Business is clear: renewables and a carbon price for security and lower prices
A price on carbon and a more resilient grid are essential to secure our electricity supply, stabalise prices and reduce pollution.
This comes as Chief Scientist, Alan Finkel prepares to release his report into the country’s broken electricity system.
James Wright from the Future Business Council says an energy market with renewables and smart grid technology provides the lowest-cost electricity to consumers.
“The priority must be on making the grid climate resilient, ready for renewables and ready for storage. Today it’s not, and is costing business millions in power-outages and extortionate pricing.”
“Coal and gas powered electricity is now a business risk. It’s unreliable, volatile in price and is backward looking. We need to embrace Australia’s competitive advantage in renewables and storage if we are serious about achieving energy security and reliability,” Mr Wright said.
According to the Global Status of Renewables Report released this week, investment in new renewable power was double the investment in new fossil fuels for the fifth year in a row.
And the cost of utility scale solar plummeted by 67% while the cost of wind power dropped by 18%.
James Wright says Australia needs to get behind this global shift to renewables or risk being left behind which would be a tragedy for Australian business.
“The market is very clear – risks around carbon intensive assets make them un-investable. The switch to a low emissions economy is well underway,” Mr Wright said.
For interviews contact Greg Muller, 0414 654 288, greg@climatemediacentre.org.au