by @HeatherSmith Heather Smith on 04/06/2025 at 12:16 pm
SpringerLink

Switching Off

This book looks at the various solutions apart from renewable energy proposed for solving the problems our present energy use raises.

Thanks ChatGPT for the following summary:
Switching Off: Meeting Our Energy Needs in a Constrained Future by Patrick Moriarty and Damon Honnery (2022) presents a critical examination of global energy consumption and the challenges of transitioning to sustainable energy systems. The authors argue that while renewable energy (RE) sources are essential, they alone cannot meet current global energy demands due to ecological, technical, and temporal constraints.
Key Themes and Arguments

Limitations of Renewable Energy: The book challenges the assumption that RE can fully replace fossil fuels, highlighting issues such as energy return on investment (EROEI), scalability, and resource limitations. [link.springer.com]
Critique of Technological Fixes: Solutions like carbon capture, nuclear energy, and geoengineering are examined and found insufficient or problematic in addressing the scale and urgency of the energy crisis.
Earth Systems Science Approach: The authors employ an interdisciplinary perspective, integrating ecological, economic, and social considerations to assess energy challenges comprehensively.

by @HeatherSmith Heather Smith on 27/05/2025 at 1:56 pm
I am the Chair of the Coalition for Community Energy. The community energy sector is active in many aspects of the energy transition and helping households, businesses and community organisations to make their energy consumption more efficient, more renewable and more electric is a big aspect of their work. Community energy organisations and their supporters are informed, trusted, independent and local go-to people for energy advice. There are thousands of us around Australia, working in our communities for the benefit of our communities.
The battery scheme is an important step forward for Australia and we are pleased that you have started designing such an important policy initiative. I want to draw your attention to a few key issues:
Consumer protections
The scheme will need strong consumer protections, learning from the problems in solar sales and overtaking the status quo in dealing with them (eg see current super complaint to the ACCC).
We are particularly concerned about the onselling of sales and the difficulty consumers will have in doing their due diligence on installation and product. We know warranties are useless if the companies offering them disappear and many people have lost significant $$ during solar booms – we can’t afford this to happen in this scheme.
Independent online calculators should be produced (we can help) because salespeople will overstate savings. Consumers need something closer to the truth.
The clean energy council’s approved battery list needs to be more functional and downloadable, I could not read all of it on my browser.
The inverter is the key to VPP functionality and you have not yet specified or identified what will be eligible. We need the smart energy council and the Clean Energy Council to develop supplier suitability lists for this function so people can check the B/S they receive from pushy salespeople.
Your consumer information products need to be clear about how everyone here makes their money. Referral payments, how no-interest finance is paid for (hint – by the consumer usually)

Consumer safety
locating the battery for safe operation is one of the key decisions the consumer should be aware of and in control of – not reassured by installers or salespeople who have their own incentives for saving time and making money. We know batteries are getting safer but there are still risks and it is important that everyone knows what to do when there is a battery fire, if the battery becomes damaged or flooded in water (a pertinent risk for this week). Likewise locating the battery for managing and reducing these risks is essential.

Consumer information
How the scheme works, how to find an installer and appropriate sales avenue, how to check up on what you are being told – all important information to have readily available. Will you be providing some basics? Will you be willing to brief the energy advisory sector in advance of the scheme opening so that the rest of us can get our information products in order?
Is this a good deal, will I save money, is my money better spent elsewhere? – these are the types of questions where consumers rely on trusted sources. Promoting a suite of investments so that households and businesses can best judge the battery investment alongside solar, electrification, energy efficiency, flexible charging of hot water, flexible charging of EVs etc. is critical and is a key element of helping consumers participate in the energy transition effectively.

Scheme Design
Is solar strictly necessary? Yes, solar owners are more likely to have higher paybacks but a decent number of people who have been excluded to date from solar (strata, shading, rental, apartments) might be keen to invest in a battery. Non-solar owners can play an important role in helping move surplus renewables on the system into times of scarcity, especially where DNSPs are limiting the effectiveness of new solar installations through export limits. Our concern is that the roll out of solar panels left many people behind for reasons outside their control and it would seem unfair to exacerbate this inequality upfront in the design of the scheme.
We would like to see the expectations on comms capability and compatibility fleshed out in a way that makes the investment future-proof for all sorts of VPP and local operating instructions. People have been moving away from VPPs, apparently because they didn’t see the value being shared equitably enough. The key here is agency. People want to be in charge of who they give control too, they want to be able to change their minds and they want to be able to control their battery themselves at times.

Future Proofing information
Future proofing1, Off Grid Operation – making sure consumers are offered options to run their home on their battery alone with realistic costs to install this option and information products that explain why/how
Future proofing2, soaking up renewables – in future we hope that surplus renewable energy from both wind and solar will be offered to consumers at reasonable prices (at the moment it is not, with the exception of a few modestly-priced solar sponge tariffs). Information is therefore needed on tariffs and how they might change because consumers need support to change to tariffs that suit their batteries.
Future proofing3, electric vehicles – should I just wait and buy an electric vehicle with V2G capability? How many times do I need to buy a new inverter – solar? battery? V2G? how will they work together? Can my battery inverter give me V2G capability? What is the interplay between batteries and cars? I don’t have these answers, but I am sure savvy consumers will be asking these questions and we need to start to answer them.
Future proofing4, orchestration – what does the future of energy look like and who might want to send signals to my battery to charge and discharge? This question links back to the way you conceive of controls systems, future flexibility and the governance of a future grid. Even though the role of DNSPs, AEMO, Retailers and communities is all to play for, we need to understand that the arrival of batteries triggers many of these discussions.
Future proofing5, renewable homes and businesses – what else can be controlled by the system I set up for my battery? My hot water is a similar size, my electric vehicle is much bigger, my heating and cooling is sporadic but important in the context of grid peak load. I believe we need to use the battery investment as a step into this flexible future.

I hope these perspectives help you improve your scheme. Can we also request a public briefing online before July 1 so that we can inform the community energy sector in advance of the scheme going live please?
I sent this to the DCEEEW email address for the scheme, cc’ed to Energy Consumers Australia and Minister Bowen’s office.

by @HeatherSmith Heather Smith on 27/05/2025 at 1:53 pm
I met the NEM Review Panel and decided to grab their attention with an old style pamphlet – my proposals were:

Price the scarcity of renewable resources in time and place
Reinvent local markets, price signals and governance
Direct resources to the local level to overcome market failures

they are still taking gratuitous advice!

by @Juliette Juliette Milbank on 22/05/2025 at 3:10 am
If you’d like to attend but can’t, you can still add your group activity updates to the rolling meeting log

by @Juliette Juliette Milbank on 22/05/2025 at 3:07 am
May CEN Meeting, Benalla
Friday 23 May 2025, 1:00 pm

At the May CEN meeting, Alesha Younghusband will give us a run down on some of the Victorian government’s current energy activities such as the resilient hub projects and the Neighbourhood Batteries program.
We’ll also get an udate from Geoff Lodge (GVCE) of the Hume region’s application for an Electrification Engagement program, and Julie Plavina from VicGrid will give an update on the draft Victorian Transmission Plan. Full meeting details here
Add your group activity updates to the rolling meeting log beforehand or when you join
To join in-person, please RSVP to cen@c4ce.net.au
To join online and receive the meeting link, please register
Here’s the agenda – hope you can join us!

12:45 – 1:00 pm: room and zoom link open
1:00 – 1:20 pm: Member group updates
1:25 – 1:45 pm: CEN news & discussion
1:45 – 1:55 pm: Update on the Hume Electrification proposal
1:55 – 2:00 pm: Break
2:00 – 2:30 pm: Guest speaker (incl Q&A)
2:35 – 2:45 pm: VicGrid Transmission Plan update
2:45 – 3:00 pm: Any other discussion