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I don't know what the answer is or will be for energy generation into the future. Working in this industry I can't honestly see any major moves by any of the current companies to step into anything new which is yet to be proven elsewhere first.
In the last few years there has been a big swing into wind generation but this has it's problems and somehow the technical workings of these turbines is still quite basic without any huge inovations. It does well while the wind is blowing but suffers when the wind dies.
The infrastructure to get the power from these farms is also very lacking, particularly in SA. The population base in most states is very centralised around our major cities and outside this area the transmission network is very basic.
I hate to think of the ramifications of several very hot days in a row in all 4 Eastern states with the shutdown of any of the coal fired stations which are currently in operation.
The thought of a fission based power station of any kind would be howled down by 90% of Australians even if it was some new or improved process. The education required would be the demise of more than one Government I'm sure and would probably see us governed by the some extremist group of some kind.
I don't know what the answer is but just fail to see what shutting down power stations will do other than insight fear in the population on every hot day during our summer. Energy companies will also suffer during these periods, big time.
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