Battery backed solar is a threat to the grid the way a mouse is a threat to an elephant. Australia burns through a gigawatt hour of electricity every two minutes or so. It will take millions of Powerwall sized batteries to store meaningful amounts of electricity. Rooftop solar installation peaked in 2012 so batteries need to repeat and exceed that boom.

In theory if the price is right the market should balance. Why didn't we have these problems 20 years ago? The key difference is that certain generators get subsidies ($85/Mwh) and guaranteed market share (11% in 2017 I believe) forcing other generators to accept bridesmaid status. Take that away and the problems may largely go away. If you believe as I do we must reduce emissions then the correct policy should be based on that, not playing technology favourites.

As a journalist I attempted to contact the NEM a couple of times. they don't say much. Their job is to get on with the task of trying to make green energy fit on the grid, rather than pointing out to politicians how idiotic the policy is within existing management and network structures. Part of this is because if they dared to say that we need a complete makeover of the grid and different approach to get to 30 per cent renewables and that 40 per cent plus may be a pipedream, they would be crucified by the green lobby.

But it is typical of the green energy debate in this country that, as far as I know, no-one has asked the grid operators what is required to get these high penetration of wind. The RET policy was amped up by the Rudd government (it was a Howard government initiative, but the original target was small) because governments overseas had done something similar and it sounded good. No one in government or even the opposition at the time thought about the problems of putting intermittent energy on a 24 hour grid, because no-one outside grid operators knew and no-one bothered to ask those guys.

The RET is an example of how not to do policy.

Taswegian,

We didn't have these problems 20 years ago because back then the owners (the government) had no reason to force up the cost of electricity.

We did have those problems 16 years ago, at least in SA.

From the article, "....large-scale electricity supply is under siege from battery-backed solar PV."

Why are we heavily subsidizing a non-solution to CAGW? Let RE find its own way home, AND nuclear, with a carbon price in place.

The recycling of solar panels and windmills should be built in to costs, together with decommissioning of nuclear plant. Re the latter, something more sensible than breaking plant up into bits, wrapping it and burying it should be possible with a sensible outlook towards radiation. Once used fuel rods are removed the structure is not a threat and should be allowed to remain standing or be refurbished after its working life of many decades.

Tas, Curmud, both seem to make sound common sense, so does Adian when he's not too busy sniping at non green opposition? Or overstating risible rubbish? Like hydrogen being denser than thorium?

Simply put when all the anti-nuclear lobby stop jumping up and down screaming abuse all while fingers stuffed in ears prevents any and all information and updates from even faintly filtering through?

And taken straight from the handbook of an abuse screaming scientologist?

Hydrogen will likely play a part in our future, but only when the energy we produce is clean enough, safe enough and cheap enough to make hydrogen part of a viable energy mix for the future.

We might use solar thermal but only if molten salt technology combined with economies of scale, make both viable and affordable?

Hydrogen production relying on heat and catalytically assisted decomposition to make it vastly more affordable as an endlessly sustainable liquid transport fuel, and likely used in hybrids that include battery storage and fuel cells? And as such more than compete with conventional transport on range, grunt or mind numbing F1 acceleration!

And more or less leaving battery power for the commute?

We hear endless talk about storage and doable as stored hydrogen made, if you will, while the sun shines or when gormless anti nuclear advocates like Adian, take a new look with fresh eyes at thorium!

And significantly harder than herding cats!

As is getting government to once again shoulder its traditional core responsibility for the provision of essential services! As opposed to simply outsourcing everything!
Alan B.

Well, there's the nub of the problem? What used to be a reticulated essential service, became a cash cow captive gold plated price gouged (leap of faith, over the cliff, minus the parachute) market!

And linked to a highly vulnerable national distribution system that includes quite massive distribution losses. Losses that someone still has to pay for! And you guessed it, those mugs out there in mugsville!

It's time to restore what we once had, before the inmates took charge of the asylum, created an expensive white elephant called euphemistically, the national grid.

A grid designed by the market to serve the market, all while eliminating fair dinkum national competition. We need to remove the imposed blocks on nuclear technology, all while insisting, anything we do adopt has no bomb making capacity nor bomb making materials capacity, then unleash the market to compete for market share!

Even if that requires the progressive roll back of the poles and wires/transmission lines in favour of very localised power, which would be a first good start at halving the price of power and resuscitating manufacture.

Overhead power lines for trains and trams, i.e., could be made far safer and infinitely more durable as buried magnetic interfaces, coupled to advanced onboard storage (capacitors?) that allow for essential detours or power outages etc?

The problems obviously include government timidity, lack of permission by our non elected political masters, and the rejigging of essential government supplied essential service as highly profitable outsourced cash cow captive markets!

As others have noted, the current raft of problems besetting the industry, are a relatively recent phenomena! Arguably created by asinine idealogues, with a really bad dose of the Sergeant Schultz syndrome and made far more severe, by a terminal case of outsourcing on the brain? What they won't, can't restore? Others can, will!
Alan B.