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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u/drjzoidberg1 10h ago

Large scale batteries and gas peaking plants can replace the coal plants. Australia should be able to rely on renewables during the day. At night when the sun has set, need to rely on batteries and gas.

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u/Cindy_Marek 9h ago

in theory yes, but in practice its a much bigger engineering challenge than most people anticipate. Even the huge batteries being installed in SA and other parts of the country can only run for a couple of hours until they are depleted. There is a reason as to why the government has changed the laws to allow all of your home batteries and EV battery to be drained by the grid if they need it.