A report by Boston Consulting Group, The Role of Gas Infrastructure in Australia’s Energy Transition, has found that short-term accelerated electrification misses the prospect of quicker emissions reduction in Australia.
The report, commissioned by Jemena, the Australian Gas Infrastructure Group (AGIG), and the APA Group, discovered that renewable electricity generation reduces emissions more effectively when used to replace coal-fired power and light transport fuels rather than displacing energy from Australia’s gas pipelines and networks.
Jemena Managing Director Frank Tudor said long-term deployment of renewable gases like biomethane and green hydrogen (produced using renewable electricity) for use in homes, businesses, and hard-to-abate sectors is possible thanks to Australia’s gas networks, which can allow for greater amounts of renewable electricity to be brought online without short-term system reliability being jeopardised.
“Our goal is the same — delivering net-zero emissions at lowest cost without compromising security of supply. Our concern is that by pursuing accelerated electrification we will only switch energy use from the gas network to the electricity grid, which currently sources upwards of 65 per cent of its energy from coal,” Tudor stated.
According to him, to minimise emissions at the lowest system cost, the focus must be on retiring coal and liquid fuels first; to do otherwise, Australia’s carbon footprint may increase in the short term.
“At the same time, our customers are also telling us that they enjoy the benefits of gas and want to continue to be able to access it to cook their food, heat their homes, and for hot water. Renewable gases such as biomethane and green hydrogen are demonstrating that gas, like electricity, can be renewable. What we need now is support, such as a Renewable Gas Target – facilitating a minimum required amount of renewable gas production – to help spur the development of a renewable gas sector,” he continued.
Tudor believes that allowing Australian homes and companies to choose how they power their lives is in their best interests.
“We know there are around 30PJs of potential biomethane sources which are in close proximity to our gas distribution network in New South Wales. This is enough gas to meet current residential demand, of circa 27PJs, per annum across our gas network,” he said.
“We also know that there’s no silver bullet; each home and business needs to consider how it will best meet its energy needs, and they should have choice in how they do this. Not only can our gas networks deliver energy system reliability and increasingly renewable gases, but they can maintain customer choice,” he added.
