Energy Minister Chris Bowen is throwing “pennies” at problems that never should have existed with his announcement of a $30 million investment in renewables to strengthen Australia\u2019s electricity grid.<\/p>\n
The Grid Enhancing Technologies (GET) Grant Program, totalling $30 million in competitive grants across 14 projects, seeks to create a cheaper, cleaner, and more reliable electricity grid.<\/p>\n
Mr Bowen said the grant would aim to ease pressure on energy bills while building a \u201cresilient\u201d electricity grid.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Grid Enhancing Technologies grants will support more renewables in the system, put downward pressure on energy bills, and build a stronger, more resilient grid,” he said.<\/p>\n
However, Energy Program Director at the Centre of Independent Studies Aidan Morrison told SkyNews.com.au the Albanese government\u2019s investment in the grants program was akin to throwing \u201cpennies after problems\u201d that “were never meant to be problems to begin with.”<\/p>\n
\u201cIn theory there’s nothing wrong with the government giving out a few million in early-stage innovation grants to fledgling technologies,” he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat’s worrying is that we’re still at the early stage of testing new ideas to solve critical problems which have completely stalled the energy transition.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe plans that were written when we committed to the path to ramp up renewables and electrification essentially assumed they (the problems) were already solved.\u201d<\/p>\n
The investment will focus on providing grid operators with better tools to move electricity around the network and on coordinating large-scale batteries to reduce network pressure, among other solutions.<\/p>\n
Mr Morrison said the solutions Labor was providing were based on a \u201clist of failed assumptions\u201d, before noting how the government had turned plans into problems.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe list of issues that the grants are designed to address read like a list of failed assumptions that were baked into the government’s blueprints from 2022,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Using EVs as batteries to help power homes and support the grid when electricity demand is high\u2019 is one objective.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is one of the noteworthy, failed assumptions from the Integrated System Plan’s projections in 2022, where it was assumed car owners would soon allow their batteries to be drained on demand to support the grid.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cCan this be solved? Maybe. But our plans essentially assumed it wasn’t going to be a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Morrison said providing better tools to grid operators in moving electricity around the network was \u201cblatant double spending\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn NSW, TransGrid has been in the process of planning such a procurement of exactly this type of system upgrade for years and is the final stages of getting regulatory approval for $163.5 million of funding for this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnother few million granted to an innovative trial project is a drop in the ocean, and certainly too late to help.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Energy Minister Chris Bowen is throwing “pennies” at problems that never should have existed with his announcement of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":816569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[391678,391693,391688,391695,391658,391667,391672,8288,391674,391698,391652,391659,391701,379533,385815,391699,391705,391653,391671,2324,64,63,40485,391691,391690,391650,26273,99,391670,28486,131338,391675,391694,10167,285209,391665,19161,38663,2572,85454,273857,391654,7569,391656,391686,391696,2494,391697,28853,391702,391681,391703,5474,8176,1788,391673,391704,391700,286451,391664,391648,391655,2733,391661,391692,391677,391651,20246,1917,84,391647,1655,191245,155455,202199,19158,391666,378707,391662,391649,102994,378344,378744,391660,388983,391687,23023,391668,391682,391657,302953,391680,391663,391684,194434,387833,391685,391689,391683,391669,383974,376868,391676,103578,391679,105299,344487,32388],"class_list":["post-816568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-s-electricity-grid","tag-s-investment","tag-163-5-million","tag-30-million","tag-30m-renewables","tag-30m-renewables-plan","tag-14-projects","tag-8288","tag-a-resilient-electricity-grid","tag-a-30-million-investment","tag-a-cheaper","tag-a-drop","tag-a-few-million","tag-a-list","tag-a-problem","tag-a-stronger","tag-an-innovative-trial-project","tag-and-more-reliable-electricity-grid","tag-another-few-million","tag-anthony-albanese","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-batteries","tag-better-tools","tag-blatant-double-spending","tag-blueprints","tag-bowen","tag-business","tag-car-owners","tag-chris-bowen","tag-cleaner","tag-competitive-grants","tag-critical-problems","tag-demand","tag-downward-pressure","tag-early-stage-innovation-grants","tag-electricity","tag-electricity-demand","tag-energy","tag-energy-bills","tag-energy-minister-chris-bowen","tag-energy-program-director","tag-evs","tag-exactly-this-type","tag-failed-assumptions","tag-fledgling-technologies","tag-funding","tag-grant-program","tag-grants","tag-grid-operators","tag-his-announcement","tag-independent-studies-aidan-morrison","tag-investment","tag-issues","tag-labor","tag-large-scale-batteries","tag-more-renewables","tag-more-resilient-grid","tag-mr-bowen","tag-network-pressure","tag-new-ideas","tag-newswire-martin-ollman-mr-morrison","tag-nsw","tag-one-objective","tag-other-solutions","tag-our-plans","tag-pennies","tag-picture","tag-plans","tag-politics","tag-power-homes","tag-pressure","tag-problems","tag-projections","tag-regulatory-approval","tag-renewables","tag-renewables-and-electrification","tag-skynews-com-au","tag-snapp-politics-generic-mr-morrison","tag-such-a-procurement","tag-system-upgrade","tag-the-albanese-government","tag-the-centre","tag-the-early-stage","tag-the-energy-transition","tag-the-final-stages","tag-the-government","tag-the-grant","tag-the-grants","tag-the-grants-program","tag-the-grid","tag-the-grid-enhancing-technologies-grants","tag-the-integrated-system-plan","tag-the-investment","tag-the-list","tag-the-network","tag-the-noteworthy","tag-the-ocean","tag-the-path","tag-the-plans","tag-the-problems","tag-the-process","tag-the-solutions","tag-the-system","tag-their-batteries","tag-theory","tag-transgrid","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=816568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/816569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=816568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=816568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=816568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}