While the Coalition and energy experts contest the real financial cost of the Federal Opposition’s nuclear power plans, Solar Citizens says that it is a major risk to ignore the impacts of proposed nuclear reactors on solar-powered households.
“Evidence from Canada shows that nuclear reactors force out renewable energy. Australia’s great success story of 4 million homes powered by rooftop solar will be at risk of a nuclear-led solar switch-off,” said Solar Citizens CEO Heidi Lee Douglas.
Professor Mark Winfield, co-chair of the Sustainable Energy Initiative at York University in Toronto, observed from their experience with nuclear power in Ontario, that because nuclear power can’t be powered up and down to follow electricity demand load, the problem of the ‘duck curve’ with solar power peaking during the day would become much worse: “so there would be very strong incentives, if not imperatives, to curtail renewables generation when grid demand falls below the minimum output from the nuclear plants (which usually means their normal, steady-state output).”
“In Canada, we definitely have wind especially, curtailed when we have what is called 'surplus baseload generation.' Even then we have regularly ended up exporting to neighbouring US jurisdictions for 'negative' prices (i.e. we pay them to take the power off our hands).
“In Australia those kinds of interconnections to a larger (North American in our case) grid, don't exist so it would be a huge problem. It would make more sense to match Australia's renewable output with storage at multiple levels (from household to grid scale), and demand response and grid management strategies,” said Professor Winfield.
“It doesn’t make sense in the sunniest country in the world to implement a power plan that turns off cheap, clean rooftop solar and in favour of more expensive, risky nuclear power.” said Ms Douglas.
The Queensland Conservation Council has calculated that building a 1,000 MW nuclear power station in Queensland in 2040 would knock out 3,700 GWh of cheap renewable energy from the grid. Just one nuclear power plant will push out the equivalent of 45,000 rooftop solar systems every day.
IEFFA also found that ‘always on’ nuclear power is incompatible with rooftop solar, and would take much longer to build than renewable plus storage options.
Because of the time it takes to build nuclear reactors, the Coalition’s nuclear plan requires keeping existing coal-fired power stations going for longer, with the first nuclear plant not coming online until the mid-2030s
The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEFFA) found that typical Australian households could see electricity bills rise by $665/year on average under the opposition Coalition’s plans to introduce nuclear power to the country’s energy mix.
There has been no consideration by the Coalition for how this nuclear plan will impact the 4 million Australian homes on average saving $1200 a year on rooftop solar.
“Australians want the energy bill relief now, along with the independence of generating their own clean, cheap power from the sun with home battery storage so they can use it at night. Not be tied to more expensive power sources.
“Home solar teamed with a home battery storage is better for household budgets because it enables homes to be energy producers as well as energy consumers, improves the overall network reliability, and helps cut network costs for everyone across the state by replacing expensive aging coal-fired power production.
“Most of the communities with the highest density of rooftop solar are in Queensland, particularly around central Queensland. We know that Queenslanders are very proud of their rooftop solar systems and quick to defend their solar rights.”
“Nine of the top rooftop home solar producing postcodes in Australia are in Queensland, and 8 of those are in Federal Liberal electorates*. The risk of a nuclear-led solar switch-off will directly impact the Coalition’s electorates the most.
“That’s why we urge all political parties to protect the success story of rooftop solar in Australia, help more people benefit from cheap clean rooftop solar, and marry it with financial support for home batteries, and get rooftop solar onto commercial and industrial rooftops.”
“The four million Australians with rooftop solar are looking to government to support them to get home batteries through a home battery rebate; and not to have their energy independence taken away by costly nuclear power.”
“To ensure ‘always on’ energy supply, we need our governments to invest in storage at multiple levels, and roll out a million home batteries by 2030, as instructed by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO). And we also need energy policies that will remove barriers to people missing out on cheap - like people living in rentals, social housing and high-rise apartments,” concluded Ms Douglas.
Contact: Carolin Wenzel 0434 983 633 [email protected]
*Sunniest Postcodes: Data from July 2024
Since 2023, Solar Citizens’ Sunniest Neighbourhood Awards have acknowledged the communities across Australia with the highest rooftop solar uptake.
Rooftop solar is the cheapest way to power our homes, and millions of Australians are taking full advantage of the energy bill savings. The solar households in these neighbourhoods are not only providing clean, cheap energy for themselves but also for their communities.
Using postcode data from the Clean Energy Regulator on domestic small-scale installations, we identified the top fifteen solar-producing communities in Australia for both 2023 and 2024, presenting the Sunniest Neighbourhood Award Certificates to State and Federal Members of Parliament who represent the winning postcodes.
https://cer.gov.au/markets/reports-and-data/small-scale-installation-postcode-data
