Media

“It was not Loy Yang A tripping that caused the blackouts, it was the grid connected to Loy Yang that got taken out, and Loy Yang tripped because [it] couldn’t export the power [it was] generating,” explains energy analyst Tim Buckley. He says distributing the sites at which power is generated and stored and the number of transmission lines connected to these sites to end users would strengthen rather than weaken the grid. “It’s about having a spiderweb so if the one line or one string goes down, the grid overall doesn’t collapse.” Read more

Tim Buckley, working for Climate Energy Finance, reviews the likely phasing out of coal energy in Australia by 2038 and the rise of alternative energy sources. He insinuates that the potential for increased use of zero emissions technologies is significant, given the absence of nuclear power. Particularly, Tim singles out the future of rooftop solar in Australia, predicting that its capacity could quadruple in the next 27 years, exceeding the entire current installed capacity within the country. Read more

Our full page Canberra Times op ed with John Grimes, CEO of the Smart Energy Council, Rewiring Australia’s Dr Saul Griffiths, Blair Palese of the Climate Capital Forum, Dr John Hewson and Mara Bun: The prospect of nuclear power generation in Australia is now a live debate. There are a number of barriers that make nuclear unviable as a solution for Australia’s energy transition in a timeframe necessary to respond to the climate, energy and cost-of-living crisis. We need energy, decarbonisation and cost of living solutions this decade. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recommends a 50 per cent emissions reduction by 2030. As former Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel has noted, It is hard to imagine first operation of small modular reactor (SMR) technology before 2040. Read more

The renewable energy pledge was welcomed by climate campaigners and analysts. Tim Buckley, director of the independent think tank Clean Energy Finance, said it was excellent to see Australia backing the commitment. He said falling costs had made the transition to renewables “an entirely economically sensible and viable commitment”. Read more

In his piece foreshadowing next month’s COP 27 and tracking global progress on decarbonisation, Nine/Fairfax environment editor quotes Tim Buckley on China: while it leads the world in coal use, it also leads in “wind and solar installation and manufacturing, EV production, batteries, hydro, nuclear, ground heat pumps, grid transmission and distribution, green hydrogen, literally every zero-emissions technology today.” Read more

Tim Buckley: “While China leads the world in coal use, it also leads in wind and solar, EV production, batteries, hydro, nuclear, heat pumps, grid transmission and distribution, green hydrogen – every zero-emissions technology today.” Read more