As the South Australia grid is desperate to prove as it nears its target of 100 per cent net renewables next year, technology can solve a lot of things, but competition is the best cure for high prices.
The same rule applies for the rest of Australia’s renewable energy economy. Solar and battery storage have benefited from intense competition that has sent prices down significantly in recent years.
But the wind industry has been stranded in a holding pattern, dominated by a handful of big turbine suppliers and beset by rising civil construction costs, along with planning and social licence issues. Few of the huge pipeline of projects have seen the light of day.
That could be about to change, at least for one part of the equation. The dispatch from a Chinese port this week of the biggest and most powerful turbines to be seen in Australia, and likely its lowest cost in the current market, could herald a sea-change for the industry.
The turbines are being delivered by China’s Envision Energy, which has landed contracts with two of the most influential players in the Australian market – Andrew Forrest’s iron ore mining giant Fortescue and the French-based renewable energy developer Neoen Australia.
