Via the AFR:
Energy producers and investors are regarding a possible Labor government after next year’s general election as offering the prospect of a defined energy policy that, while potentially tougher for the industry in some areas, will at least bring an end to what some have described as “almost uninvestable” situation under the Morrison government.
Even the ALP’s seemingly draconian gas plan that suggests a move towards regulated prices on the east coast is leaving producers largely unperturbed, in the belief that Labor recognises that going far down that path will make the supply situation worse.
“At the end of the day it’s all about sensible policy and making sure it all hangs together and that’s what we are interested in so we can invest in confidence and operate in confidence and get good outcomes for customers,” Origin Energy chief executive Frank Calabria said.
They needn’t go far down it. Just use the Coalition’s own domestic reservation policy and put a price target on it of $5-6Gj. If the gas cartel decides to limit domestic supply then threaten nationalisation. They’ll buckle and limit exports instead, renegotiating contracts. There is no supply issue once you install reservation and letting export create an artificial shortage so that a cartel can apply discriminatory pricing is basically national suicide.
Meanwhile, The Australian has no idea what it is talking about:
Australia’s multi-billion-dollar fleet of gas “peaker” power plants may be forced to shut down as cheaper fast-response batteries force the fuel out of the nation’s power market, while the closure of AGL’s Liddell coal plant will contribute to a 20 per cent jump in east coast prices by 2025, consultancy WoodMackenzie warns.
Amid a 25 per cent slump in gas use for electricity generation in the September quarter, batteries are set to render many gas plants redundant as soon as 2025 by smoothing out volatility and supplying to the grid at cheaper prices.
Gas peaking plants, typically switched on when wind and solar energy can’t meet demand, may now be upended by utility scale-batteries, which can provide a similar jolt to the grid both faster and at a lower cost.
The only thing killing gas peakers is the gas price. Lower it and there’ll be more gas output. Then batteries will have to compete with it for peaking power as electricity prices fall.
This is how you lower power costs and drive decarbonisation. Der.
