Antinuclear

Urgent need for Australia to upgrade its “cheap and dirty” grid

“Australia can’t turn its back on the global shift from dirty to clean energy, from non-renewable to renewable, and from inefficient to efficient. It can’t do this anymore than it could resist the information technology age or the rise of China – and it is not in our national interest to do so.”  

Cheap and dirty grid may be our biggest liability, REneweconomy By Giles Parkinson  30 March 2012 For decades Australia has boasted of its cheap and reliable electricity grid as the most potent sign of its economic competitiveness. But two new studies highlight the folly of resting on past laurels, and how Australia’s cheap and dirty grid has left our economy exposed and poorly prepared for the inevitable change to a low-carbon economy.

One study , by the University of Queensland and the Global Change Institute, suggests that Australia’s power system is among the least resilient in the world – even compared to other resource-rich nations such as Canada and Brazil – and presents a risk for consumers and investors alike.

The second report, prepared by The Climate Institute in conjunction with US industrial giant General Electric, finds that Australia is now ranked 16th among G20 countries in terms of the ability to prosper in a low-carbon economy, and is the only country to have gone backwards since 1995,…

“What we have seen,” says the TCI/GE report, “is that the economic blessing of the past – such as cheap and polluting energy, have become the economic curses of the future.”

But why should that be so? The UQ/GCI report suggests it is because Australia – blinded by its own propaganda about the “lucky country”, and assuming it could continue to profit from its cheap and abundant source of coal – did not learn how to compete, or boost its efficiency and productivity. It is now being left behind.

“Competing countries with scarce energy resources and vulnerable to international energy markets have had to adapt by investing in efficiency, technology and diversification throughout the energy transformation chain to meet demand,” the report notes. “These investments have prepared them for a future where fossil-fuel based primary energy supply may be constrained and/or global environmental policies may constrain or force adaptation of the power system and power intensive industries.”

According to the UQ/GCI report, Australia’s inability to compete has already been clear to see. Much of its energy infrastructure, subsidised by the state and consumers, was built to attract energy intensive industries to the country. But since 1990, Australia has 53,000 jobs from the metals processing and fabrication sector and lost global market share in metals processing, to countries with more resilient power economies…………

Australia, the UQ/GCI economists note, now needs to take a similar approach as it meets the demand of a carbon constrained world of the future. “With an ageing fleet of base-load generators, Australia has a golden opportunity to make the leap to a resilient power economy by diversifying instead of shuffling forward based on business as usual. “

The TCI/GE report comes to a similar conclusion. “Australia can’t turn its back on the global shift from dirty to clean energy, from non-renewable to renewable, and from inefficient to efficient. It can’t do this anymore than it could resist the information technology age or the rise of China – and it is not in our national interest to do so.”  http://reneweconomy.com.au/2012/cheap-and-dirty-grid-may-be-our-biggest-liability-78271

March 30, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, energy