Sun and wind leave coal power out in the cold

Canberra Times
Saturday 27/11/2010 Page: 7

A combination of solar, thermal and wind energies could power Australia as cheaply as coal-fired power and generate more jobs, says one of the world's top solar researchers. Australian solar technology pioneer Professor David Mills said this new, flexible energy system would also eliminate the need to rely on large power infrastructure to generate baseload power, or daily electricity needs. "Baseload doesn't need to be part of this system, it's out of the equation", he said.

At a three-day national solar conference in Canberra next week. Professor Mills will present the results of a three-year energy study analysing hourly data for energy use across the United States. The breakthrough study shows wind and solar combined could provide 100% of the country's electricity needs, with wind acting as a back-up to solar power shortfalls during winter and at night.

Professor Mills, one of three scientists working on the US study, is keynote speaker at the Australian Solar Energy Society conference dinner at Parliament House next week. "I think what we've found will blow a lot of people away", he said. "Everyone says you need baseload capacity, which they assume somehow makes coal-fired electricity cheaper, and other forms of energy more expensive.

"What we are suggesting is a new paradigm. Baseload does not exist in this new scenario, but it hasn't simply been replaced by a another form of renewable energy-generated baseload. What we're talking about is a completely new model a new system of energy combinations with some storage capacity".

Professor Mills said the technologies required to build and run this system already existed. "They're not future technologies, they're already here, so we can do this", he said. The former Sydney University solar power engineer left Australia four years ago to set up a solar power company in California after failing to attract support from the Howard government for his world-first solar thermal technology.

Professor Mills has since sold his successful US start-up company to French energy conglomerate Areva as its new solar division. He recently returned to live in Sydney, "more or less in retirement mode". Professor Mills has spent more than 30 years developing solar technologies which are now in use throughout the world. He said Australia's governments seemed unable to comprehend the enormous potential of solar technologies to provide thousands of new jobs in installation and maintenance. "These are big enterprises and potentially big employers, providing cleaner and safer jobs than coal", he said.

Following yesterday's first meeting of the Gillard Government's business roundtable on climate change, Climate Change and Energy Efficiency minister Greg Combet said energy security remained "a very important consideration in establishing a carbon price mechanism". He reaffirmed the Government's commitment to provide financial compensation to the electricity generation sector when a carbon tax or trading scheme was adopted.