Nationals choose coal, nuclear and climate denial, as politics of delay threatens to kill another industry

So, the Nationals have decided to stop pretending they care about climate change, and have thrown in their lot with the fossil fuel industries. It should come as no surprise – climate denial, coal and nuclear often go hand in hand. 

It is the greed, stupidity and cowardice that stuns the most. This is a party that chooses not to support its regional constituency – those likely to suffer most from the impacts of climate change – but to side with billionaires determined not to let science and the fate of future generations get in the way of making money.

Climate science demands that strong action is needed as quickly as possible to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. This is true for Australia as it is for the rest of the world. Reaching net zero by 2050 is the very least that should be done – we should really be aiming for net zero in the mid 2030s or early 2040s.

The Nationals, though, having rejected near and medium term climate targets, can’t even be bothered kicking the can down the road, which is how many describe the task of net zero by 2050. And like most climate deniers, they voice support for the world’s most expensive, difficult and delayed technology – nuclear energy. 

The most obvious technologies, and by far the best in the Australian context, are solar, wind, and battery storage. It is not all we need, but it is the lowest cost and the most readily deployable. The Nationals prefer to look the other way.

It looks, sounds and feels Trumpian. We’ve seen how idiots and ideologues have been promoted to the key roles in the new US administration, and the damage that has been done, the lives that have been lost and will be lost, and the attacks on science, the environment, and the foundations of western democracy.

But we really don’t have to look beyond our own shores to see how this plays out – new right wing governments in Queensland (LNP) and the Northern Territory (CLP) have ripped up renewables targets and ignored climate science to pursue what appears to be a single goal: To further enrich the fossil fuel interests that support them. 

Tomago, not pronounced like tomato

This has consequences. The owners of the giant Tomago aluminium smelter last week flagged the possible closure in three years – not because of the transition to renewables, but largely because it has not come quickly enough in NSW.

There is deep irony in this. Rio Tinto believes it has secured the future of its Boyne Island smelter and associated refineries in Gladstone in Queensland by locking in a series of wind, solar and solar battery hybrid contracts – all the biggest of their type in Australia. And there are more to come, we understand.

This was the result of the state Labor government’s pro-active efforts and a common sense approach to the rollout of renewables and renewable zones in the country’s most coal dependent state, although the new LNP government has tried to bugger that up by “calling in” the wind project. It seems a phone call solved that issue.

NSW has arguably more ambitious transition plans – given the size of its grid – and a lot more urgency because of the age of its coal generators.

But behind the ostensibly bipartisan support have been acts of quiet and noisy sabotage – rabble rousing and planning delays – particularly from the Nationals that has made the rollout of wind and solar that much more difficult.

Of course, they are not the only ones to blame. The buyers’ strike by the big energy retailers, the failure of super to invest in their own country’s future, the pathetic coverage of mainstream media have all played their part.

As Rio’s Jonathon McCarthy explained at the recent AFR conference last month: “It just turns out to be a function of the abundance of what’s in the pipeline in Queensland that let us make those steps towards the solution we’re pursuing.

“And that that was just a little bit different than the work we’re trying to do in New South Wales. It’s the same broad solution, but it just is a more complex pipeline to try and fit that together so far.”

The beneficiaries of this slowdown? Certainly not the workers at Tomago. Certainly not the landowners and the communities that could have benefited from regional investment. 

Race to renewables

It is instructive to note the number of industries that are trying to transition to renewables as quickly as they can, to secure their future, like Boyne Island.

BHP has signed up for a series of large renewable contracts with Neoen based around wind and battery storage to provide the bulk of power to its giant Olympic Dam mine in South Australia.

Fortescue is charging towards “real zero” – meaning burning no gas or diesel by 2030 to power and operate their iron more mines by 2030, which would be an extraordinary feat if they can pull that off in that time frame.

And numerous smaller mines are already reaching levels of 90 per cent renewables on their off grid mines, and gaining big benefits and customer approvals because of it.

This is happening at the local level too – the federal battery rebate numbers are now at 108,000 (as of Saturday) and showing no signs of slowing down.

And there is renewed enthusiasm for vehicle-to-grid, essentially using the big batteries in EVs for the same purpose, to act as batteries on wheels. Amber’s Chris Thompson says consumer energy resources – such as batteries and EVs – is the next big wave.

“You really start to see the future forming here, where consumers are actually the backbone of the energy grid,” he says. “They are participating, they are accelerating this renewable transition, and we are desperately trying to work hard to make sure that we can help make it simple and easy for everyone to participate.”

And as ARENA’s Darren Miller noted: “We can expect the level of storage in these vehicles to exceed what we need in the grid by about three times. So all we need is a third of people plugging their cars in and having this technology to essentially provide all of the firming that we need for our grid for our home energy consumption.”

See also: Video: Big breakthrough for batteries on wheels

Co-operation please

It was fascinating to see Nick Carter, the head of Australia’s Akaysha Energy, the company behind the country’s most powerful battery installation at Waratah in NSW, being named by Time Magazine as one of its Climate100 leaders last week.

The Waratah Super Battery, which at 850 MW and 1680 MWh is the biggest machine ever connected to the Australian grid, will act as a giant shock absorber to the grid, an example of new technology and new thinking that is helping the transition from coal to clean energy.

Carter had a simple message on what needs to be done.

“Stop fighting and get aligned for the common good. We need a global carbon platform and market. We can’t keep assuming that dumping manmade greenhouse gases is free or has no consequence,” he said.

“Partly, this is due to the crazy ideology that dominates climate change, which is fuelled by a deep distrust of science and scientists.

“I would encourage people to get back to basics and understand what science is, and what scientists and engineers do when they conduct research, build forecasts, and suggest techno-economic methods to resolve it.”

Can’t say better than that. It’s such a shame about the Catweazles of the world, who are telling us that they will never get on board.

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