Major CSIRO solar breakthrough underlines ARENA’s worth

These mirrors at CSIRO in Newcastle can focus the sun to create superheated steam. That is the same pressure and temperature of steam that a coal or nuclear fired power plant creates. Amazing. Picture credit: CSIRO

Further evidence emerged this week from the CSIRO of the value of the embattled Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) to the nation. ARENA, you may well recall, is at the centre of the current government’s ideological campaign against renewable energy with its very existence now in doubt through savage proposed budget cuts.

The breakthrough was the successful heating of steam to a supercritical temperature using solar energy. Supercritical steam is very high temperature and high pressure steam, that is needed to run electricity generating turbines efficiently. Essentially this means that we can now use the sun to drive conventional electricity turbines, like those found in a coal fired or even nuclear power station. This development has the potential to be a “gamechanger” in the way we generate electricity, according to the CSIRO.

However supporters of ARENA, which includes almost anyone who doesn’t listen to Alan “The Shrieking Parrot” Jones, point to the economic as well as the obvious environmental benefits of having such an agency. ARENA, perhaps the poster child of attracting investment for clean energy, has brought billions dollars worth of investment to this sector in the form of financial support for renewable projects and research, with this achievement just the tip of the iceberg.

Over $7.7 billion worth of projects are in the pipeline, ARENA’s executive Ivor Frischnacht has previously explained, with many more billions of dollars worth of investment being drawn in should a level of government support in the marketplace ever return. The key to ARENA’s success is that it provides a level of certainty for investors looking to develop projects such as solar power stations. While taxpayers’ money provide that certainty, it is significant that, for every dollar ARENA spends, the private sector adds a huge $1.80.

Whatever your stance on climate change, a carbon tax, reliance on fossil fuels and a clean energy future, the fact is that ARENA has been very successful in drawing in huge investment from both the private sector and from overseas for the benefit of the country. Many worthy clean energy projects would be starved of funds without the agency’s seed backing. This means jobs and economic growth in regions which may be struggling in the current economic climate. Any government bean counter worth his or her salt would realise that destroying such a government agency corresponds to economic (let alone environmental) lunacy.

Unless of course the government’s argument is purely ideological and driven by lobbyists from vested interests. Surely not?

If this didn’t make the case for ARENA, this week’s breakthrough news from the CSIRO solar boffins underlines in big, bold ink the value of the agency to Australia. The CSIRO Newcastle Energy Centre announced that solar energy has been successfully used to generate steam to “supercritical” temperatures — 570 degrees Celsius at a pressure of 23.5 megapascals. This is the highest level ever achieved outside of fossil fuel generation.

So important is this breakthrough that CSIRO Solar Energy Director Dr Alex Wonhas described it as a major step bringing solar into line with the performance of fossil fuels. While still in the early stage, this has the potential to change the way we generate electricity.

“It’s like breaking the sound barrier,” he told the ABC.

“This step change proves solar has the potential to compete with the peak performance capabilities of fossil fuel sources.”

This is huge, and a sign that Aussie renewable energy innovation is alive and well despite the best efforts of the trog bean counters in Canberra.

But underneath lies the real story: the breakthrough is the result of ARENA support for the $9.7 million research program and the destruction of the agency may well mean the end, or slowing down, of such renewable energy research in our country.

It is ironic that, at a time when we need research into clean energy most, when the world is moving towards embracing solar energy, our Canberra seat polishers are withdrawing into their shells and slashing funding to successful (indeed model) agencies such as ARENA. Instead of holding up government agencies such as ARENA proudly before the world as an example of government support for clean energy, our PM is leading a scorched earth policy towards renewables. Indeed, in his capacity as chair of the G20, our Tone has attempted to strike discussion of clean energy completely from the agenda of the group’s upcoming meeting: to the astonishment of the world and the embarrassment of Australians.

The reason that solar energy is advancing with leaps and bounds in this country is not because, but despite, government policy. The success is driven by ordinary Australians who have responded to the need for clean energy by installing domestic solar systems and supporting green energy. Isn’t it high time the policy makers took note of the huge popularity of renewables such as solar and supported government agencies such as ARENA? Or is that too much to ask? Will solar breakthroughs such as that at CSIRO Newcastle be the victim of the government’s ideological campaign against renewable energy? Time to hold this government to account on clean energy.