People have really got to get out of this notion that solar energy is free and/or cheap. Have a look at a solar panel, it's basically silicone and aluminium. It takes 15kwh of electricity to make 1kg of aluminium. That's the average daily use of a household to make the frames of probably two solar panels. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for solar panels, I've got 20 on my roof, and battery storage will improve and become more feasible in time but, along with wind power it will never provide the underlying requirement of base-load power. The stupid part is that we have the greatest resources available for long term base load power, namely coal and uranium. If only we had the politicians with the guts and foresight to put them to use.......
But solar is cheap, well, sort of.... Most of the cost is up front, rather than ongoing and we subcontract the fabrication and pollution to China. It is really 'cheapest politically' because it doesn't come with any real baggage that people can object to; it just sits on your roof and sucks up the sun, no moving parts, no noise, no smell and no leaks.
I think there are a number of issues with Australian energy policy, mainly caused by the lack of policy or leadership.
Gas: At the state level (in Qld at least) they loved the idea of coal seam gas, made laws in support of it, drilled lots of wells, built pipelines, subsidized a export plant and helped build the industry. Now international prices are so high someone bought the powerstation near Ipswich and mothballed it because they get better $$ selling its contracted gas supply overseas, rather than using it to run the station.
Now they have manufactured a gas drought and the companies want to drill more holes in places that have banned drilling so they can just supply Australia (its for your own good).
They really didn't think that one through properly. Maybe they also didn't charge enough for royalties as I hear the Japanese import duty on the gas is more than the Qld government gets in royalties... but the gas company is still turning a profit.
Coal, I don't think that is the answer either. Take a flight up the hunter valley, the land is being raped to death, will probably never recover to being productive farm land again and the river is full of salt.
There is some $$ to be made out of it, but right now we are falling over ourselves to sell it as quickly as we can, restricting the supply or up-ing resource levy will see us get more for it at least.
Nuclear, good luck getting that off the ground. Don't get me wrong, It is probably the safest per kW, but the NIMBY and hippies will be out in force just because it has nuclear in the name, regardless of reactor type.
Wind, people don't like the look of the turbines, they don't like look, the sound or the impact on their property values and suffer psychosomatic illness as a result. I'm 1/2 deaf and think they look majestic, I'm probably in the minority.
Tidal/wave power, there is a promising wave power trial being run off Fremantle, and considering that most of the Australian population is near the coast, it is something that should be looked at. Tidal power is another option that could be explored, but it would be restricted to the NW of WA where they get the good 8-9m tides, but there is also a good bit of industry up there.
Pumped hydro, I don't think is really a viable answer, unless you are going to stump up for a bunch of wind turbines, solar panels or a Nuc power plant to run the pumps and you will use more energy getting the water back up the hill than you can ever recoup. Burning coal to do it sort of puts soot all over any green credentials you were hoping to claim. It only works now because of the historic excess capacity in the system.
Selling the power distribution assets for a short term gain was also a bad idea (who couldn't see that coming
), now you have to try and get competing interests to all work together and most are trying manipulate the market in order to get a better return.
There needs to be a diverse energy mix, not just coal and gas with some hydro. I'd like to see more recycling and bio-gas/oil production as well. SA is on the right track and a massive battery bank and a back up generator will go a long way to fixing their problems, but the federal government is hardly showing any leadership on an issue of national importance.
