Operators downgrades risk of summer power shortages

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Warnings about the risk of power shortages in the coming years have been scaled back. CEO of the Australian Energy Market Operator, Daniel Westerman, says the outlook for energy reliability has improved since last year.

Transcript

00:00Predominantly, the continued investment in renewable energy and storage that have been

00:07coming onto the grid, a little bit to do with the life extension of a coal-fired power station

00:13in New South Wales, I guess the commitment of some more transmission that's become much

00:20more certain, and possibly a slightly lower demand outlook have all contributed to a stronger

00:28reliability outlook for the 10-year period. It is, though, a reminder that these coal-fired

00:36power stations, they're old, they are retiring. In fact, a third of today's coal-fired power

00:43stations have told us that they are retiring in the 10-year period. So it is absolutely

00:47critical that the investment in new generation and storage and transmission is delivered

00:52on time and in full. Well, what we know is that Australia's grid,

00:57which is around about 64 gigawatts of generation, has a very strong pipeline of future projects

01:03that are ready and able to be delivered. Now, what needs to happen for those projects to

01:09be delivered is that they have to take investment decisions, buy their kit and construct the

01:15projects and connect them into the grid. That pipeline of projects is around four times

01:20the current size of the grid. So the projects are there, they do just need to be delivered.

01:26Now, Australia is going through an energy transition because our coal-fired power stations

01:31are retiring, and energy demand is growing as we electrify parts of our economy. We're

01:36not the only country in the world who's going through this, so there are global challenges,

01:41but it's a real call to action for each of us and for investors and for governments to

01:46lean in and really get confidence in the delivery of the projects, which are critical.

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