Move to clean energy requires smart policy - battery storage systems
The term "sovereign risk" is widely used in public debate in Australia, and most often related to established industries that may be affected by changes in federal and state policies.
But few people have suffered as much as they do now.
The establishment of a renewable energy sector must respond to the changing thinking of the government since the turn of the century.
This has been particularly the case since the election of the Abbott Coalition government in 2013.
With an axe hanging on the renewable energy target, the labor force was abolished --
Clean energy investment fell by 70 under the green carbon pricing program.
This is beginning to change in a welcome development.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Minister of Energy and Environment Josh flenberg both strongly supported the existing targets, which by 2020 amounted to approximately clean energy, and for a long time
Long-term growth in the industry.
But this should be the beginning.
Australia's energy system is in urgent need of overhaul.
The decentralized system provides good services to the country, driving the development of a prosperous economy that we have enjoyed for generations, and now we take it for granted.
But it is a system designed for the last century, and its limitations have been exposed in recent years.
In terms of electricity, nearly half of what consumers pay on their inflated quarterly bills covers extraordinary spending on the web over the past decade.
Most of these investments are not needed: the poles and wires of the State Grid are gold --
Gold plating goes far beyond the requirement to make sure our lights stay on.
This system is also very damaging to the Earth.
In Victoria's power plant, burning cheap wet brown coal to generate electricity is a huge indirect cost in the damage caused by the heat --
They emit greenhouse gases.
The state's power plants are the worst in the country in terms of environment and economy.
If there's a market
Plans based on carbon pricing, forcing factory owners to pay for their emissions-as this era has long supported, Australia is doing the same before --
The so-called "carbon tax" was abolished in 2014-the longevity of these plants will be shortened.
The government has legitimate reasons to intervene to ensure the orderly closure of coal plants, but the biggest shift may be forced by allowing and encouraging the growth of an increasingly fragmented reform system.
With the rapid decline in solar costs and improvements in battery storage, this is now within reach.
This is a future for families to become "consumers" of producers and consumers.
It requires the change of the State Grid to become a more mobile market, as good for consumers as for energy companies.
Families and businesses should be able to buy and sell electricity on the state grid at the best price.
Benefits: higher system efficiency, less energy wasted during transmission;
Low infrastructure costs;
There is a greater incentive to reduce energy waste.
The government can play a role in promoting this change.
Other countries are far ahead of Australia-Denmark, where public policy has encouraged condominium buildings and enterprise cogeneration since the 1980 s, resulting in an efficient decentralized system.
The technology now makes this shift more viable than ever before.
Malcolm Turnbull likes to talk about innovation.
There is an obvious area here and the country is crying for it.