EDITORIAL: Rhetoric of energy transition does not match reality

The energy transition is not a topic likely to get the conversation humming at the pub on Friday.

And yet that ignores the fact it is one of the most important topics we must address. In simple terms, no energy equals no lights, no cooking, no machinery, no refrigeration. No cold beers at the pub. Pretty much no anything we take for granted.

Certainly the need to reduce carbon emissions to limit climate change is a mainstream belief.

We understand the concept of transitioning from fossil fuel sources like coal and gas to renewable energy sources like solar, wind and hydro.

Sounds simple enough. The harder part is getting it done in a timely and cost-effective way.

Targets have been set. But it is quite apparent now that in significant cases, these targets are simply over ambitious.

An indication of that became clear this week with the news that the life of Australia’s largest coal fired power station Eraring has been extended, creating more uncertainty about the Albanese Government’s renewable energy and emissions targets.

The shutdown date of Origin Energy’s 2880MW Eraring plant in NSW’s Hunter Valley will now be pushed out from 2027 to 2029.

The Eraring extension follows a warning from the Queensland Government last year that coal would play a part in the State’s grid into at least the 2040s.

And on Wednesday there was another warning sign, this time delivered in Western Australia, where the Government is racing to meet a pledge to close the State-owned coal-fired Muja power stations by 2030.

It was revealed that coal mining in Collie will continue to be propped up by WA taxpayers until at least 2031, after a new State agreement was locked in only six months after Premier Roger Cook vowed to turn off the tap.

Mr Cook insisted the extra funding for Griffin Coal was not a sign the 2030 deadline for closing Muja was in doubt.

But the Premier confirmed the extension would be needed to prop up the privately-owned Bluewaters power station to provide certainty for its operators, its industry customers and its workforce.

Mr Cook pointed to the need for energy reliability, saying the agreement would further provide for energy security “while we move through the energy transition”.

“If we did not intervene, it would have meant we were switching the lights off in Western Australia,” he said.

It was a telling acknowledgement for which Mr Cook deserves credit.

But the wider picture indicates we are not getting the real story on the transition to renewables.

Pandering to the green vote and spinning what’s happening on the ground is not the way to bring Australians along for the ride.

Let’s have a proper conversation, including about nuclear power, without the usual cliches delivered about the evils that will befall us if we go down that route.

Energy is the bedrock of modern life.

How we secure that now and into the future is too important an issue to get wrong.

Responsibility for the editorial comment is taken by Editor-in-Chief Christopher Dore.