A combination of solar, thermal and wind energies could power Australia as cheaply as coal-fired power and generate more jobs, says one of the world’s top solar researchers.
Australian solar technology pioneer Professor David Mills said this new, flexible energy system would also eliminate the need to rely on large power infrastructure to generate baseload power, or daily electricity needs.
”Baseload doesn’t need to be part of this system, it’s out of the equation,” he said.
At a three-day national solar conference in Canberra next week, Professor Mills will present the results of a three-year energy study analysing hourly data for energy use across the United States. The breakthrough study shows wind and solar combined could provide 100per cent of the country’s electricity needs, with wind acting as a back-up to solar energy shortfalls during winter and at night.
Professor Mills, one of three scientists working on the US study, is keynote speaker at the Australian Solar Energy Society conference dinner at Parliament House next week.
”I think what we’ve found will blow a lot of people away,” he said.
”Everyone says you need baseload capacity, which they assume somehow makes coal-fired electricity cheaper, and other forms of energy more expensive.
”What we are suggesting is a new paradigm. Baseload does not exist in this new scenario, but it hasn’t simply been replaced by a another form of renewable energy-generated baseload. What we’re talking about is a completely new model a new system of energy combinations with some storage capacity.”
Professor Mills said the technologies required to build and run this system already existed.
