The Nationals want renewables to stay in the cities – but the clean energy grid doesn’t work like that

Fri, 8 Mar 2024 04:12:44 +1100

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://theconversation.com/the-nationals-want-renewables-to-stay-in-the-cities-but-the-clean-energy-grid-doesnt-work-like-that-205490>

"The bush is full up – no room for more renewables, according to Nationals
leader David Littleproud. Instead, renewables should be restricted to large
solar arrays on commercial buildings in the cities.

The country-focused minor party presumably hopes to capitalise on rural
scepticism of large scale renewable projects – especially angst around new
transmission lines. On the coast, there have been protests against proposed
offshore wind farms.

Unfortunately, fencing off renewables in the cities won’t work. As our recent
research on onshore wind shows, intermittent energy sources such as wind can
work very well to support a modern grid – as long as we locate wind farms in
different places. This ensures we can keep the lights on even if it’s dead calm
in some areas.

Of course, rooftop solar may well stack up for households and building owners.
But we will need new renewable projects in spread-out locations. Banning
renewables from the bush is no solution. What we can do is make sure we’re not
duplicating wind farms. Each new wind farm should be in the best possible
location."

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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