Time for renewables to compete on open market

WITH reference to the letter by Ray Peck TB 11/7/20.

To determine the real price of renewable energy or its ability to replace nuclear or fossil fuels, you must account for the high costs imposed by its extremely variable nature. One example is the cost of many new transmission lines that link distant renewable energy installations to the electrical grid. You also need to include the construction of “Fast Ramping” gas plants, battery storage or pumped hydro electric facilities that can come on line quickly to supply electricity when variable renewables suddenly cut out, as when the wind stops blowing and the sun stops shining.

So now you have built two electricity generation systems to provide the same amount of electricity. The more renewable generation facilities we build the more it costs the system to make up for their variability and the less value they provide to the electricity market. This is why Australian consumers have endured the rise in electricity costs since renewables came on the scene.

If renewable energy is the cheapest option as you and Glen White claim, why do we have to set Renewable Energy Targets and provide special subsidies and incentives to build renewable energy plants? If they are so cheap we should stop all subsidies and Renewable Energy Targets and let renewables compete on an open free enterprise market. Until this happens any claim that renewable energy will provide cheaper electricity is just rubbish.

MERV JOHNSTON, Kirwan.