Solar doesn’t need a toxic “friendship” with nuclear power

Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has been in regional Queensland this week promoting his nuclear plan, which claims nuclear and solar both have a future in Australia’s energy mix. 

Yeah, nah. 

A new report released this week by the Queensland Conservation Council has revealed building a 1,000 MW nuclear power station in Queensland in 2040 would knock out 3,700 GWh of cheap renewable energy from the grid. 

It is the equivalent of shutting an average of 45,000 Queensland household solar systems every day, according to the new analysis. 

The report reinforces what other experts are saying – that rooftop solar and nuclear cannot co-exist – and reveals just how detrimental any proposal for nuclear would be for Queensland solar homeowners’ hip pockets. 

To make nuclear power plants economically viable, nuclear must run at full capacity. That means a direct clash with rooftop solar whenever the sun is up, and to enable nuclear power production during the day they’ll have to stop rooftop solar panels from exporting to the grid. 

The simple truth is adding nuclear power to the Australian energy mix will undermine the interest of rooftop solar owners. 

Australia has an abundance of sunshine and renewable resources. Queensland already leads the world with uptake of household-scale solar, with the Sunshine State reaching a record 1 million rooftop solar installations earlier this year. 

The second, third, fourth and fifth highest rates of rooftop solar output in Australia are in Bundaberg, Mackay, Toowoomba and Hervey Bay. These communities have the most to lose if their solar output is shut off during the day by nuclear. 

With more Australian households nationwide having rooftop solar than swimming pools, it’s time for the Liberals and Nationals to start listening and stop ignoring people power, literally and politically. 

Australians have already voted with their rooftops for cheaper, cleaner solar energy, with more than three million rooftop solar installations. Australians have a strong and abiding love of the cost saving, independence and security that comes from making their own solar power.

In fact we’ve invested $25 billion of our own money into rooftop solar, and are the envy of the eye worldwide for our home-grown renewable energy. 

Everyday Australians are world leading energy producers – not just energy consumers. Every home solar rooftop should be treated with the respect of being a sustainable home solar energy “farmer”, bringing the cost of power down for all Australians, and simultaebously reducing our carbon emissions. 

At Solar Citizens we work with community members from across the political spectrum who, time and again, have been vocal in support of solar because they are empowered by rooftop solar. We know how strong this movement of solar homeowners is. And it would be unwise for political leaders to forget it. 

A smarter government investment would be to grow access to rooftop solar for households currently locked out of the benefits of clean energy including renters, people living in apartments or social housing and low-income households. And provide Australian households with assistance for a battery rebate, like the highly succcessful solar rebate. 

Enabling more people to install home batteries will mean we can store cleaner, cheaper energy during the day and use it at night or when needed most. This would provide long term energy relief for households, improve our power network reliability and help cut network costs for all by avoiding transmission costs. 

Rooftop solar coupled with home batteries delivers the win-win of cost-of-living relief with cheaper power and less climate pollution. 

Put simply, solar and renewables would not happily co-exist in a toxic ‘frenemy” relationship’ with nuclear. Instead, we urgently need a great Aussie marriage of home solar with home batteries. 

Heidi Lee Douglas is CEO of Solar Citizens, an independent, community-based organisation working to protect and grow solar and renewable energy and clean transport in Australia.