There isn’t any real world experience that I am aware of that shows wind and solar to actually deliver cheaper electricity. The studies that say it is cheaper look solely at electricity generation, not at running a grid.Sounds like we need a federal energy policy to fix the grid.
I am not an expert on energy but this is my 2 cents worth.
Gas and coal are currently critical to back up renewables and to supply baseload power. This will continue to be the case until either;
a/ renewables can reliably supply baseload power 24/7 or
b/ large scale (which can also be lots of small scale) electricity storage exists.
Moving forward this back up will end up being gas only as gas is significantly more flexible and coal plants will end their useful life and will not be replaced.
There will never be another coal fired power station built in Australia. It simply will not happen. Hence, we need to move forward on renewables because there is a day coming soon where all the coal fired power stations are dead. The coalition knew this but still stalled on renewables for 9 years (deliberately - it was all about backing Australia into a corner)
There will never be a nuclear power station built in Australia.
The future is renewables. They are cheaper to build, cost relatively nothing to operate and maintain, they are more flexible and dynamic.
Right now they need to be backed up by fossil fuels but one day that will change. And when it does Australia better be ready. Because when that day does come, and it will, a huge chunk of our export economy will cease to exist.
I think the most recent studies in the states say a level of baseload (about 20 to 30%) deliver a cheaper result across the grid, than all wind and solar. We may be different because our sun and wind are very good. The baseload could be hydrogen, gas with carbon capture and storage, biofuels with carbon capture and storage or maybe nuclear. Obviously most of this baseload is theory rather than practice.
I really find the lack of detail available very frustrating. The AEMO Integrated System Plan is a tome, but I have been unable to find in it the worst case scenarios they are planning for. I would love to see that.