Queensland’s Energy Roadmap is more likely to be first steps than a completed journey

So four systems, all roughly the same size as what we have now, producing roughly the same amount of total power – a four-fold increase in generation capacity for a zero-fold increase in output!

All of this needs to be paid for.

Then there is the network. The Roadmap estimates $1,035 per household will be saved by reducing the size of the network and therefore the cost, by $26 billion.

That still leaves $60 billion of network to be built which, using the same formula, implies the average household will still have to find an additional $2,587.59 p.a. – almost twice the current average household electricity bill – just for the extra network.

This compounds with the cost of batteries and pumped hydro, both of which have no other purpose than to be supporting actors to the prima donnas of wind and sun.

Which is why the roadmap will have to be revised. Wind and solar multiply costs and make it impossible to run operations like smelters and refineries competitively, no matter how much they are subsidised.

Nuclear has to be in the mix. It doesn’t need the supporting gaggle of storage and networks, and it emits no CO2. 31 countries currently operate or are building nuclear reactors, including countries we consider our peers like the UK and Canada.

It is inconceivable that Australia could have nuclear-powered submarines but no nuclear-powered households. While nuclear might be some way off it’s also likely that the energy transition will be slower than anyone thinks.

The Roadmap assumes 1.36 GW of renewables will be built each year. This is optimistic and has only been achieved once in the history of the state - in 2023. This year no large-scale wind or solar has been added – just batteries.

Most renewables apart from solar are also grappling with sharp increases in cost. There are also long waiting lists for vital elements. Three years for gas turbines, for example.

Then there is the competition for resources with the government’s other priorities like the Olympics and building enough houses for everyone.

Plus when will the storage arrive. Pumped hydro is the only viable form of medium scale storage but none of the four being considered has even passed the feasibility stage.