here in sunny Queensland we are leading
Australia in rooftop solar photovoltaic
panels mostly on the ruse of individual
homes and that’s one home in three which
is a massive mountain it it has led to
some people wondering whether in fact
with batteries they could exit the grid
go off-grid and go it alone now this
caused alarm within the electricity
industry they wondered whether it would
cause an electricity grid death spiral
with the death spiral those who are
wealthy who can afford the solar and the
batteries and have the knowledge power
their own homes and leave the grid those
who are left behind the renters the the
poor perhaps those who are ill informed
as left and with fewer of them there
they are now in a position where they
are paying for the fixed price grid a
vicious circle ensues where the numbers
fall and costs spiral out of control I’m
here today to tell you that renewable
energy and the batteries are great they
are the way of the future but I’m also
here to show you that the electricity
grid is vital doubt to that future and
it is vital it is the way that we will
be able to achieve a hundred percent
renewable future I give you three
reasons today why the grid is good why
we should stay connected to it and why
we should keep paying for it reason one
the electricity grid brings us
resilience and brings us economies of
scale now let me give you an example of
another renewable energy another
renewable resource which you probably
already
familiar with and maybe even collecting
and that’s water we can collect water
with the rooves on our houses when it
rains channel it through the gutters and
into the down pipes the larger our roofs
the more water we can collect likewise
with solar panels on our roofs they
collect the sunshine falling on them and
the larger the solar array on our roof
the more electricity we can generate
from them now it doesn’t rain all the
time so we need a means to collect and
store rainwater rainwater tanks in the
same way the Sun isn’t shining all the
time
after all it does set each day and so we
need a means to store the electricity
there and we do that with batteries and
just as you need big rainwater tanks to
hold a lot of rain you need big
batteries if you want to store a lot of
energy but as a community we are better
instead to create for ourselves
utilities for water and for electricity
we are better as it as a society as a
community to collect all the water in a
water reservoir to then have a common
water treatment plant water pumps and
finally a network of pipes this is so
much more efficient and more economic
than every individual having their own
massive water tanks and water pumps in
the same way many decades ago the
electricity grid was set up as a means
of distributing electricity to an entire
community rather than every individual
this is why even today as we now have
solar electricity solar panels on our
roof and perhaps batteries we are still
better to keep and stay connected to the
electricity grid for the resilience
that it brings and that brings me to the
second reason why we should be connected
to the electricity grid the electricity
grid enables sharing if you have the
solar panels on your roof the new solar
inverter acts a bit like a pump which
pushes the power from your solar panels
out on to the electricity grid now if
you’re at home you’re able to use that
electricity straight away but if you’re
not it’s not lost your neighbor can get
to use it now indeed for your neighbor
it’s far more efficient for them to use
your electricity generated just next
door than them for them to draw the
electricity over many perhaps hundreds
of miles from a generator generator far
away and let’s not forget that for that
home with solar panels they need the
grid connection for their power each
night so that after the Sun is set they
can still have lights and be able to
cook and enjoy entertainment again the
other thing I want to remind you is that
the grid isn’t just that connection
between you and your neighbor the
electricity grid stretches all the way
from Adelaide all the way around to
Cannes and along the way it picks up
renewable energy generation from sources
such as wind resources in the roaring
40s in Victoria and South Australia from
water resources generating power such as
in the snowy mountains hydro scheme or
maybe solar resources from solar farms
that are just now being built in the
even though now we can choose with our
current grid to generate our own solar
and perhaps add batteries we are still
better to remain connect to the grid for
the diversity it brings
because the grid with this diversity we
can have electricity for all regardless
of the time of day and regardless of the
weather in any one region the third
reason that I want to show you why the
electricity grid is good is because the
electricity grid future-proof sus and
allows the growth and expansion and the
single best example I can give you of
that our electric cars Australia
Australia’s electricity grid puts it in
the position for it to switch to
electric vehicles vehicles which are
clean quiet smooth usually often these
days high performance but best of all so
easy to fill up all you have to do is
plug them in at night exactly the same
way you’re used to doing with your
mobile phone and the best thing of all
is that if that energy that electricity
which is recharging them is from
renewable sources then that vehicle
ultimately the electricity grid is our
means to power our schools our hospitals
our shops our industries and provide
power for those apartment blocks I
mentioned earlier even as we add
batteries perhaps or solar panels we are
best to stay connected to the grid for
the diversity and the resilience and the
economy that it provides us us and our
society as a whole now it’s my hope that
as we keep adding renewables to our
electricity grid the perhaps we will get
to a point that we have such an
abundance of renewable energy that it
becomes too cheap to meter let me just
say that again
you cheap to meter can you imagine well
perhaps you can who has a mobile phone
or an internet plan these days where we
pay purely for the connection but not
for the amount we use it’s uncapped it’s
unlimited
perhaps our electricity grid with
renewables on it with us all connected
can be the same as this and fixed-price
uncapped connection your electricity
grid is your means of providing
providing us with a way to a hundred
percent renewable energy future it is
the best way for us to stay connected for ourselves and for our society