Scale, social licence and sustainability – powering Australia’s energy transition

afr.com:

Australia, while rich in fossil fuels, is equally gifted with the resources to make it a renewable energy powerhouse. Whether it can make this transition will be a matter, not only of political will, but of tough business choices.

Mandatory climate disclosures, due to become law in 2024, and long-term emissions reduction plans aimed at achieving net zero by 2050 are now firmly part of the Australian regulatory landscape.

New climate legislation and net zero goals have become cemented in the nation’s regulatory landscape. iStock

Without a holistic approach to the generation, utilisation and transfer of energy, Australia risks disruption in terms of cost, timing and social acceptance of this transition.

Energy systems designed around separate power plants feeding into an urban and industrial grid will need to change. In a renewables-rich world, energy is generated where the sun shines or the wind blows, making for a more diffuse, distributed and ultimately interconnected grid.

At the heart of the transition to a lower carbon world will be a shift – not just in how we co-operate and collaborate at a policy and business level – but in how we think about energy delivery systemically.

For Craig Bearsley, director of energy, Australia and New Zealand at global infrastructure consultancy AECOM, the transition will be made all the more challenging by the fact it must now keep up with the greatly accelerated pace of climate change.

Craig Bearsley, director of energy, Australia and New Zealand at AECOM. 

“The move to renewable energy resources and the amount of investment that needs to happen — not only in terms of the wind farms, solar farms, offshore wind, but also in transmission infrastructure and all the supporting industries