The development application for Tasmania’s first large-scale solar farm at a Northern Midlands grazing property, Connorville, got a unanimous nod from local government authorities last week. The only question to ask is, why has it taken so long?
As noted by Evan Franklin, an energy and power systems expert at the University of Tasmania, Tasmania’s solar potential is similar to that of southern Germany and many other parts of the world where solar is established as a key energy source. On a sunny day the Connorville solar farm will generate 288 megawatts, which would make it one of the state’s largest generators.
Late last week came another potential game-changer for Tasmania. Starting 30 km off the central north coast and covering 7100 square kilometres of Bass Strait, a new offshore wind zone announced by energy minister Chris Bowen has the capacity to deliver 20 gigawatts of power, more than double the output of Tasmania’s entire hydro system.
With sustained wind speeds of over eight metres a second, the wind here is as good as it gets. Giant turbines will deliver in a single rotation as much power as a whole day of a rooftop solar installation. Proponents have already signalled their intention to build Bass Strait wind farms, supporting thousands of jobs in construction and thousands more in operation.
Established hydro power makes rollout of wind and solar here a no-brainer. To store power for when wind or sun are absent, most other parts of Australia must rely on growing but still-limited battery capacity. Tasmania already has a large bank of energy in the form of water held back by dams. When solar and wind are generating, hydro can be cut back and water saved.
But Tasmania is not a clean energy state as long as it relies on coal power imported from Victoria and gas generation at its own plant in the Tamar valley. Whatever its promotors say, natural gas – essentially methane – is dirty energy, and the Tamar facility should not be used until clean hydrogen becomes a viable option.
The annual GenCost report released last week by CSIRO and the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) reveals that renewable generation is getting cheaper. For the seventh year in a row, renewables had the lowest cost range of any new-build energy generating technology.
The eight per cent fall in the cost of ultra-cheap solar this year matched last year’s fall. Moderate rises in equipment and installation costs put up the price of onshore wind generation by two per cent over the year, but at the same time the cost of gas generation rose by 11 per cent.
As for nuclear, its unique safety and waste issues are not to be taken lightly, but they are small compared with the huge risk attached to continuing fossil fuel generation, which happens to be required by the Coalition policy. That, plus the financial cost and time delays involved, are what make Peter Dutton’s nuclear dream a potential nightmare.
The cost of nuclear has dominated public debate. Cost overruns in new installations are legion – as much as $20 billion in the case of the West’s latest nuclear project, Flamanville in France, a country with over 60 years of nuclear experience. The reactor was to be up and running by 2012, but another 12 years passed (17 years in total) before it began operating three months ago.
The nuclear industry says that the new United Arab Emirates reactor – 13 years from scratch to full operation – is a better case to use for comparison, but the Coalition’s figure of 10 years still looks highly optimistic. Even more far-fetched are the small modular reactors (SMRs) the Coalition has often touted. There are no SMR reactors, not even prototypes, anywhere in the world.
Above all – and far too little has been made of this – there is global warming. The world’s best climate science brains were shocked at the hottest-ever temperature anomaly for 2023. The gap in their knowledge revealed by this surprise, and by the all-but-certain new temperature record for 2024, has them reeling.
What they do know is that we must stop burning fossil fuels, and that time is of the essence. The Coalition’s policy to restrict renewable rollout, including cancelling some wind and solar projects, while using coal and gas to fill the generation gap and starting from scratch on nuclear is sheer madness – a trip down a rabbit-hole that can only end in tears.
On the other hand, South Australia now challenges Tasmania’s long-standing record as Australia’s leading renewable energy state. Solar farms and offshore wind, with hydro, can restore that prized status.