Power bill shocks will remain a threat unless Australia quickly “decouples” from global coal and gas markets by ramping up renewables, the head of the east coast electricity grid has warned.
Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) chief executive Daniel Westerman suggested the Albanese government’s energy market interventions, including coal and gas price caps, represented “short-term solutions” to relieve households power bills.
But the conflict in Ukraine meant efforts to prepare the grid for higher levels of wind and solar to protect against future international coal and gas shocks were even more urgent, he said.
“Domestic thermal coal and gas prices are vulnerable to international events and conditions, as we’ve seen this year with the war in Ukraine,” Westerman told The Sunday Age and The Sun-Herald.
“This has contributed to higher than average wholesale energy prices, prompting short-term solutions to assist consumers.
“The sooner we integrate higher levels of firmed renewables with transmission into the energy system, the sooner we can decouple domestic energy prices from these international shocks, meet our emissions targets and reduce stress on Australian families and businesses.”
Energy Minister Chris Bowen on Saturday announced the federal government would invest $176 million in advanced battery technology through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.
The announcement follows the government’s dramatic gas market interventionto temporarily impose a $12 per gigajoule cap for uncontracted wholesale gas and a $125 a tonne cap on coal, which passed Parliament last week with support from the Greens and prompted a furious response from gas producers.
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