FOR some time now, the Newcastle Herald has been warning, in this space, of looming shortfalls in electricity supply as the big coal-fired generators are squeezed out of the market before sufficient renewable generation and - especially, grid-scale battery storage - can be installed as replacements.
Throughout this period, the various energy regulators, in parallel with the renewable industry, have dismissed such concerns, with promises that sufficient investment would arrive in time to avoid the sorts of brown-outs and blackouts that would result from a generation shortfall.
