Australia's Energy Crisis and Solutions

This assignment analyzes the ongoing energy crisis in Australia, focusing on the consequences of exporting LNG over prioritizing domestic needs. It examines the limitations of alternative solutions like Pelican Point gas station and proposes expert-recommended strategies such as advanced battery storage technology, enhanced interstate grid connectivity, and reserving a portion of gas for local consumption to effectively address future energy emergencies.

Running head: INVESTIGATING ENERGY CRISIS AND PROPOSED SOLUTIONS
Investigating Energy Crisis And Proposed Solutions
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1INVESTIGATING ENERGY CRISIS AND PROPOSED SOLUTIONS
Executive Summary
The report is aimed to investigate on the energy crisis in Australia and take into account the
proposed solutions for coming out of the situation. Australia has always been a country, rich
in energy but the exports of Liquefied Natural Gas had been in such large amounts that
people expected Australia to soon take over Qatar, within a few years. This had resulted in
people of Australia suffering the consequences, through the energy crisis. Due to the increase
in exports from fresh LNG facilities in eastern part of Australia, some state governments had
let to the closure of some aging coal plants and pushed themselves to invest in renewable
energy for environmental safety. This had forced regions to rely on gas for power, especially
when intermittent sources of wind and solar were not sufficient. The crisis had seen
authorities come up with proposed solutions, which could bring relief to the people of
Australia.

2INVESTIGATING ENERGY CRISIS AND PROPOSED SOLUTIONS
Table of Contents
1. Introduction.........................................................................................................................3
i) Background of this Study...................................................................................................3
a) Aim of the research............................................................................................................3
b) Scope of the Project...........................................................................................................4
c) Research Methodology......................................................................................................4
d) Expected Valuable Outcome.............................................................................................4
e) Report Structure.................................................................................................................5
2. Literature Review...............................................................................................................5
i) Power generation sources................................................................................................5
ii) Power generation impact on the environment.............................................................6
iii) Overview of non-renewable alternatives.....................................................................6
iv) Synopsis of power generation in Australia..................................................................6
v) Future and forthcoming alternatives............................................................................6
vi) Nuclear power plants implementation issues..............................................................6
vii) Smart grid technology implementation.......................................................................7
viii) Environmental Policy affiliated issues........................................................................8
ix) Economic expediency of alternative power generation sources..................................8
3. Conclusion..........................................................................................................................9
4. References.........................................................................................................................10

3INVESTIGATING ENERGY CRISIS AND PROPOSED SOLUTIONS
1. Introduction
i) Background of this Study
The report looks into the energy crisis which Australia faced due to their export of Liquefied
Natural Gas to other countries, in large numbers. So, in one point of time the country was
known to be an energy rich nation, gradually the scenario had started to change. They were
left with insufficient energy to keep the citizens comfortable during heat wave, which had
seen temperatures rising to 105 degrees on the southern coast (Amin 2013). This had resulted
in an increase in demand for air-conditioners and their inability to fulfil the demands, made
regulators approach Pelican Point, a local gas-fuelled station, which was running in half
capacity for rescuing the situation. Power was cut for close to 90000 homes in Adelaide in
order to prevent a wider blackout. The solutions to this crisis were proposed by the experts,
through storage of technology, improving the connection between states, a portion of gas to
be kept aside for domestic purposes and ensure a significantly sophisticated grid management
(Bahadori and Nwaoha 2013).
a) Aim of the research
The aim of the research is to find out the reasons behind the acute energy crisis in
Australia and look for the proposed solutions to come out of the situation. Australia, despite
being an energy rich country, ran short of the required energy to meet the demands of their
own people, which had led to sufferings. This was due to the exports of LNG from Australia
to other countries in substantial amounts, without putting the proper measures in place to take
care of their own countrymen (Coyle and Simmons 2014). The proposed solutions to come
out of the situation were to preserve technology through storage, seeking improvement in
connection between different states and most importantly by keeping a proportion of gas for
domestic purposes.

4INVESTIGATING ENERGY CRISIS AND PROPOSED SOLUTIONS
b) Scope of the Project
Scope of the project is a part of project planning which involves determination and
noting down the list of specific goals related to the project, how are they going to be
executed, so as to reach the desired conclusion. The current project is related to the
investigation of energy crisis in Australia and the solutions which can be proposed in order to
let the people of Australia come out of the crisis. Energy crisis in Australia has been quite
severe, as a result of which frequent blackouts in different places have added to the agony of
people.
In this case, the scope of the project is limited to some extent as only data gathered
through credible sources like Government publications and journals can be trusted upon,
whereas data from other sources would have some semblance of doubt involved with them,
as far as authenticity is concerned.
c) Research Methodology
Research Methodology refers to process followed to collect relevant information
and data needed to make the appropriate decision. The decision would be based on the
research carried out for investigating the problem of energy crisis and look into the proposed
solutions to come out of the problem (Evans, Strezov and Evans 2012). Information and data
would be gathered through internet by going through related websites. Those would be
basically primary in nature. On the other hand, secondary data would be collected from
Government reports and publications which would provide authentic information, based on
which investigation would be carried out and thereby fetch appropriate results.
d) Expected Valuable Outcome
The research is expected to come up with the outcome, where the necessary
solutions would be presented in order to tackle the problem of energy crisis in an efficient

5INVESTIGATING ENERGY CRISIS AND PROPOSED SOLUTIONS
manner. The outcome is expected to present a view whereby people of Australia would be
relieved of the issues, like frequent blackouts, shortage in LNG due to heavy exports to other
countries, which they had been facing due to the shortage of energy (Lucas 2017).
e) Report Structure
The structure of the report would be based by looking into different aspects related to
energy in Australia, through a literature review. Literature review will take into consideration
the findings of different aspects related to power and energy like the sources from where
power gets generated, the impact which power generation has on the environment, an
overview of the alternatives in non-renewable sources, a summary of the power generation in
Australia (Saddler 2017). This would also look for the alternatives which Australia would
consider for the future, discuss about the issues related to the implementation of nuclear
power plants, implementation of smart grid technology, affiliated issues related to the
environmental policy and finally consider the economic aspects of alternative power
generation sources.
2. Literature Review
The literature review would talk about the published articles related to the
topic for which the report is presented. The information presented through the
literature reviews, is based on the details collected from secondary sources, primarily
internet. The different aspects are addressed through literature review:
i) Power generation sources – Oil is the primary and the largest source
of energy for generation of power in Australia, followed by Coal and
Natural Gas. Coal had accounted for majority of non-renewable
electricity generation in Australia. The largest sources of renewable
generation was hydro.

6INVESTIGATING ENERGY CRISIS AND PROPOSED SOLUTIONS
ii) Power generation impact on the environment – Both the renewable
and non-renewable energy sources have significant impact on the
environment. The non-renewable sources for power generation have
adverse effects on the environment as compared to the renewable ones.
They lead to the pollution of air, water, affecting public health and loss
of habitat (Smith 2016). This adds to the problem of global warming.
iii) Overview of non-renewable alternatives – Alternative sources of
non-renewable energy include fossil fuels, in the form of crude oil,
natural gas, coal and tar sands. They constitute 95% of Australia’s
electrical energy needs. The non-renewable energy gets produced by
burning fossil fuels like coal (Twidell and Weir 2015).
iv) Synopsis of power generation in Australia – Australia’s power gets
generated centrally with heavy reliance on fossil fuels, though
continuous increase has been seen in electricity generation through
renewable sources.
v) Future and forthcoming alternatives – As climate change has been a
big issue, so gas would be an important source of energy for the future.
Renewable sources of energy include energy from solar power, wind
power and hydropower. The concerned authorities feel that though the
newer forms of energy are more expensive as compared to the
traditional forms, still in the next 15-20 years, the cheaper forms of
energy would cease to exist (Byrnes et al. 2013).
vi) Nuclear power plants implementation issues – Nuclear power has
always got the nod for having the potential to solve the problem of
energy on a long-term basis. Nuclear power reactors have sixty year

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life spans with nearly zero carbon emissions. Modern day reactors
have minimum greenhouse gas and other airborne emissions, highly
fuel efficient, minimum and manageable residual waste and advanced
safety protection (Wan et al. 2015). Despite all the advantages, there
are certain implementation issues:
a) There is a commonwealth legislation which
prohibits in giving license to nuclear power reactor
in Australia through the enforcement of two acts,
Environmental Protection and Biodiversity
Conservation Act, 1998, section 140A and
Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety
Act 1998, section 10.
b) The next issue which crops up is that of large initial
capital costs which get incurred for large nuclear
power. So, the electricity generator would need to
generate electricity in a price which can generate
profit and lead to a return on investment.
vii) Smart grid technology implementation – A Smart Grid is an
electrical grid, that includes various measures of energy including
smart meters, smart appliances, renewable sources of energy and
resources which are energy efficient. Investments are expected to reach
around $6.1 billion between 2017 and 2027. The investments would
focus on bringing improvements in metering of smart electricity,
battery storage, advanced storage and grid communications sector and

8INVESTIGATING ENERGY CRISIS AND PROPOSED SOLUTIONS
thus help utility firms improve their energy billing, providing clean
energy and managing grid networks (Aghaei and Alizadeh 2013).
viii) Environmental Policy affiliated issues – The environmental laws in
Australia seek to uphold the high environmental standards. Due to the
energy crisis, the policy makers didn’t ensure that enough gas would
remain in homes. Due to increase in exports of LNG, some state
governments had led to closure of aging coal plants and forced an
accelerated push towards renewable energy for environmental
concerns. Issues even resulted in blackouts in certain regions of
Australia. These problems could have been avoided had the authorities
been particular about the amount of exports, which would have
ensured sufficient energy for the people of Australia. Their attempt to
tackle the situation through Pelican Point, a local gas-fuelled station,
failed to create any positive impact on the situation.
ix) Economic expediency of alternative power generation sources –
Renewable energy has great environmental benefits. Lower prices for
technologies in renewable energy trigger additions in capacity and
creating more jobs in installation, operation and maintenance. So the
power generation sources have been extremely cost-effective.
Reductions in cost could also be resulted through learning by doing. In
addition to these, transformational improvements have been brought
about in battery storage technology, used in the level of electricity grid
for ensuring balance between demand and supply.

9INVESTIGATING ENERGY CRISIS AND PROPOSED SOLUTIONS
3. Conclusion
The report concludes that the energy crisis in Australia could have been avoided had
the authorities taken care about preserving the interest of the people of Australia before
exporting LNG to other countries. This approach from the authorities had invited trouble for
the people of Australia, as they had suffer from blackouts in certain regions. The alternative
approach which was considered through Pelican Point, a local gas-fuelled station, did not
make any positive impact on the situation. The solutions proposed by the experts, through
storage of technology, improving connection between the states and setting aside a portion of
gas for domestic purpose would surely make things easier for people to tackle these types of
extreme situations in an effective manner.

10INVESTIGATING ENERGY CRISIS AND PROPOSED SOLUTIONS
4. References
Aghaei, J. and Alizadeh, M.I., 2013. Demand response in smart electricity grids equipped
with renewable energy sources: A review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 18,
pp.64-72.
Amin, M., 2013. Energy: The smart-grid solution. Nature, 499(7457), pp.145-147.
. Byrnes, L., Brown, C., Foster, J. and Wagner, L.D., 2013. Australian renewable energy
policy: Barriers and challenges. Renewable Energy, 60, pp.711-721.
Bahadori, A. and Nwaoha, C., 2013. A review on solar energy utilisation in
Australia. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 18, pp.1-5.
Coyle, E.D. and Simmons, R.A., 2014. Understanding the global energy crisis (p. 318).
Purdue University Press.
Effendi, P. and Courvisanos, J., 2012. Political aspects of innovation: Examining renewable
energy in Australia. Renewable Energy, 38(1), pp.245-252.
Evans, A., Strezov, V. and Evans, T.J., 2012. Assessment of utility energy storage options for
increased renewable energy penetration. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 16(6),
pp.4141-4147.
Lucas, A., 2017. Confected conflict in the wake of the South Australian blackout:
Diversionary strategies and policy failure in Australia's energy sector. Energy Research &
Social Science, 29, pp.149-159.
Saddler, H., 2017. South Australia makes a fresh power play in its bid to end the
blackouts. Chain Reaction, (129), p.14.

11INVESTIGATING ENERGY CRISIS AND PROPOSED SOLUTIONS
Smith, K., 2016. Tasmanian energy crisis an argument for renewables. Green Left Weekly,
(1081), p.6.
Twidell, J. and Weir, T., 2015. Renewable energy resources. Routledge.
Wan, C., Zhao, J., Song, Y., Xu, Z., Lin, J. and Hu, Z., 2015. Photovoltaic and solar power
forecasting for smart grid energy management. CSEE Journal of Power and Energy
Systems, 1(4), pp.38-46.