{"id":11728,"date":"2017-05-22T08:14:19","date_gmt":"2017-05-21T21:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=11728"},"modified":"2017-05-22T08:14:19","modified_gmt":"2017-05-21T21:44:19","slug":"australia-national-electricity-market-mb0046","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/australia-national-electricity-market-mb0046\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia’s National Electricity Market – “Don’t Panic”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"National

Keep calm but don’t carry on as is – Grattan Institute<\/p><\/div>\n

A new report warns of the danger of politicians panicking over the situation with Australia’s National Electricity Market and ultimately pushing electricity prices higher.<\/p>\n

Australia’s energy landscape is in the midst of rapid change. Coal fired power generation is falling out of favour due to climate concerns. Our gas production has increasingly been siphoned off beyond our shores; pushing up prices<\/a>. Unconventional gas is less than popular<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Approximately 15 per cent of Australian homes now have solar panels<\/a> on their roofs (2016), compared to less than 1 per cent just 10 years ago. The energy storage<\/a> revolution is on our doorstep, utility scale solar energy is growing, and wind power has risen to be a significant electricity generation force.<\/p>\n

Between all this and excruciating debates and mixed signals on climate related policy, the impact on Australia’s National Electricity Market has seen it descend into quite a mess –\u00a0 and more recently, rebellion against it.<\/p>\n

“Powering through: how to restore confidence in the National Electricity Market,” from the Grattan Institute advises against state governments taking unilateral action on energy security.<\/p>\n

“If governments take matters fully into their own hands, the results are likely to be painful: customers will pay more for their electricity, supply could become even less reliable, and Australia still may not reduce emissions as we have promised,” states<\/a> the Institute.<\/p>\n

The authors point to the South Australian Government\u2019s go-it-alone power plan introduced to solve the state’s “energy crisis<\/a>“, which they say threatens the NEM\u2019s capacity to stimulate the new investment Australia requires to build economical, reliable and low-emissions electricity.<\/p>\n

Describing the NEM as being at a crisis point, the report makes three general recommendations; which it then describes in greater detail.<\/p>\n