Rapid shift to renewable energy could lead Australia to cheap power and 100,000 jobs
Source: Adam Morton · THE GUARDIAN· | May 28, 2020
Ambitious goal requires us to ‘get over the political roadblock’ says Malcolm Turnbull, who backed climate change thinktank’s report
Australia could be home to new zero-emissions industries and create more than 100,000 jobs in the electricity industry alone within the next five years, according to climate change thinktank Beyond Zero Emissions. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP
A rapid expansion of renewable energy over the next five years could establish Australia as a home for new zero-emissions industries, cut electricity costs and create more than 100,000 jobs in the electricity industry alone, a new analysis suggests.
The briefing paper by Beyond Zero Emissions, a climate change thinktank, presents an alternative vision to the Morrison government’s gas-fired recovery plan, arguing the shift to a clean electricity grid is inevitable and there are opportunities in accelerating it, rather than slowing it down. Renewable energy investment in Australia fell 50% last year.
The work is backed by the former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, who described the central thesis of the report as “compellingly right”.
“That is, we have the opportunity to have zero emissions and cheap energy in Australia if we get over the political roadblock that has bedevilled the debate for so long,” Turnbull told Guardian Australia.
The report is the first stage of a “million jobs plan” being developed by the thinktank. Turnbull is a member of an advisory board supporting the project.
It recommends Australia aims to build 90 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity and 20GW of batteries over five years, a project it estimates would create 22,000 ongoing and 124,000 construction jobs. It describes the goal as ambitious, but “an evolution, not a revolution” given 11GW was installed in 2018 and 2019. It cites a report by consultants Rystad Energy that found 133GW of large-scale solar, wind and battery projects are in development. About a quarter have planning approval.
The report says reaching the target would require governments to send investors “an unequivocal signal” of support for large-scale renewable projects. Its three main recommendations include underwriting new “renewable energy industrial zones” with long-term fixed electricity prices of $50-55 per megawatt-hour in regional centres such as Gladstone, the Hunter Valley, the Latrobe Valley and Whyalla to support new clean industries, such as green hydrogen and zero emissions metals.
It says transmission lines around the country, many of which are already proposed by the Australian Energy Market Operator, would need to be fast-tracked, with governments intervening to overcome regulatory hurdles. It calls for local content requirements for wind turbines, batteries and transmission components, saying it could create 15,000 manufacturing jobs.