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Source:
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Sydney Morning Herald
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Date
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03/02/2010
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RENEWABLE energy is the world's fastest-growing power source. It is already generating baseload electricity at utility scales. Large solar thermal plants with heat storage can dispatch power whether or not the sun is shining, and make handsome profits during demand peaks. Wind power is being installed at scales that dwarf Australian grid requirements. These and other clean-energy technologies are replacing coal on modern energy grids. While Australia continues to throw money at 19th century technologies, Spain, China, the US and others are charging ahead with zero-emissions power generation, and creating export markets as they go.
Spain has a level of electricity consumption equivalent to Australia's, although it has roughly twice the population. Like Australia, Spain has strong, consistent sunshine, and the Spanish use this asset to ensure energy security. They have already built 24-hour baseload solar plants, using molten salt to store heat, which is then used to create steam and turn turbines. They started with Andasol 1, a 50-megawatt plant, and have now completed another two similar projects. Projects to generate more than 1800 MW are being built and the government just approved another 2440 MW.
The Gemasolar project is the shining light of the Spanish baseload solar boom. This solar thermal plant has created 1500 jobs and will operate at 60-100 per cent of maximum turbine output for up to 90 per cent of the hours each year. Low maintenance shutdown requirements allow this efficiency; far greater than coal-fired power generators in Australia.
The capacity for baseload and fast-start ''dispatchable'' power generation places the Gemasolar plant among the highest value electricity plants, a fact not lost on investors. Envisaging a lucrative market for their solar infrastructure, expertise and experience, the Spanish anticipate a healthy return on any subsidies for the technologies.
The Spanish are also harnessing the wind. Wind turbines provide 11 per cent of the nation's electricity and this will increase to 25 per cent by 2020.
In China, solar hot water and photovoltaic (PV) panels have had huge commercial success. More than 50 million Chinese households now have unlimited free hot water from these cheap, low-maintenance systems. China produces solar PV panels on a big scale and is the leading manufacturer of this technology for domestic rooftops. This triumph owes much to Australian innovation, and to Australian governments' failure to support the industry.
The Chinese were also ahead of the game when the global financial crisis hit. Their government moved quickly to arrange for government buildings to buy surplus industrial output. This meant that the billions of dollars Chinese companies had invested in tooling up and scaling up PV plants were not wasted when demand suddenly declined.
This is in stark contrast to Australia. Melbourne-based Solar Systems has proven commercial success in displacing diesel in diesel/solar hybrid power generation for remote Aboriginal communities. Solar Systems was unable to generate operational revenue and was forced into administration in August. The federal government could have demonstrated foresight by quickly creating a pipeline of projects for remote area power systems dependent on diesel - a responsible use of stimulus funds, ensuring the company's viability and readiness for growth after the financial crisis.
Chinese wind power also blows us away - 30,000 MW of wind power was planned to come online by 2020, but this target will now be met early this year. On the back of that, China is now planning for 150,000 MW of wind power by 2020, and again it is likely that this will be achieved much earlier. Within that target is China's ''Three Gorges of Wind'' project; it will produce twice as much electricity as the Three Gorges Dam - about the same as the electricity grid on Australia's eastern seaboard, but at half the cost.
Authorities in the US are also swamped with plans for wind and solar thermal power installations. More than 97,000 MW of solar thermal projects are before the US Bureau of Land Management for approval. An underdeveloped grid is the main obstacle to the expansion of wind power in the US, but President Barack Obama has announced a huge modernisation plan.
Projects include a big complex in Nevada by Spanish multinational Abengoa and another in California by Israel's BrightSource Energy. These companies are now exporting their expertise, a far more valuable commodity than coal.
Those who perpetuate the myth that renewable energy can't satisfy our electricity demands have an interest in long-established, emissions-intensive industries. The federal government seems happy to encourage this approach, offering $7 billion of compensation to coal-fired electricity generators under the emissions trading scheme while stonewalling on renewables. This strategy ignores the opportunities for jobs, export earnings, energy security and zero-emissions electricity on offer in the renewable sector. Failure to act means Australians will remain stuck in the coal pit while the world prospers from the renewable energy boom.
Matthew Wright is executive director of Beyond Zero Emissions, an organisation planning for zero emissions in Australia by 2020, using existing technologies.