Chief Scientist and Honorary Fellow of Engineers Australia Dr. Alan Finkel’s Report on the future of the nation’s energy security deserves praise as, on balance, its set of recommendations identifies solutions to fundamental problems which have emerged in the National Electricity Market (NEM).
The significance of his “Blueprint for the Future” is profound, and governments and key stakeholders must act quickly on the immediate engineering and technological challenges around its recommendations in order to establish a secure, sustainable and affordable supply of electricity for the country right now.
Balancing this trifecta is not an easy task.
Engineers Australia has long called for a national transition strategy to avert an energy security crisis, and it is pleasing to see that the Report acknowledges the need for an orderly transition, with enhanced system planning and stronger governance.
Much of the Report’s media attention has focussed on Dr. Finkel’s recommended Clean Energy Target. This is just part of one recommendation, out of fifty – including security, gas, governance, and customer rewards.
The Report also sets a timeline for the implementation of the recommendations; some to be achieved within 6 months, and some 3 years.
Engineers Australia agrees with the Report’s focus that getting through the next few summers is vital. However, it is paramount that the Report’s longer term recommendations also be considered to provide policy and investment certainty within Australia, in order to avoid the boom/bust cycles that have had a stranglehold over the electricity industry for decades.
Crucially, the Report highlights the critical importance of engineering knowledge to NEM governance in its call for power systems engineering expertise for AEMO (Australian Energy Market Operator) directors. There is a further need here to upgrade the strategic, technical and operational running of AEMO and other NEM bodies.
Although Dr. Finkel states that the Report is technology agnostic, it will be the integration of additional and new technologies into the grid - and how and where they will be integrated - that will determine whether the objectives of energy security, affordability and sustainability are achieved – not only over the next few years but for future generations.
This brings us back to the “trifecta” equation. Engineers Australia argues that there is no single energy source that can currently provide all three - but a diversity of many are needed and the country must transition to a renewable and modern grid.
Summer is coming. Dr Finkel’s Report is mandatory reading for all of us. It must now be actioned.