As Australia’s energy transition staggers on, Daniel Westerman is expressing a version of regulatory begging.
Just four renewable energy projects reached financial close in the June quarter. Westerman is urging companies to consider all existing and coming government schemes that should make questionable commercial returns look less risky. It adds up to 10,000 kilometres of new transmission lines to connect these assets to demand centres in towns and cities.“In light of the massive transmission task ahead, it is beyond the scope of a single market operator or even a single transmission company to fully build the necessary social licence,” Westerman says, calling for a “whole of government and whole of industry effort reliant on community involvement”.
That helps explain why Westerman and his fellow energy regulators are also emphasising the need to more efficiently utilise the power produced by Australians’ enthusiasm for rooftop solar and battery storage to supplement the grid as coal-fired power disappears. “That’s more than seven Eraring power stations at full output and capable of meeting almost half the energy demand in the day when the sun is shining at its brightest.”But while that popularity undercuts coal-fired power, it doesn’t help when the sun isn’t shining unless stored supply is also available.