Renewable dream or nightmare

We need to prove NOW if 100% Renewable Power Generation will be a Dream Achieved or an Economic Nightmare for Australians.

All governments, State and Federal, can easily prove by 2030 that 100% Renewables will work by requiring all electricity suppliers to provide the market with an optional 100% Renewable Electricity Tariff.

Existing Renewable Power Generation (Solar and Wind), and storage (Battery and Pumped Hydro) resources are substantial and growing day-by-day. The capacity exists now to test, albeit on a limited but growing scale, if 100% Renewables will work.

People subscribing to this 100% Renewable Tariff would be committed to using electricity generated by only Solar or Wind. The electricity used will be generated directly from either Solar or Wind, or from storage recharged from Solar or Wind.

Users can also have their own home solar systems and battery storage with the 100% Renewable Tariff being the back-up supplier.

The rate for this 100% Renewable Electricity Tariff would need to reflect the FULL costs of generation, storage, transmission and distribution. This will prove or disprove Renewables being the cheapest form of electricity.

Renewables may be the cheapest form of electricity generation, but will Renewables provide the cheapest end-user cost given the additional costs of storage, transmission and distribution?

PM Albanese has committed $20 billion to upgrade the transmission network to support renewable generation. This expenditure is a direct cost of Renewables and over time, must be covered by those who elect to use the 100% Renewables Tariff.

By the time we fully implement 100% Renewables, hundreds of billions will have been spent on the transmission and distribution networks. If the $20 billion is not affordable, the network required for 100% Renewables is not affordable.

The electricity retailers will have to match supply and storage with a controlled demand. If they cannot do that with the current supply and storage, they will not be able to do it when we convert to 100% Renewables.

No doubt there would be an initial overdemand for the 100% Renewables Tariff. The suppliers would need to place people on a waiting list as supply, storage, transmission and distribution resources increase, thereby assisting governments to identify the levels of generation and storage required to successfully achieve 100% Renewables.

The various forms of existing Green Tariffs allow users to access electricity generated by coal and gas when needed and claim ‘Carbon Offsets’. This hides any problems. When we achieve 100% Renewables there will be no coal or gas backup generation; all emergency large diesel generators will be decommissioned and replaced by storage batteries.

If the Renewable Tariff proves beyond doubt that a 100%

Renewable system is reliable, sustainable and cheaper, Australia can get on with quickly converting to 100% Renewables.

If 100% Renewables fails the test to supply reliable and affordable electricity, best we know before 2030. BARRY LOWE, Kirwan.