The global energy supply is in a state of flux.
The need to decarbonise the grid is well understood - the Australian Energy Market Operator (AMEO) has highlighted the need for long duration battery storage to avoid electricity supply shortages in the coming years, while the CSIRO revealed a 14-fold increase in investment into renewable energy storage is needed to meet our net-zero emissions target.
We're at an inflection point on our journey towards a renewable future.
We know that renewable energy solutions will reduce our reliance on the nation's emissions output and carbon footprint, but it'll also act as the backbone for a stable power economy too.
However, renewable energy sources come with their limitations, especially when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow.
As Chris Bowen says "You can say the wind doesn't always blow and the sun doesn't always shine. The rain doesn't always fall either, but we can store the water and we can store renewable energy if we have the investment."
With many power stations likely to meet the same fate as Liddell, it begs the question - how do we fill the gap to create a closed loop for green energy?
Why we don't need to shut power plants to save Earth
Transmitting power is an unavoidable part of modern life, but it doesn't mean we must rely on fossil fuels to do so. As a nation, we need to get serious about investment and implementation of new renewable energy solutions like long-duration energy storage.
This means tackling the problem in two ways: first, by implementing solutions that enable us to utilise renewable energy 24/7, and second, by using infrastructure we already have and retrofitting existing power plants with renewable energy storage. The good news is that the answer for both already exists. Our team of Newcastle-based scientists have invented materials called Miscibility Gap Alloys (MGA), which are outwardly solid storage blocks and are capable of storing energy generated by renewable sources.
MGA blocks work by absorbing and storing thermal energy made from renewably-generated electricity, including surplus solar energy from the grid during peak supply periods. This can then create clean steam to run turbines or direct heat for use in industries like mineral processing, food and paper production, and mass manufacturing.
There are 24 coal fired power stations and 152 gas stations operating in Australia, making up 56 per cent of electricity generation. Solutions like ours make it possible to give new life to those power plants with renewable energy storage technology, transforming them into grid-scale decarbonised storage and production units, while also helping to prevent job losses from power plant closures.
The regional case for renewables
Being one of Australia's biggest electricity generators, Liddell's power plant closure represents the end of an era for the Hunter Valley region, as well as conventional energy supply.
With Eraring and Bayswater power stations both on track to close in the coming years, there's no doubt that the state of our energy market will look significantly different by the end of the decade than it does today.
This doesn't need to be a change plagued with uncertainty. It's an opportunity for innovation.
Home to a vast expanse of natural assets and a world-class industrial ecosystem, the Hunter is a global energy hub. What's lacking is the green energy infrastructure to either use clean steam in the region's industrial sector or continuously power the electricity grid.
But this challenge isn't exclusive to the Hunter.
Western Australia's government has committed to closing the state's last coal-fired power plant by the end of the decade as we race towards net-zero. Yet, data released by the Clean Energy Regulator reveals that of all the renewable energy capacity deemed either 'committed' or 'probable', only 5 per cent was in WA.
Plugging this gap is the reason we exist, but we know we can't do it on our own.
This is why partnerships - including with WA-based energy company, knode, and our feasibility study with AGL at its Torrens Island power station in South Australia - are so important in helping us tackle the clean energy challenge that exists in harder-to-abate industries, and ultimately scaling renewable impact.
By solving traditional challenges of making reliable and continuous energy, our technology makes it possible to store and dispatch large volumes of energy 24/7.
The beauty of our modular blocks is that they can be used to transform gas and coal-fired power stations into green energy hubs rather than shutting them. Our pilot plant is on track to be finalised later this year and, with customer interest of over 20GWh (the equivalent of powering 1.3 million homes), we're only just getting started at turning the energy market on its head.
Mark Croudace is CCO and deputy CEO of MGA Thermal
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