“In 2035 I’d like people to wonder what all the fuss was about.”
NSW energy minister Penny Sharpe says she hopes that energy becomes boring, and that people in 2035 look back on the transition from coal and wonder what all the fuss was about.
In an interview for Renew Economy’s Energy Insiders podcast, Sharpe says the task of navigating the country’s biggest and most coal dependent grid away from fossil fuels is challenging.
That’s because the technology choices are shifting from centralised coal and gas generators, to a distributed array of wind, solar, and storage.
And also because of the rise of consumer resources - rooftop solar, household batteries and EVs - that will play a critical role in the future grid.
Sharpe took over as energy minister from Liberal Matt Kean in 2023 after Labor won the state poll, and has inherited the infrastructure roadmap that seeks to get enough new renewables built.
The biggest controversy in Sharpe’s period as minister has been the decision to extend the Eraring coal generator, the country’s biggest.
Its closure will depend on the speed of construction of the state’s renewable energy zones and the wind and solar and battery projects within them.
The creation of the REZs has been controversial, and hearings in the state parliament this week saw members of the local community complain about the way they have been handled.
One of the first things Sharpe did was make sure that EnergyCo, the state authority that is managing the rollout of the REZs, set up regional offices.
Sharpe says the government has also worked with councils, who are generally supportive but have questions about developments, and want to make sure the local community benefits.
This has led to the big spend on road upgrades to ease the logistical challenges.
Most of all, Sharpe is relieved that Labor won the federal election. Even though the state has had bipartisan support for the transition from coal, that has not been the case in the federal arena.