Energy Minister Dingo Bowen is off and running with the Dutton nuclear gift.
Writing at The Australia, Bowen asserts that the most popular nuclear power myth, repeated by Peter Dutton, is that Australia is the only G20 country without nuclear power or nuclear proposals.
Bowen points out that Germany, Italy, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia are in the G20 and all lack nuclear power.
The last comparison is most useful to Australia. Why would Australia seek nuclear energy when it is Saudi Arabia of gas?
Does Saudi Arabia import oil?
Gas-fired firming power is the perfect complement to renewables, while energy storage capacity is built out.
AEMO doesn’t see any alternative to gas in any transition scenario:
The issue is that the East Coast gas export cartel has monopolised Australian gas reserves.
This can be easily addressed via domestic reservation policies that are already half-created and need strengthening.
Yet, instead of doing this, Bowen is busy engaging in the false binary political debate of nuclear versus renewables.
This is all the more galling given, right now, the gas cartel is delivering another energy shock via spot prices that are far above the supposed price caps:
Transmitting directly into electricity prices:
Bowen is also falling behind elsewhere. A survey by Nexa found that transmission line projects are years behind schedule, despite federal government vows to start work. This increases the danger of outages and price hikes as renewables fail to come on stream in time.
The renewables versus nuclear debate is a false binary that obscures the only real problem and solution in Australia’s energy transition: the reservation and use of gas.
It all points to the same outcome: the ongoing fallback of publicly subsidised coal-fired power.
