Australia’s Looming Energy Crisis: Can We Keep the Lights On?

The book is a detailed analysis of Australia’s looming energy crisis. Over 24 chapters the book examines all energy sources in Australia including coal, gas, hydro and pumped hydro, solar and onshore and offshore wind as well as long term energy storage . It reviews in detail the critical minerals that Australia needs to mine and process locally so that these value-added materials can find their way into the various battery technologies that will dominate in the energy transition process. The book also examines the Electric Vehicle market and the battery technologies that will dominate in the future. The hydrogen economy and the use of hydrogen as an energy source to produce green steel and in other hard to abate applications are discussed. The chapter on battery technology discusses lithium-ion batteries, vanadium redox flow, zinc bromine and air batteries that offer long term energy storage potential. The Federal Government’s rush to achieve their 43% GHG emission target and 82% of energy from renewable by 2030 is examined and, where appropriate, fully criticised. The book includes six chapters on the nuclear energy option available to Australia. This includes nuclear waste storage, uranium mining and enrichment. The coming world rush into small modular nuclear reactors is fully explored. Wind technology and its growing use onshore is compared against the imminent build of a number of offshore wind farms in NSW and Victoria. Solar farms , together with onsite energy storage as well as rooftop solar are discussed in detail. The Renewable Energy Zones , which are mainly in remote areas, and the need to get the power via 10,000 kilometres of poles and wires to the cities. is explained. The farming communities and regional centres objections to their prime farmland being ‘vandalised’ by transmission cables and huge towers promises to the Achilles Heel of the Government’s too aggressive energy plan. Numerous shortcomings in Australia’s energy transition are spelt out and different solutions are hypothesized. A chapter examines Can We Keep the Lights On, on a state-by-state basis. The book has been prepared after accessing data from more than 200 local and international reports on the various elements of the race to Net Zero by 2050. No comparable book goes into all the solutions and challenges exposed in this book. As the author, I am confident that it will become an important contributor to the ongoing debate about how best we might reach our energy transition goals without wrecking our economy. —- ISBN: 9798865186007 | ISBN10: B0CNK2QVW3 | ISBN-13: 979-8865186007