Leadership Matters: The Stokes solution to get ‘nuclear power NIMBYs’ on board amid ‘no free lunch’ on energy
Ryan Stokes says there’s no such thing as a “free lunch” when it comes to renewable energy and he believes there is a way to convert the nuclear “NIMBYs”.
Mr Stokes believes renewable energy will play a big part in the future energy mix, but warned it is not a panacea.
“No one can possibly believe it (renewable energy) is free, there’s no such thing as free lunch, there’s no such thing as free energy, there’s no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow,” he said.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“Everything has a cost to it, for 140 years our entire economy has been built on an alternating current grid . . . when you turn the light on when you want to it works, that means you’ve got to have dependable power.”
He said a grid fully-powered by renewable energy is not compatible with having cost-effective and dependable power, given the base load of renewables like wind and solar are highly variable — which is where nuclear could come into the equation.
Mr Stokes was one of the first prominent business or political figures in Australia to advocate for a serious discussion about nuclear power’s role in the energy transition, at a time when nuclear was a relatively taboo topic.
Now, the conversation has entered the mainstream and more Australians are backing a nuclear future. The Coalition earlier this year tabled a plan to convert seven sites of existing coal-fired stations into nuclear power operations.
“Nuclear is a carbon-free power source, so it makes sense to be talking about that to reduce carbon emissions,” Mr Stokes said.
Mr Stokes thinks there is a solution to deal with the rest of the population who remain nuclear “NIMBYs”, an acronym for the phrase “not in my back yard”.
“To deal with the NIMBYism — that’s easy, you can find ways to incentivise people to want to live around a nuclear power environment.”
Mr Stokes said offering free electricity or other sweeteners to those who live near nuclear plants could reduce “traditional concerns”.
