Unless The Coalition Switches Off Your Solar

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Headlines:

• "German State Plans to Halt Coal and Gas Production by 2030" (Deutsche Welle, 2022) • "EU to Offer Support for Oil and Gas Transition in Post-Pandemic Era" (Reuters, 2022) • "Australia Sets Target to Reach 82% Renewable Energy by 2030" (ABC News, 2022) • "Japan to Invest $2. 5 Billion in Decarbonization Technologies" (Nikkei Asia, 2022) • "US Senators Introduce Bill to Promote Offshore Wind Energy" (The Hill, 2022) • "South Africa to Increase Renewable Energy by 20% by 2030" (Engineering News, 2022) • "UK Government Announces £500 Million for Low-Carbon Transport Projects" (GOV. UK, 2022) • "China's 14th Five-Year Plan Sets Ambitious Renewable Energy Targets" (Xinhua News Agency, 2022) • "Brazil Plans to Increase Biofuels Production by 30% by 2025" (Reuters, 2022) • "India to Invest $2. 1 Billion in Renewable Energy Capacity" (Business Standard... 2022) These headlines demonstrate the global efforts to transition to cleaner energy sources and reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

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Bill Grace is an independent sustainability adviser, researcher and consultant. He is a research committee member with the Centre for Policy Development.

Before renewables came along, coal-fired power stations pumped out electricity (and carbon emissions) 24 hours a day. But now, this type of "always on" baseload power is no longer necessary or commercially viable.

This is one of many reasons why the Coalition's proposed nuclear strategy is flawed. Even if nuclear power was cheap, which it isn't, it would have to be the least appropriate energy source going around.

Why? Because the world has changed. The greening of the electricity grid means we need far more flexibility. Solar and wind can do the heavy lifting, provided we have enough storage (batteries, pumped hydro and other technologies) and something we can quickly switch on and off to fill the gaps, such as gas or (eventually) hydrogen.

The only way to make nuclear power work in Australia is to switch off cheap renewable energy . Stop exporting electricity from your rooftop solar system. Forget feed-in tarrifs. The system has to call on baseload nuclear power first, or the plan makes no sense whatsoever. And to make space for nuclear in 10-15 years, you'd have to somehow make coal financially viable now.

The price we pay for electricity as customers is a function of the wholesale price retailers pay, to secure energy from generators, plus the cost of transporting it (transmission and distribution).

To compare the cost of nuclear power to other sources, we need to take a closer look at each generator's capital and operating costs.

Operating costs reflect both fixed costs (such as maintenance) and variable costs (such as fuel). The less time the plant operates, the higher the capital and operating costs per megawatt hour (MWh) of output.