ON THE RESTART

Technology road map lays out vision of energy future for recovery and beyond

- Damien Martin

The national technology investment road map Australia is developing is more than just a restart for the energy system after COVID-19 shutdowns. It envisions how to structure energy use in the immediate term, yes, but also for the next three decades and beyond. “The Government is committed to reducing emissions without imposing new costs on households, while at the same time growing businesses and the economy,” Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor said in announcing the technology road map. This month we analyse what the government has in mind for different sectors of the energy economy and how that squares with trends.

COAL

As has clearly been the case for some, Australia’s energy future doesn’t include much coal. The technology road map does call for the maximisation of the life cycles of coal-fired power stations already in use, but once their time has come, there won’t be investment toward building new ones. This should be of no surprise to anyone, but the focus on using carbon capture and storage boosts the notion that coal could play a role in passing the baton to other forms of energy. Water needs to be electrolyzed to separate the oxygen and hydrogen to yield hydrogen gas. With carbon capture and storage, coal could theoretically be used in the process without increasing emissions into the atmosphere.