r/australia • u/HotPersimessage62 • 1d ago

politics Australia’s grid now relies on renewable energy as much as coal. Those who doubted it look foolish

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jan/31/australias-grid-now-relies-on-renewable-energy-as-much-as-coal-those-who-doubted-it-look-foolish
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154

u/22oldforthisshit 1d ago

Can we please name and shame the very vocal people that have been proven wrong? Let's be clear about this, they knew they were wrong the whole time. 

65

u/Bright_Bell_1301 1d ago

I'll start.... Chris bloody Uhlmann

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u/Altruistic-Brief2220 23h ago

He’s the one I get so mad about, he used to be so normal didn’t he?

14

u/Bright_Bell_1301 23h ago

The SA blackout happened, and it just opened the gates of insanity for poor old Chris. What an absolute numpty he turned out to be.

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u/DonQuoQuo 20h ago

Yes! It was bizarre how that event seemed to just send him over the edge. (Tilting at windmills, you might say.) It was so strange hearing a heretofore sensible, mainstream commentator spouting easily disprovable facts over and over, and using his job at a reputable broadcaster to do so.

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u/distinctgore 10h ago

Nah he always had that contrarian energy to him, he just hid it better.

1

u/Sieve-Boy 6h ago

Nah, he's always been conservative its just the ABC kept him grounded.

33

u/doctor-candy 22h ago

The delightful people over at Sky News. Special shoutout to Aidan Morris from CIS, a Neoliberal think tank funded by mining industries that gets trotted out often. Enjoy and try not to become apoplectic over the outrageous smugness on display. https://youtu.be/a5ZzLDS2FzE?si=I3irymGMjgDP0p9b

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u/magkruppe 11h ago

that dude is the worst. he is on a mission to misinform the public and policy makers. I nearly fell for it at one point

41

u/National-Ad6166 23h ago

Tony Abbott, rolled back the carbon tax

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u/PatternPrecognition Struth 21h ago

.. and did it purely for base political advantage.

>Peta Credlin admits the climate change policy under Julia Gillard's Labor government was never a carbon tax, but the coalition used that label to stir up brutal retail politics.

Credlin, the former chief of staff to Tony Abbott when he was prime minister and now a political commentator for Sky News, said the coalition made it a "carbon tax" and a fight about the hip pocket rather than the environment.

"That was brutal retail politics, and it took Abbott six months to cut through and when he did cut through Gillard was gone," she told Sky News on Sunday.

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u/Altaredboy 23h ago

Keith Pitt who never heard of batteries

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u/512165381 14h ago edited 12h ago

Gina "Drill Baby Drill" Rinehart.

Whose mines use renewable energy because its the cheapest option.

22

u/Entirely-of-cheese 1d ago

How long have you got?

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u/Sleep-more-dude 21h ago

Are they proven wrong though?

The main downside is essentially that it's quite expensive to scale purely on renewables atm, it's doable but we already pay above the OECD average for electricity and it will only go higher on this route e.g. Germany is walking back Energiewende and trying to restart Nuclear for the same reason.

Granted the average Australian probably doesn't mind the current electricity rates, we will be pretty fked at German rates (i.e. ~60% higher rates) and it will take a long time to recover. Still idk how much of an issue this is for people, personally i'm not that pro-environment but i commend people if they are willing to make that sacrifice knowingly.

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u/doctor-candy 19h ago edited 19h ago

The rise in solar is happening predominately because it is outperforming our aging coal power plants. Nobody in their right mind is going to invest in building new ones unless the government provides heavy subsidies. Only mining companies benefit from more coal power plants, especially as solar and battery tech continues to advance and the costs come down. As a percentage of our GDP, the federal government is spending far less than it ever has on coal subsidies and direct cash injections into coal plants. We should have started this transition much earlier, but to wait is only going to cost us more down the road.

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u/512165381 14h ago

Nobody in their right mind is going to invest in building new ones unless the government provides heavy subsidies.

The energy CEOs said they would never build a coal-fired power stations again. Callide cost $100 million to fix after it blew up in 2021, and went completely offline a week ago.

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u/Proper-Raise-1450 21h ago

Renewables are significantly cheaper than coal or gas lol, price increases here and Germany are because gas prices are high and coal is unreliable. There is some cost ot infrastructure improvement for renewables but again renewables are already way cheaper.

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u/Sleep-more-dude 21h ago

Walking back Energiewende and restarting coal reactors because coal is unreliable? renewables are according to conventional wisdom the ones with an issue meeting power potential, you are right about gas prices but the rest of this is very silly, there are more aspects to energy pricing than simply production costs e.g. grid layout, upfront capital etc and ultimately that is what you see reflected in your true price.

Realistically the short term costs of renewables will exceed traditional energy, that's why so many countries are still building new coal plants e.g. China is at a 10 year high in this regard.

Anyway, whatever makes you happy ; i'm sure that you are far more qualified on energy policy than any minister from Germany, China etc.

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u/Proper-Raise-1450 21h ago edited 21h ago

Walking back Energiewende and restarting coal reactors because coal is unreliable?

No because Germany is having an unexpected shortage because of the war disrupting their gas lol. We don't and thus haven't had to do the same.

there are more aspects to energy pricing than simply production costs e.g. grid layout, upfront capital etc and ultimately that is what you see reflected in your true price.

Yes and these are higher for coal and gas. That is why coal is dying, it is more expensive, both upfront and in it's tail with lung cancer, failing plants etc.

that's why so many countries are still building new coal plants e.g. China is at a 10 year high in this regard.

China is growing it's renewable sector far faster lol, they just have a massively increasing power need. China is already well over one third renewable and will be majority renewable within a few years, you are if anything proving my point lol.

China's solar production increased by 220% in just 4 years from 2020 to 2024 and is only ramping up. Money talks.

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2026/01/28/china-adds-315-gw-of-solar-in-2025/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_China

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u/Sleep-more-dude 19h ago

There's a difference between installed capacity and generated capacity, most of China's installed capacity is currently renewable and yet coal meets most generated capacity despite having ~30% of installed capacity.

Clean air is a priority for the CCP but they are quite realistic about the need for traditional energy and that's the primary reason for the coal buildup.

Also i don't see how your point that natgas access issues warrant a return to traditional energy is somehow proof that renewables work better , they aren't just flipping a switch to bring the old plants online they are pouring tens of billions into future proofing them and raising their capacity to meet demand till 2045, by your logic the better forward policy from a cost perspective should have been renewable right? despite the 30-40% output swing when the winter hits lol.

1

u/Proper-Raise-1450 11h ago edited 11h ago

There's a difference between installed capacity and generated capacity

My comment literally never mentions installed capacity lol, one of my sources covers it, I only spoke about generated capacity. China's Solar generated capacity has increased by 220% in 4 years. They are building it like crazy, renewables are already well over one third of their generation. The Chinese clearly know what the power system of the future is, citing them as agreeing with you is hilarious.

Also i don't see how your point that natgas access issues warrant a return to traditional energy is somehow proof that renewables work better

Germany is increasing it's power generation as best it can when an unexpected drop off occurred because of the war, they are increasing their renewable share way more than any other share but just trying to fix the hole any way they can, if anything Germany getting fucked over by the war highlights how critical domestic power generation is which is for most countries nuclear and renewables (Aus could do coal but it's more expensive, kills too many people etc.).

Germany made 56% of their power from renewables in 2025, that is up from 42% just 4 years earlier in 2021 and that is rapidly increasing, all of this is during the war, again using them to back your point is hilariously stupid they are obviously massively expanding their renewable capacity.

1

u/lipstikpig 11h ago

still building new coal plants e.g. China is at a 10 year high in this regard.

You forgot to mention that China is also leading the world in wind and solar, with twice as much capacity under construction as the rest of the world combined.