. A recent study by the Australian National University shows the potential of low-cost pumped hydro storage in Australia:it says there are 300 times more good-quality sites than required for 100 per cent renewables. The Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro scheme alone will allow vast quantities of renewables to be added to the grid.
It is a no-brainer that the $4 million the government is dedicating to a “feasibility study” for a 1 gigawatt “high efficiency,low emissions” coal plant in Collinsville would be better served investigating new transmission options for connecting renewable energy zones to the grid,or on feasibility studies for low-cost pumped hydro storage sites.