The face of South Australian business says nuclear is a “logical solution” and could be introduced in little more than five years, after being collectively slugged hundreds of millions of dollars from the energy market operator’s interventions to keep the lights on.Energy, whose biggest member is uranium miner BHP, has told the SA government it needs to put immediate effort into developing an energy transition road map for the state.
On top of that are costs for frequency control, reliably between $1 million and $3 million per quarter, but now escalating and commonly in the tens of millions of dollars. SA’s wholesale power prices are among the highest in the National Electricity Market, averaging $124 per megawatt-hour in the June quarter, compared to $89/MWh in Victoria. The state also accounted for almost all the $21.7 million power system management costs in the NEM in the quarter, due to AEMO directions to keep the system secure.
She said SACOME had long believed that all low-emissions technologies, including modern nuclear produced from small modular reactors, should be considered as part of the future energy mix to ensure rapid decarbonisation and energy reliability. Regulators and governments should “consider all sources of energy to make sure in the long term we are putting in place the best option, and that option should consider the total cost of supply to end consumers,” he said.