Nationals say renewables can’t meet energy needs without fossil support. But do the claims firm up?

The Rio Tinto alumina smelter in Gladstone. Despite Matt Canavan’s claims that heavy industry need saving from the pivot to renewables, Rio Tinto has already announced plans to the contrary. Photograph: Brenda Strong/AAP

Australia’s electricity networks are going through a revolution, with massive solar and wind farms, huge batteries and new hydro-electric plants pushing out coal and gas.

If necessity (read: the climate crisis) is the mother of invention, then getting our energy without burning fossil fuels is the only idea on the drawing board.