Simon Holmes à Court 2021 Update Highlights

Jack Meehan portrait

JACK MEEHAN

May 24, 2021

Energy expert Simon Holmes à Court explained that we are at a tipping point in the clean energy transition of the electricity sector, with the coal sector rapidly becoming unprofitable.

The transition is happening much faster than the Finkel Report predicted, and even faster than the Step Change Scenario of the Integrated System Plan, boosted by the continued deceleration in prices in the renewable sector and the massive uptick in storage rollout across Australia.

“We can have an orderly transition or we can have a chaotic disruption”.

– Simon Holmes à Court

Simon Holmes à Court is a Senior Advisor to the Climate and Energy College, Melbourne University and is a frequent contributor to the energy analysis in Australia, and delivered his annual update energy policy landscape in February for Lighter Footprints 

Holmes à Court reminds us that gas usage is shrinking, really only needed for peak demand: ‘Solar and wind have pushed out a lot of coal, and quite a bit of gas’, reducing electricity quite a bit in the last three years.
 
However other sectors such as transport, industry are flatlining in their transition – if we don’t improve our emissions reduction rate, Holmes à Court says we will net zero at around 2300!

The key is to electrify everything we can, and use clean energy to supply that electricity. Our major trading partners and many businesses have made firm net zero commitments, and the Australian government is just dragging its heels.

Most people have no idea how little coal really contributes to employment – at 5.5%, we could afford to re-train workers and offer coal-affected communities into industries such as green hydrogen for export. Holmes à Court talked up two major projects – SunCable will supply 20% of Singapore’s power and the Asian Renewable Energy Hub (a massive 26GW) will export electrons and green hydrogen within a globally competitive price structure.

Holmes à Court reminded that elections do matter, and Biden’s victory only adds to the pressure on Australia.

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