Today, the government released a discussion paper that showed short to long term plans to achieve zero-emission by 2050. In that paper, Energy Minister Angus Taylor said the goal is to bring a future investment in “low emission technologies.”

The paper is optimistic about the long-term prospects for gas, both in export and domestic use, despite gas driving growth in emissions. While solar and wind were the cheapest forms of generation, reliability was still an issue, and gas would play an important part in “balancing” renewable energy sources, ABC reported.

“Flexible gas capacity will continue to play a crucial role in supporting variable renewable energy, alongside continuing growth in energy storage, demand management and innovative grid technologies as alternatives,” it said.

“As the world’s largest LNG [liquefied natural gas] exporter, all of these factors will have implications for Australia’s domestic gas market and export opportunities over the long term.”

It also examined critical technology like carbon capture and storage (CCS), which involves burying emissions underground. Although the CCS system needs to be examined, Victoria’s La Trobe Valley is likely going to be funded by the Morrison government, to process a commercial scale of a CCS project, pv-magazine reported.

The roadmap will identify the government’s investment priorities in emissions-reducing technologies for 2022, 2030 and 2050. In the short term, the government will support reducing methane emissions from livestock and integrating record investment in renewables to support affordability, security and reliability.

Throughout the three terms, the hydrogen technologies will bring new opportunities to accelerate the industry but the key to success largely depends on future international demand.

Photo: by momentbloom vis Vecteezy