Op-Ed Article: Tasmania Clean Energy Opportunities
An op-ed written by Michael Pullinger, in response to a power shortage crisis in his home state in Australia. Originally published in The Mercury newspaper.
MICHAEL PULLINGER
March 30, 2016
WHENEVER I meet new people in my adopted home of Canada, I relish the chance to steer conversation from a famous marsupial carnivore to describing how Tasmania’s wilderness truly sets it apart. Being an island is a blessing and a curse for Tasmania. The recent perfect storm and unprecedented crisis in Tasmania’s electricity sector provides a clear example.
Ironically, the energy shortage was exacerbated by humanity’s vociferous appetite for energy through the burning of fossil fuels, which contributed to a record dry spring. This could not have come at a more inopportune time, with a fault on the Basslink power cable highlighting the state’s vulnerability in relying on a single link. While the energy crisis is unprecedented, the ongoing march of climate change will make extraordinarily dry years like 2015 more common. Additional energy to cover the shortfall from Tassie’s hydro dams will be needed. In the short term, suspending the sale of the Bell Bay gas power plant seems sensible. As a source of backup power, it is cheaper than flying in diesel generators and cleaner than importing dirty coal power from Victoria.
Many Tasmanians are proud of Tassie’s environmentally progressive image, and are aware of the incompatibility of polluting coal power with that vision. Recognising the benefits Tasmania has accrued from having a power generation mix almost exclusively derived from clean energy suggests that any new power should also come from renewable sources.
Much like Tasmania, Canada’s three provinces of British Columbia, Manitoba and Quebec generate more than 90 per cent of their power using hydro-electric and other forms of renewable energy. They recognise the benefit of their clean electricity, and aggressively pursue power exports into the US. With US President Barack Obama reducing America’s reliance on coal power, new sources of clean power are high on the shopping list. Governments world-wide are recognising how bad coal is for humanity. The writing is on the wall in the US, Canada, Europe and China. No doubt Australia will follow, with Victoria in particular likely needing to find cleaner sources of power.
Can Tasmania follow in the footsteps of Canada’s renewable energy provinces?
Proponents of many worthwhile options have made their case in recent weeks, but without a co-ordinated approach the risk becomes playing favourites rather than rewarding the best outcome. Creating subsidies or guaranteeing power sales contracts for individual projects will not provide the security and stability the industry needs to thrive in the long term. Some advocate biomass as a silver bullet, overlooking its primary aim of rescuing an ailing native forest logging industry. Other commentators attempt to resurrect the Franklin dam, an issue that was settled more than three decades ago, and would only add about a week of additional supply to an already drought-stricken system.
Such a mixed bag of ad-hoc proposals and competing interests belie a co-ordinated approach and a clear vision for renewable energy in Tasmania.
In contrast, the Clean Energy Association of British Columbia indicates that over more than 15 years, a total of $4 billion has been invested and almost 3000 jobs created in the construction of new renewable energy facilities that supply energy to half a million people.
In 2002, British Columbia’s Liberal Party premier Gordon Campbell announced a new clean energy vision for the province. It mandated at least 93 per cent of power generation would always come from clean energy, with British Columbia a net exporter in all but the driest years. Campbell recognised that creating competitive conditions for private enterprise would allow the best projects to be identified, developed and constructed in the most cost effective way. By setting clear environmental guidelines from the outset, projects whose ecological consequences were unacceptable to the community were avoided.
Providing the security of a guaranteed contract, with the competitive environment of an open tender, brought advances in a mix of renewable energy sources, balanced by the existing hydropower reservoirs. Recognising the importance of smaller-scale projects, both electrical utilities allow net metering so homeowners with solar are not unfairly given rock-bottom wholesale rates for electricity they provide in the retail market. This integrated mix of even-handed, transparent and stable policies allowed development of a slew of environmentally friendly run-of-river, wind, solar and bioenergy projects with customers paying among the lowest rates in the developed world.
The law of very large numbers means even a well-designed electrical system cannot be 100 per cent reliable. Include the pervasive short-termism of politics and you have a recipe for an almighty game of finger-pointing when things occasionally, but inevitably, go wrong.
This energy crisis presents an opportunity to increase renewable energy production, displacing dirty Victorian coal power while providing greater energy security in dry years. Critically, the urgency to provide a quick fix to the crisis should not result in a knee-jerk response that ends up being a long-term boondoggle.
British Columbia and Canada’s other renewable energy provinces have been far from perfect, but provide an example worth emulating.
MICHAEL PULLINGER
March 30, 2016
WHENEVER I meet new people in my adopted home of Canada, I relish the chance to steer conversation from a famous marsupial carnivore to describing how Tasmania’s wilderness truly sets it apart. Being an island is a blessing and a curse for Tasmania. The recent perfect storm and unprecedented crisis in Tasmania’s electricity sector provides a clear example.
Ironically, the energy shortage was exacerbated by humanity’s vociferous appetite for energy through the burning of fossil fuels, which contributed to a record dry spring. This could not have come at a more inopportune time, with a fault on the Basslink power cable highlighting the state’s vulnerability in relying on a single link. While the energy crisis is unprecedented, the ongoing march of climate change will make extraordinarily dry years like 2015 more common. Additional energy to cover the shortfall from Tassie’s hydro dams will be needed. In the short term, suspending the sale of the Bell Bay gas power plant seems sensible. As a source of backup power, it is cheaper than flying in diesel generators and cleaner than importing dirty coal power from Victoria.
Many Tasmanians are proud of Tassie’s environmentally progressive image, and are aware of the incompatibility of polluting coal power with that vision. Recognising the benefits Tasmania has accrued from having a power generation mix almost exclusively derived from clean energy suggests that any new power should also come from renewable sources.
Much like Tasmania, Canada’s three provinces of British Columbia, Manitoba and Quebec generate more than 90 per cent of their power using hydro-electric and other forms of renewable energy. They recognise the benefit of their clean electricity, and aggressively pursue power exports into the US. With US President Barack Obama reducing America’s reliance on coal power, new sources of clean power are high on the shopping list. Governments world-wide are recognising how bad coal is for humanity. The writing is on the wall in the US, Canada, Europe and China. No doubt Australia will follow, with Victoria in particular likely needing to find cleaner sources of power.
Can Tasmania follow in the footsteps of Canada’s renewable energy provinces?
Proponents of many worthwhile options have made their case in recent weeks, but without a co-ordinated approach the risk becomes playing favourites rather than rewarding the best outcome. Creating subsidies or guaranteeing power sales contracts for individual projects will not provide the security and stability the industry needs to thrive in the long term. Some advocate biomass as a silver bullet, overlooking its primary aim of rescuing an ailing native forest logging industry. Other commentators attempt to resurrect the Franklin dam, an issue that was settled more than three decades ago, and would only add about a week of additional supply to an already drought-stricken system.
Such a mixed bag of ad-hoc proposals and competing interests belie a co-ordinated approach and a clear vision for renewable energy in Tasmania.
In contrast, the Clean Energy Association of British Columbia indicates that over more than 15 years, a total of $4 billion has been invested and almost 3000 jobs created in the construction of new renewable energy facilities that supply energy to half a million people.
In 2002, British Columbia’s Liberal Party premier Gordon Campbell announced a new clean energy vision for the province. It mandated at least 93 per cent of power generation would always come from clean energy, with British Columbia a net exporter in all but the driest years. Campbell recognised that creating competitive conditions for private enterprise would allow the best projects to be identified, developed and constructed in the most cost effective way. By setting clear environmental guidelines from the outset, projects whose ecological consequences were unacceptable to the community were avoided.
Providing the security of a guaranteed contract, with the competitive environment of an open tender, brought advances in a mix of renewable energy sources, balanced by the existing hydropower reservoirs. Recognising the importance of smaller-scale projects, both electrical utilities allow net metering so homeowners with solar are not unfairly given rock-bottom wholesale rates for electricity they provide in the retail market. This integrated mix of even-handed, transparent and stable policies allowed development of a slew of environmentally friendly run-of-river, wind, solar and bioenergy projects with customers paying among the lowest rates in the developed world.
The law of very large numbers means even a well-designed electrical system cannot be 100 per cent reliable. Include the pervasive short-termism of politics and you have a recipe for an almighty game of finger-pointing when things occasionally, but inevitably, go wrong.
This energy crisis presents an opportunity to increase renewable energy production, displacing dirty Victorian coal power while providing greater energy security in dry years. Critically, the urgency to provide a quick fix to the crisis should not result in a knee-jerk response that ends up being a long-term boondoggle.
British Columbia and Canada’s other renewable energy provinces have been far from perfect, but provide an example worth emulating.