Queensland smashes myths about renewables, and South Australia

Queensland fancies itself as a coal state, and the Labor government’s support of the huge mega coal projects in the Galilee Basin has attracted widespread criticism from environmental groups. But it has done a fantastic service to Australia’s clean energy debate with the release of the draft report into its planned 50 per cent renewable energy target.

The report – prepared by an independent panel drawn mostly from the banking and energy industries – smashes so many renewable energy myths it is difficult to know where to start.

But broadly speaking, it attacks the underlining assumption that renewables are expensive, unreliable, require huge subsidies and threaten the stability of the electricity system.

The Queensland report says this is simply not true: it says the state can reach what the Coalition (and many in the mainstream media) dismiss as an expensive and reckless target with little subsidy, and no impact on reliability. At the same time, renewables can reduce costs to consumers, create jobs, add new industries and add to economic growth.

Read Giles Parkinson’s story on RenewEconomy - “Queensland smashes myths about renewables, and South Australia.”