{"id":264741,"date":"2025-08-10T15:06:57","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T05:06:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=264741"},"modified":"2025-08-10T15:07:03","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T05:07:03","slug":"renewable-power-is-not-cheaper-it-is-more-expensive-says-senator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=264741","title":{"rendered":"Renewable Power is not cheaper it is more expensive says Senator"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Lots of people are now saying renewable energy is cheaper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why then have our electricity prices done this since we started installing it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thanks to Mark Gell for the graphic. (Senator Canavan)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Renewable Energy Is Generally Cheaper \u2014 But with Nuances<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1.&nbsp;<strong>Lowest Cost of New Builds<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The latest&nbsp;<strong>GenCost 2024-25<\/strong>&nbsp;report from the CSIRO (in collaboration with AEMO) confirms that renewables remain the&nbsp;<strong>lowest-cost and most practical option<\/strong>&nbsp;for new electricity generation in Australia.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pv-magazine-australia.com\/2025\/07\/29\/csiro-report-shows-firmed-renewables-remain-lowest-cost-option\/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">PV Magazine Australia<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/cleanenergycouncil.org.au\/news-resources\/gencost-2024-25-reaffirms-renewables-as-lowest-cost-energy-transition-pathway?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Clean Energy Council<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2.&nbsp;<strong>Firmed vs. Standalone Costs<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Firmed renewables<\/strong>\u00a0(wind\/solar plus storage and firming) currently cost slightly more than underground black coal in some scenarios:\u00a0<strong>$116\/MWh vs $111\/MWh<\/strong>. However, this is a temporary snapshot.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theaustralian.com.au\/business\/renewable-energy-economy\/coal-renewables-jostle-for-energy-costs-crown\/news-story\/d096e7e3504fa32a41b8ab66348581a7?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Australian<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Stand-alone renewables<\/strong>, like solar and wind alone, are significantly cheaper:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Solar is as low as\u00a0<strong>$48\/MWh<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Wind around\u00a0<strong>$80\/MWh<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theaustralian.com.au\/business\/renewable-energy-economy\/coal-renewables-jostle-for-energy-costs-crown\/news-story\/d096e7e3504fa32a41b8ab66348581a7?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Australian<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/reneweconomy.com.au\/solar-and-wind-less-than-half-the-cost-of-fossil-fuels-as-price-falls-continue\/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">RenewEconomy<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>By\u00a0<strong>2030<\/strong>, firmed renewables are projected to drop to\u00a0<strong>$76\/MWh<\/strong>, while coal is expected to increase to\u00a0<strong>$103\/MWh<\/strong>.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theaustralian.com.au\/business\/renewable-energy-economy\/coal-renewables-jostle-for-energy-costs-crown\/news-story\/d096e7e3504fa32a41b8ab66348581a7?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Australian<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3.&nbsp;<strong>Long-Term Savings and Bill Impacts<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Renewables exert&nbsp;<strong>downward pressure on electricity prices<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2014 for instance, modeling shows that without renewables and battery storage, wholesale prices in 2024 could have been up to&nbsp;<strong>$80\/MWh higher<\/strong>.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ceig.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/CEIG-MR_New-Report-confirms-renewables-reduce-power-prices_FINAL.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ceig.org.au<\/a><br>Moreover, the&nbsp;<strong>Clean Energy Council cautions<\/strong>&nbsp;that delaying renewable expansion could lead to a&nbsp;<strong>30% increase in household bills<\/strong>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<strong>41% for small businesses by 2030<\/strong>.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/cleanenergycouncil.org.au\/news-resources\/renewables-the-cheapest-path-to-lower-aussie-energy-bills-new-report-finds?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Clean Energy Council<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4.&nbsp;<strong>Integration Costs &amp; Grid Challenges<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Factors like new transmission lines and storage infrastructure add costs to integrating renewables \u2014 so while generation can be cheap, overall grid transformation remains expensive.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pv-magazine-australia.com\/2025\/03\/21\/renewables-are-cheap-so-why-isnt-your-power-bill-falling\/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">PV Magazine Australia<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theaustralian.com.au\/business\/renewable-energy-economy\/coal-renewables-jostle-for-energy-costs-crown\/news-story\/d096e7e3504fa32a41b8ab66348581a7?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> The Australian<\/a><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some media analyses suggest costs will rise due to infrastructure and intermittency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Who to believe?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thanks to Mark Gell for the graphic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":264742,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[273,4556],"tags":[17712],"class_list":["post-264741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia","category-renewable-energy","tag-senator-matt-canavan"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=264741"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":264743,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264741\/revisions\/264743"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/264742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=264741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=264741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=264741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}