Energy Planning Missteps

Australia is considered one of the global leaders when it comes to rooftop solar, with approximately one-third of houses having solar installations. All this adds up to over 23 gigawatts of affordable renewable energy that citizens, households and residents have chosen to invest in. They didn't have this imposed on them; they chose to invest in this for their own electricity bills, for the planet. For whatever reason, they chose to do it. Now we hear that AEMO, the Australian Energy Market Operator, is calling for powers to turn off rooftop solar energy, to deny what is clean, free energy for the rest of the NEM, the National Electricity Market. They are choosing to turn that off. It is kind of like that AEMO woke up one day and looked over their shoulder and went, 'Where did all that rooftop solar come from?' Because they haven't been planning for it. It hasn't been part of their plans to get us through the transition to net zero.

Then last week, AEMO talked about the high prices in New South Wales, and that's the justification for large infrastructure network projects. They say the high prices were the reason. No, the high prices were because the coal plants shut down for maintenance. You can't solve unreliable coal by building more transmission. You can get rid of the coal and rely on your solar energy, but our market operator doesn't seem to plan for these things. It is time that they woke up and did so.