Major renewable energy developers say a historic agreement to direct funds to storage projects such as big batteries and pumped hydro will help unleash the next wave of investments urgently needed to drive Australia’s accelerating shift from coal to clean power.
The agreed capacity reform is aimed at encouraging the private sector to invest in the enormous amount of new renewables backed by “firming” technology, which the Australian Energy Market Operator warns must be urgently built at a vastly greater scale to keep a lid on prices, meet emissions targets and ensure an “orderly” shift away from coal.
“This decision will help underpin new investments in a way that meets the needs of the market operators and consumers.”Energy industry leaders have advocated for fossil fuels, particularly fast-start gas generators, to be included in the market reforms aimed at increasing “firming” capacity, pointing out that big batteries can supply the grid for only a few hours at a time.
NickToscano1 Will there be ramifications for when this inevitably fails?
NickToscano1 A few elites will get rich while we pay more and more for increasingly unreliable energy.