The promise for renewable energy met with an electrifying challenge

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The federal energy minister says Australia is on track to have 82 per cent of all electricity generated from renewables by the end of the decade. But the target has come with challenges, including the rising cost of grid management.

Transcript

00:00In early April, about a week after the election was announced, Prime Minister Anthony Alpinesi

00:07announced a $2.3 billion plan to subsidise home batteries, to go with rooftop solar.

00:12Slashing your power bills permanently.

00:15It was Labor's second most expensive election promise, but it never became a big part of

00:20the campaign.

00:21However, that policy, due to kick off on July 1st with 30 per cent cash discounts, represents

00:27a big change in Australia's energy transition, and a week ago we learned why.

00:33The Australian energy market operator published an obscure document called the Draft 2025 Electricity

00:39Network Options Report, which contained this graph.

00:44Each bar represents the cost increase in two years for 10 transmission line projects that

00:49are designed to bring electricity from big solar and wind farms in the bush to cities where

00:55the power is needed.

00:57The cost increases range from 11 per cent to more than 60 per cent.

01:02The average is 31 per cent in two years.

01:07Not only has the cost of building new transmission suddenly become prohibitive, there's also what

01:11AEMO calls the social licence problem.

01:15That is, no one wants power lines across their property.

01:19Putting them underground would cost between three and nine times as much, so that's out.

01:23Last week the energy regulator increased electricity prices and a lot of that was due to rising

01:28transmission costs, as well as ageing coal power stations breaking down all the time.

01:33So more solar and wind is needed and fast.

01:38But a cost blowout plus community opposition means that the plan to achieve net zero carbon

01:43emissions by 2050 has shifted.

01:46It's now all about getting solar onto as many Aussie rooftops as possible and equipping them

01:50with batteries to shift power from day to night.

01:54This is very bad news for the big power companies as more and more of their customers become self-sufficient.

01:59At the same time, the the

02:18wall is built on the

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