Soap boxes aside, there is recognition from industry experts that there is a clear need for additional investment in renewables but that the largest choke-point in the transition is actually transmission – more particularly, the grid.
In NSW, government-owned Transgrid has been working to get essential high voltage pieces of equipment installed. Called Syncons, they are described as the spinning wheels that are needed to stabilise the electricity grid.
What was a simple system to run using coal plants is becoming highly complex using renewables. And it requires huge capital expenditure.
But given the old power plants are also at the end of their life, there is also an enormous expense in keeping them operating beyond their use-by date.
This in part explains why our electricity bills have been elevated.
AEMO chief executive Daniel Westerman said building nuclear plants would take too long.Credit: Louise Kennerley
AEMO chief Daniel Westerman isn’t suggesting the sky is falling in; rather its newly released report is reminding the industry that major investment in the grid is needed to avoid the risk of blackouts across the state.
There are similar risks in other states including Victoria and Queensland, but NSW is in the more immediate frame.
It isn’t as if the industry hasn’t been warned.
“As it stands today – and AEMO has been flagging the need for investment in these big spinning machines in each year since 2021 – the currently installed date of those synchronous condensers is after the retirement date of Eraring as it’s currently announced,” Westerman said.
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This is a timing mismatch that appears to demonstrate that Eraring, just outside Newcastle, will need to remain open for another few years at least.
System security shortfalls were to blame for the catastrophic blackout that hit 50 million people across Spain and Portugal in April.
It seems our electricity will be dirtier for a little longer.
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