The news on the ABC at the moment is to expect blackouts in some States; fortunately we have reliable backup.
The old steam tractor, once a full head of steam is raised will drive the generator for hours without any attention.

ttbn,
I don't know where you got your figures from, but according to http://opennem.org.au/energy/nem/ the figures for the NEM yesterday were as follows:
Coal 57.2%
Gas 17%
Wind 2.7%
Solar 7.6%
Hydro 14.9% (Tas,Vic,NSW,Qld.)

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Is Mise,
I heard the threat of blackouts had receded, but then a coal fired power station caught fire.

As for tidal power, it's typically quite expensive and can be environmentally destructive. But there may be some locations where it's viable.
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Fester,
>Does that mean Australia's power supply could almost be 100% renewables
>if 40 times the current wind and solar capacity were added to the system?
Abut half that, and it would create a huge new hydrogen industry.

>It frightens the crap out of me that people in power would even consider doing this.
It shouldn't: being big is nothing to be scared of.
People in power failing to consider it should be a far greater concern.

Thanks for the link Aidan. Based on the link you provided, Australia generated about 830 GWH of electricity from wind and solar over a seven day period. That would suggest a capacity factor of a bit over 15%. I have great trouble seeing how such a huge amount of generating infrastructure and industry sitting idle for most of the time, and less than 20% efficient hydrogen generation, could be competitive with a continuous, predictable, and high capacity factor coal and/or nuclear power generation.

At least demonstrate the "great system" on a small scale before deciding on a massive expansion.

Aidan,

Cost can be a big factor but modern floating tidal generators are relatively inexpensive and require no structures only anchors to hold them in place.
An experimental setup that worked admirably was recently tested in Galway Bay, Ireland.

Thee is also a tidal corn mill on Galway Bay that is a few centuries old, it probably cost a lot to set up but has long since paid for itself.

As a static example of cost effectiveness over time, the piers on the Shannon River (Ireland) cost £50,000 when they were built in the 1840s, a staggering amount, in those days but are still in use even the stone bollards.

To Armchair Crtic- From memory it was Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle that created a paper for the American Enterprise Institute in 1982 that proposed the Afghan pipeline. But hydrocarbons (oil) are pretty important for economic growth.

But our problem is not energy creation but energy storage.

At this stage nuclear seems like the best option.

I like the idea of tidal but it will make our coast line ugly.

We should do research into CO2 to gasoline technology maybe build a medium scale test reactor- the government may be able to offer some leadership here. I'm sure that many uni engineers will be pushing for some large injection of tax money. It's always good for special interests to go to war for some "good cause"- there was the war on cancer, drugs, etc- never achieved anything but it got plenty of newspaper print.

Gasoline is one of the best energy storage mediums.

.. no one owns it, it’s free
is Mise,
if only it were that simple. The turbines which require immense maintenance aren't free !
In a Dollar-obsessed Australia progress is hampered by regressive thinking & the only progress there is, is in regression.
Just look at what happened to enterprise & service here ! If Australian economic management were a ship it could only sail with a foreign crew because local crew would invariably sink it !