Seeley International Managing Director Jon Seeley says Australia’s electricity network is under-prepared and won’t be able to support the electrification switch in households.
Australian electricity networks struggle to keep up with supply as it is. In summer the risk of blackouts or brownouts rises because of the demand air conditioning places (especially conventional air conditioning); switching off gas will put double the demand on the electricity network, and the network is completely underprepared, it’ll take many years of investment to double the size of the network before it can cope with electrification.
Seeley International supports a transition away from all fossil fuels (including natural gas) but rushing this process will increase emissions because it will reduce the use of gas and increase the use of coal, so it’s counterproductive. A transition is needed where each step will reduce emissions rather than driving emissions up, which is what will happen if the process is rushed.