The GenCost report also makes some other key observations: Cost reductions in widely touted technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS), nuclear Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), solar thermal, and ocean energy are lagging and would require stronger investment to realise their full potential.
And, despite intense pressure from the nuclear lobby and many in mainstream media (News Ltd, Nine/Fairfax and others), the CSIRO says the status of nuclear SMR has not changed, and it sees no prospect of projects in Australia this decade, given the technology’s commercial immaturity and high cost.
Worse, the GenCost report says nuclear’s best chance of deployment around the globe is only if the world does not take climate change seriously.
If the world is looking to meet Paris targets of limiting average global warming to 1.5°C, then other technologies will rule because they are…