Why it matters: Renewable generation and storage are growing at half the rate needed to ensure the grid is 82 per cent renewable by 2030.
The end-of-decade goals, notably an 82 per cent use of renewable energy across the power system, have long been regarded by many as difficult to achieve, although few have spoken out due to fear of blowback from governments. for 10,000km of new transmission, 44 gigawatts of new renewables and 15GW of firming capacity this decade.
A spokesman for Mr Bowen on the weekend said the 82 per cent renewables target was “ambitious, but it’s also very achievable”. By 2030, an extra 5GW of grid-scale storage was needed to keep electricity supply reliable, he said, mostly with capacity of eight hours or more, while most batteries being installed only have one-two hours., pointing to $76 billion of investment needed in energy infrastructure this decade estimated by Labor’s Powering Australia plan.
But adding renewables generation capacity is only part of the issue, with the chronic slow pace of the transmission build-out also cited by Mr Westerman, Mr Calabria and Mr Broad. “It is not just looking impossible, it IS impossible, it cannot be done,” said former Snowy Hydro chief executive Paul Broad.The problem is in ensuring guaranteed generation capacity to meet peaks in demand, often in winter evenings when solar is no longer generating, and to fill in during days-long periods when renewables generation is subdued.