Renewables price cut surprise

IT WILL cost about $500bn to transition Australia to renewable energy, according to new CSIRO estimates.

This is half of what the organisation believed it would cost back in 2017, with change happening in some areas much faster than expected.

The main reason for the reduction is an explosion of new technologies and more cost effective ways to create, store and transport clean energy.

CSIRO’s chief energy economist Paul Graham said renewables had actually become cheaper than creating new fossil fuel power stations as current stations reached the end of their asset life.

“It’s been clear for a number of years that the cost of renewables is falling and it is now the lowest cost new build technology,” Mr Graham said.

“To be clear, the cost would be greater if we decided to rebuild coal. That’s not controversial – it’s the mainstream view held by the industry itself who are the primary investors.”

Despite some fears over the cost of the transition on the consumer, Mr Graham said high power bills, which peaked about 2019, were “more about our existing structure than our future one”.