Australia can run on renewables in 10yrs

By Cathy Alexander

A new report says Australia could power itself entirely by renewable energy within a decade, halving the country's greenhouse gas emissions.

While going down the renewable road would be more expensive, the report, written by engineers and consultants for the Beyond Zero Emissions group, shows it would also yield energy security benefits.

"Today, Australia's energy is supplied by fossil fuels such as black coal and natural gas which are commodities benchmarked to international energy markets," the group's executive director Matthew Wright said.

"Relying on fossil fuels leaves Australian families and Australian industry exposed to future fluctuations in volatile and unpredictable energy costs."

But, Mr Wright said, there were no fuel costs associated with renewable energy.

The report sets aside the debate over the shelved emissions trading scheme (ETS) and takes an entirely new approach.

That approach has won some support from dissident federal politicians from the Liberals and Labor, who want stronger action on climate change.

The report looks at the technical feasibility and cost of switching off coal-fired power stations and moving to renewables. It says the best option is a network of large solar-thermal power plants with the ability to store electricity, plus more wind farms.

That would cost $37 billion a year. The report says it would pay for itself in the long term because Australia would otherwise have to build new coal-fired power stations and be at the mercy of higher prices for fossil fuels.

Liberal senator Judith Troeth, who crossed the floor to vote for the ETS last year, launched the report at Parliament House on Tuesday, along with Greens senator Christine Milne and Independent senator Nick Xenophon.

While the Liberals' official policy is to have no ETS or carbon price, but rather to reduce emissions by five per cent by direct grants, Senator Troeth was more ambitious.

"It's very important that we are not left waiting for the rest of the world," she said.

Senator Troeth, who is standing down at the next election, described her party's climate policy as "a start".

"I'd rather my party had a climate policy than not had one," she said.

Along with Senator Troeth, former opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull is still advocating a carbon price, in opposition to Liberal party policy.

And Labor MP Kelvin Thomson also praised the report for leading the way. The ALP shelved its plan to start the ETS this year, leading to criticism it is failing to act on climate change.

"I believe Australians are hungry for action to tackle carbon emissions," Mr Thomson told AAP.

"The climate change challenge is not going to go away. We cannot stick our heads in the sand and wish it away."