Public Policy Papers

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Parent Category: Publications

Author: Robert Pritchard, Energy Policy Institute of Australia

Key Points

• This short annotated bibliography is aimed at facilitating community understanding of the range of economic and technical risks that climate policies can pose for the reliable, flexible operation of power systems.

• Excerpts from a cross-section of published materials have been included. Some materials contradict others. They have been selected, not because they are right or wrong, appropriate or inappropriate, but because the Energy Policy Institute of Australia believes they may influence future policymaking and ought therefore to be taken into account.

• In compiling this bibliography, the Institute has taken a technology-neutral approach.

• Depending on responses to the publication of this bibliography, it could be the first of a number of future editions.

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Parent Category: Publications

 Author: Robert Pritchard, Energy Policy Institute of Australia

Key Points

•  An environmental court in New South Wales has found that the greenhouse gas emissions of a new coal mining project, even the future emissions from offshore combustion of the coal that is exported by the project, constitute a valid ground for refusing development consent because they will cause the climate to change.
• The finding is illusory, if not false.
• The finding poses an obstacle to all future coal mining projects and all other projects in NSW that may directly or indirectly give rise to significant emissions.
• The finding is likely to encourage opponents of climate change in other countries to consider legal action as a tool in the global campaign against climate change beyond whatever commitments their government may have made under the Paris Agreement.
• The finding brings upheaval to domestic energy and climate policy in Australia. It may warrant a re-examination by all governments of their energy and climate policies in the context of their bilateral and multilateral commitments.

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Parent Category: Publications

 Author: John McDonnell, Principal, McDonnell Policy Analysis

Key Points

• Populist policy interventions have destroyed political consensus and given rise to unsustainable energy policy in Australia.
• At the present time, neither of the major Australian political parties has an energy policy that can last past one electoral cycle.
• Politicians have to make difficult choices between the destruction of sectors of the Australian economy and minimising the risk from climate change. They need reliable evidence about costs to enable them to make these choices without causing unnecessary harm. They need to know the least-cost way of achieving the agreed level of emission reduction while producing reliable and stable energy flows. 

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Parent Category: Publications

Author: Robert Pritchard, Energy Policy Institute of Australia

Key Points

• The climate has become the main driver of change in the energy industry.
• In many countries, this has led to renewable energy becoming the fastest-growing form of low-carbon energy. However, power systems were never designed for renewable energy. Intermittency poses a challenge to power systems that is growing faster than the share of renewables. 
• Modern nuclear energy is becoming recognised as an essential technology in future low-carbon energy systems.
• Nine countries that are members of the Clean Energy Ministerial forum have already signed on to the Nuclear Innovation: Clean Energy Future (‘NICE Future’) initiative, with Canada positioning itself to play a prominent part.
• Nuclear energy is not only a low-carbon response to climate change but it represents a market opportunity to supply 20% of the world’s electricity by 2050.
• Australia has much to gain by joining the international NICE Future initiative and tracking and pursuing industrial-scale, fit-for-purpose, low-carbon energy solutions.

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Parent Category: Publications

Author: Robert Pritchard, Energy Policy Institute of Australia

Key Points

• By its 20-year ban on nuclear power generation, Australia has lost considerable ground. The ban has:

1. 1. contributed to the destabilisation of Australia’s power supply system

   2. disregarded a means of significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions

   3. failed to enhance Australia’s scientific and engineering skills

   4. failed to optimise the development of the Australian economy and

   5. turned a blind eye to Australia’s national security.

• Over the next decade, Australia could regain some of its lost ground by lifting its nuclear ban and allowing energy innovation to flourish under appropriate regulation.
• Australia should capitalise on its small but world-class base that has been built up from 60 years’ successful and incident-free experience in operating nuclear research reactors and producing nuclear medicine.
• A strategic initiative for any Australian state or territory would be to sponsor the development of a model town, or hub, for energy innovation and economic development, which could be in an inland location. Any such hub should be anchored to safe, complementary, zero-emissions technologies, including modern nuclear technology, and be connected to the transmission grid to enhance system optimisation at least cost. Potential sites should be identified through community engagement and developed with community support.

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Parent Category: Publications

Author: Robert Pritchard, Energy Policy Institute of Australia

Key Points

• Reliability of supply is what matters for the electricity industry – not the debate over the cost of renewables versus coal.
• In power system planning, the risk of early closure of ageing generation capacity must be countered by the timely procurement and installation of all necessary elements of replacement infrastructure of the required scale. The aim must be to provide whole-of-system optimisation in a timely manner at the least cost.
• Every power system needs its own system-specific planner. Greater interconnection with adjacent systems will increase reliability of supply but does not obviate the need for system planning. In Australia, the planning function should not be entirely delegated or subjugated to a body concerned with the ‘national interest’, given the changing features of the interconnected NEM, and given the yet-to-be-settled National Energy Guarantee (NEG) scheme.
• Each Australian state may need an independent strategic planning and system planning facility, working transparently and constructively with COAG and the NEM institutions, but focussing on state system-specific needs.

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