Energy policy circuit breaker required

The current energy policy debate and resultant decisions will result in opportunities and threats for your organisation. The good news is your organisation no longer has to be just a passive consumer. You have the power to take control.

Hi, I’m excited to bring my 27 years’ experience in sales and business development in Australia, USA and Canada; 5 years of which includes supplying clean energy and solar solutions to businesses in Western Australia for the benefit of your organisation.

With a Diploma in Electronic Engineering I have a good technical knowledge of energy management and solar PV systems to help PAE’s clients intelligently explore the feasibility of adopting clean energy solutions. I look forward to working with you soon.

As a start let’s look at the energy policy debate in Australia.  This debate and the resultant decisions will pose opportunities and threats for your organisation so I’ll try and keep you abreast of it.  That’s my job – to make energy easy and make sure you have the power to achieve your organisational goals.

Problems with the management of our energy system are becoming more acute. Finding a way through the ongoing policy quagmire and developing a long-term strategic plan for your energy future is becoming increasingly urgent to relieve pressure on energy security and power prices.

Essentially, we need to achieve two outcomes. The first is to manage a planned retirement of coal-fired power plants which are now years past their expected retirement date. Currently more than 70 per cent of Australia’s coal power plants fall into this category. The second is to bring on new, flexible clean power generation and complementary technology such as energy storage. The greatest threat to our energy security is if we don’t have enough new generation being built to replace the coal-fired plants that will retire in the coming decades. This requires strong long-term policy and reform to Australia’s energy markets and regulations, something the Finkel Review is actively considering.

We are obviously buoyed by the fact that renewable energy is now the cheapest kind of power it is possible to build today, and certainly the cleanest per megawatt-hour. In terms of energy security, the right mix of market signals and regulatory frameworks is required.

It’s clear we have the technology and solutions at hand. This includes:

• battery storage
• network support technology provided by renewables such as inertia and rapid frequency response
• hydro upgrades including new pumped hydro storage
• synchronous condensers
• better interconnection