Tuesday 7 June 2022

‘Storage is key’ for Australia to go net zero

Energy storage is critical for Australia to stay on track to reaching net zero emissions.

That’s the key finding in a new report by the Victoria Energy Policy Centre (VEPC), which claims that without storage, the figure of 82% renewable electricity by 2030 promised by the government won’t be possible.

The researchers are calling for storage targets to be front-and-centre of new government policy.

Making it a state obligation to supply electricity is another change the study states will help push Australian net zero progress forward – with states setting and meeting their own emission targets and regulating this.

It stresses that state governments and not the Australian government, should be held responsible for meeting state targets.

In explaining a need for varied approaches to emissions reduction policy, the report stated: “State governments are pursuing a variety of approaches to the development of their electricity industries.

“The diversity of their policy approaches and implementation arrangements provides valuable information to discover and learn.

This improves the prospect for rivalry in contestable activities and competition by comparison in monopoly activities. If a single national entity comes to dominate infrastructure development, it may undermine such discovery and experimentation.”