![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/nsw-emerging-energy.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The NSW Government announced its Emerging Energy program yesterday that will support commercialisation of new, large\u2011scale, electricity projects in the state using emerging, dispatchable technology.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The program was launched at a briefing yesterday, which according to New South Wales Minister for Resources, Energy and Utilities Don Harwin was well attended.<\/p>\n
“Great to see so much private sector interest in partnering with the NSW Government to help our state transition to a modern energy future,” he tweeted<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
New South Wales was graded a “C”<\/a> on the Climate Council’s recently published State and Territory Renewable Energy Scorecard 2018 – but perhaps the coming years might see its grades improve, partly as result of this $55 million initiative.<\/p>\n
The program has been spurred on by the transition of NSW’s energy sector, with more renewables based generation entering the system and ageing coal-fired clunkers such as Liddell Power Station<\/a> scheduled for the scrapheap.<\/p>\n
$55 million may not be a huge amount considering the task at hand, but Emerging Energy has been seen by some as a step in the right direction – maybe.<\/p>\n
Solar Citizens cautiously welcomed the announcement.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo far this program seems positive, however as more details emerge, it will be disappointing if this scheme funnels money into expensive gas generation,” said<\/a> Solar Citizens National Director Joseph Scales. \u201cNSW has world-class solar and wind resources \u2013 tapping into these could provide more energy than all of the state\u2019s coal and gas reserves combined.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The concern about gas getting too much attention is valid. The emissions intensity maximum limit for electricity generation projects is 0.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per megawatt hour; giving gas a look-in. On the bright side, it would seem to lock out all types of coal, including so-called ultra-supercritical high efficiency low emissions (HELE) coal plants (around 0 .67 – 0 .74 tonnes CO2\/MWh).<\/p>\n
Defining Emerging And Dispatchable<\/h2>\n
To qualify as “emerging” technology, projects will need to have be employed at full-scale and must have been previously operated across all expected operating conditions. Furthermore, the technology must have been tested commercially, but not yet considered “bankable” or a mature commercial technology – so any gas projects will need a twist.<\/p>\n
As for “dispatchable”, this is defined as technology with the ability to change output\/load in response to one or more wholesale energy or ancillary service price signals in the National Electricity Market (NEM) – for example, some solar + storage projects would be considered dispatchable.<\/p>\n
Here’s the promo video:<\/p>\n