Elon Musk’s prediction for the future of energy in Australia | 60 Minutes Australia

who hasn't been shocked by a recent electricity or gas bill and who isn't infuriated that power prices have risen so sharply in a country as abundant with resources as ours it defies logic that now some australians can't even pay for the energy to cook a simple meal while our fast-talking but divided politicians scramble to act tonight elon musk the american billionaire with the brilliant mind wants to explain how he can help fix australia's energy crisis and to prove his point he's prepared to put his money where his mouth is it's peak hour in australia i need a nice booking i can't uh they want a record of it and we'll find out what's happening towns and cities are lighting up public transport is on the move and family homes are coming to life inside a control room in sydney's west staff from transgrid the company charged with ensuring the lights stay on worked the phones the number two tyre and number three tyre 135 calling in power from generators all over the state half the population has dinner at six o'clock irrespective so they do it the other half have at dinner when it gets dark [Music] but keeping australia's massive east coast power grid functioning has never been so hard it's a lot like spinning plates and we move from one to the other solving problems on the power system in real time to keep the lights on for so many australians power has never cost so much people are living on oh yeah yesterday's food oh yeah yeah well when i have lunch later it won't be yesterday's it'll be mondays this thursday today australia is in the grip of a power crisis crippling costs and unreliable supply but there's one man who can't understand why australia is really perfect for for solar power because it's not too far north or too far south you could have the the entire country be solar-powered or some combination of wind solar geothermal hydro shares of the electric car maker tesla motors are up elon musk is the tesla man an american billionaire whose developments of electric cars liftoff and space rockets is seeing technology push the boundaries like never before and it's all driven by his belief that if we are to survive climate change we need to develop renewable energy australia could actually export power to asia there's so much land there that that you could actually power a significant chunk of asia and to prove his point musk is building a massive lithium-ion battery powered by wind turbines in jamestown south australia the battery is designed to help stabilize the grid but musk is also hoping it will be a light bulb moment for the world you have to do these things that really get the world's attention otherwise they just don't believe you um they don't think it's possible what do you want the risk of the world to see the i really want the rest of the world to see that you can do a very large scale 100 megawatt system is is really quite enormous this is three times more than the next biggest battery in the world that that's just a giant giant jump forward his interest in our energy crisis started last year when south australia a state already heavily invested in wind and solar power was plunged into darkness the result of a massive storm that saw the state lose power [Music] elon musk tweeted head first into a national political brawl when fellow billionaire australian it whiz mike cannon brooks questioned tesla's boast that it could help solve south australia's energy problems by building the world's biggest battery why did you do that there was no idea of what would happen afterwards um just more if people make big claims like that i'd like to check if they're real you thought i was joking um because i had to check my with my team it's like i hope i i didn't really say something super crazy when you get a return tweet from elon saying yeah what did you think um sweet just checking his kosher you know he he says it's gonna happen maybe let's make it happen right so this is these are public tweets uh yeah and but in a way that's that's part of what locks in the guarantee right he's putting his reputation online in a public forum there that you know enough noise was then created around it enough people saw that that it was like all right that you know he better get that done [Music] cannon brooks did a crash course in renewable energy and he quickly realized there were plenty of australians who backed the idea i got multiple unsolicited solicited offers for tens of millions i think we added up to more than 100 million dollars in offers that came in it was it was amazing it was inspiring as an australian to see people wanting to solve this problem in a real and meaningful way and i think they're just sick of the politics on all sides and that the you know the the ridiculous nature of our energy situation moment but elon musk's battery plan was mocked by the federal government 30 000 south australian households could not get through watching one episode of australia's ninja warrior with this big battery australian treasurer scott morrison was particularly dismissive by all means have the world's biggest battery have the world's biggest banana have the world's biggest prawn i didn't realize there was this big battle going on i didn't know it was like mr hollywood walked into town okay and it was like well you know do i see mollywood maybe but our treasurer scott morrison declared that this was just a shiny you know distraction and that and that it was akin to well it's shiny it is shiny and it was it's it's akin to the big pineapple or the big banana it's just one of those kitsch i don't kind of sure what wait is that a real thing they're they're a tourist attraction actually oh look at mine is it like the world's biggest banana or something something like that okay well are you disappointed by that oh i think you know that we get that all the time um it can be a little disheartening sometimes um yeah yeah sometimes yeah why did the government mock elon musk well elon musk's battery was a fraction of the size of the snowy hydro scheme it was sold to the people of south australia as an answer to their woes by jay wetherill whereas in reality it is just a fraction of what that state needs [Music] everyone is fair game in what is now a high-stakes political power play electricity the supply but particularly the cost is constantly gnawing away at the federal government and its energy minister josh freidenberg the fact is that politics has failed australians hasn't it we have failed to deliver to australians for years now an essential service well the rgb in canberra over the last decade has not helped lower power bills in fact it's created the uncertainty in the market which now industry is demanding be fixed that's why the national energy guarantee offers us that opportunity for the first time in more than a decade the national energy guarantee aims to make the system more reliable and ultimately ease the nation's financial pain but the savings for households are predicted to be minuscule we have what's called power poverty i'm seeing people who are saying how can it be that you know i'm going to get a miserable 50 cents a week perhaps and i'm supposed to applaud that well that's just a labor party distraction and distortion is that not true that is not true so what will they get they will get up to 115 a year saving and when they say um a couple of hundred dollars truly you're out of touch you'd say a couple of hundred dollars reduction in your power bill means a lot to a lot of people and it's just the start of what we are seeking to do under the labor party your bills will go up by hundreds of dollars that's what the modeling shows no longer are we allowing the labor party to pursue an ideological approach you see they'll hate that politicking they'll hate you saying that because that's just more politics well the reality is that politics is a battle of ideas our idea is a national energy guarantee put forward by the experts it allows for a greater role for renewables it keeps coal and gas in the system it makes up for the mistakes of the past and importantly it lowers power bills for pensioners like brian and faye willett all this talk doesn't mean much they still have to tailor their lives around the electricity bill thank you thank you mostly it means meals are basic and require little cooking today it's a bread roll leftovers salvaged from the local bakery one thing we need to do is make sure we keep the um curtains shut because yeah keep the heat up you live your life around trying to keep that power price down yeah i've never really thought of it like that but yes that that'd be pretty right what do you do through winter we did not use the heater once uh we tend to use blankets um put on two pairs of socks instead of one or wear the ugg boots it's stuff i presume that before you took for granted to some ways it feels like survival rather than living it seems strange that life is becoming much harder as we get older [Music] more than ever australians are struggling to pay for their power a record number of families are on hardship plans or deferred payments and the rate of disconnections in most states has risen sharply for elon musk learning of this growing power poverty is overwhelming cost of power is making it almost a luxury item wow really i don't know is that expensive australia has so many natural resources i mean even if you go the fossil fuel route the electricity should be very cheap there are australians today wondering if they can even turn on their lights there are australians today wondering um well should we go without some food sure in in that's just not something you would ever expect i did not expect that we work harder for musk it's frustrating because for him the solution is so simple and in abundance in australia the whole point of renewable energy is to make for a cleaner environment and frankly save the planet the majority of scientists are emphatic that we're witnessing dramatic climate change and not to fully embrace renewable energy is suicide [Music] it's necessarily true that we will live on your renewables it's just a question of when in fact it's it's it's it's in the definition that um if if it's not renewable that means it's going to run out at some point and you will have the choice of collapse of civilization and um into the dark age as we go or find something that is renewable so all of this is about um saving ourselves yeah coming up now yep boring now the billion dollar energy business in our own backyards like hidden gold isn't it they call it the the new oil and how to slash your electricity bill this is it this is the battery we'll serve as an inspiration really to the whole world this is possible that's next on 60 minutes as australians struggle to keep the lights on there's a billion dollar energy business buried in our own backyard lithium-ion batteries and their ability to store renewable energy have emerged as a massive international best seller and for australia that's great news controller is now armed if you hold down both of those fire buttons and don't forget to look up then the shot will initiate yeah yep boring now well done well liz what you just fired in three months that'll be in china in six months that'll be in a battery that's extraordinary so that that's that's a boom well that's a bank that's a bang but it's all part of what i think might be a boom while our politicians continue to bicker away about the best way forward it seems that many investors have already decided where the smart money is with the insatiable demand for lithium-ion batteries has come a new mining boom in australia western australia is now the world's largest producer of lithium which means that mines like this one at mount marion are not only helping to feed a hungry green energy industry they're also making a pretty penny it's not on the scale of iron ore yet but the lithium industry is creating new wealth and along with it new mining entrepreneurs so this is the final product it is and that will get trucked and then on a boat for china chris reed is the managing director of neo metals a large lithium mine outside kalgoorlie what is the value of the lithium mining industry in australia currently the exports from western australia this financial year we predict will be uh over a billion australian dollars this is like hitting gold isn't it well it's uh they call it the the new oil and it is and it might replace it absolutely i mean half the world's lithium batteries are made in china uh half the lithium production is in china predominantly off australian feed stocks for us the next step is to value that in australia and make our own batteries look i think one day certainly that that can be done this in your opinion is an electric revolution yeah look absolutely and it's really the format of the batteries has got bigger they're going in the phones they're going in the laptops now they're in the electric motorbikes the cars and now we're going to the largest format is is renewable energy storage in nevada america elon musk has a gigafactory pumping out thousands of lithium batteries in a building that only keeps growing the batteries are to power his electric cars but also homes and they're already in use in australia so this is it this is it this is the battery and how long does it take to charge uh on a nice sunny day from from zero percent charge it might take a few hours [Music] in salisbury south australia michael and melissa powney installed a battery to store the energy produced from their solar panels as part of a trial with their local energy provider and it immediately won them over when their home was one of the few to come through the storm that blacked out most of the state i suppose i didn't realise the impact of the power cut until we came home and i think we confused the neighbors because our lights were the only ones on the street michael and melissa now have a one-year-old son theo and the expanded family means home appliances are in constant use using the heater more to keep our baby nice and warm over winter the dryer because it goes through so much more clothes and all those sorts of things and the microwave just heating up meals and yeah it was just you know i'm not working at the moment being on maternity leave so any savings is beneficial the couple monitors their power with the latest technology we've earned just in this month 32 which helps them keep a close eye on costs your costs do you think have been halved absolutely um i think since we've had the solar system in we would have saved thousands now thousands well i guess you can't imagine what it might be like if you didn't have that battery oh well we were seeing electricity bills of over a thousand dollars before we put the solar in so i can only imagine what those bills would be looking like now if we if we hadn't bit the bullet and tried to nip it in the bud when we did yeah can you give me an update on that please despite the government's proposed new energy policy little will change immediately for australians grappling with their power bills [Music] and with summer looming transgrid ceo paul italiano and his staff will also be watching supply so we have a summer peak demand driven by air conditioning air conditioning and air conditioning cooling is the biggest driver of electricity demand so when there is a blackout do you feel you failed yes our role is to keep the lights on that's what we're here to do and to keep its customers cool transgrid will be depending heavily on coal we can run it remotely from both regions so on tuesday but paul italiano believes it is time we addressed our renewable energy options the amount of sun wind and wave energy that we have available to us is the envy of the world that if we properly configured our power system we could have a substantially greater amount of renewable energy in it in fact we could lead the world in renewable energy engineering so you can understand why people feel dudded we are experiencing blackouts and we can barely pay the price no one would argue that what we are doing at the moment is considered successful do you have solar panels i don't shame on you it's it's a big investment and i've got uh other priorities at the moment but certainly uh i'm watching my power bill regularly well you must be shocked yeah and i and we've been paying too much if elon musk had his way the world would be totally powered by renewables and he'd be colonising mars he is a big picture man with big plans but it might be his push for the modest lithium battery will prove to be one of the more significant steps in this electric revolution you have been seen as a catalyst somebody that is showing gosh there isn't there is another way yeah and that's that's a great thing people in this relationship should be proud of the fact that australia has the world's biggest battery this is pretty great and that it will serve as an inspiration really to the whole world as well just to say that this is possible hello i'm liz hayes thanks for watching to keep up with the latest from 60 minutes australia make sure you subscribe to our channel you can also download the nine now app for full episodes and other exclusive 60 minutes content

Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

Views: 1,697,712

Rating: 4.646286 out of 5

Keywords: 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Liz Hayes, Charles Wooley, Tara Brown, Liam Bartlett, Allison Langdon, Tom Steinfort, Jennifer Byrne, Richard Carleton, Paul Barry, Michael Usher, Ross Coulthart, George Negus, Ian Leslie, Gerald Stone, Sarah Abo, Elon Musk, Grimes, Elon, Tesla, Energy, Nuclear, nuclear power, space X, Musk, energy crisis, elon musk predictions, prediction from elon musk, X ae 12, elon musk baby

Id: PZz2r9j1Lfo

Length: 23min 9sec (1389 seconds)

Published: Tue May 12 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/karamurp]

Australian here. The political situation is absolutely fucked. Until 2013 we were on track to be a sustainable country, then a new government was elected, threw years of lithium battery research out the window and is funneling tax money into the cost industry to keep it from being taken over by renewables.

The situation we're in is basically because the coal industry owns the governing political party and is bank rolling their election campaigns. In return the government tries to hold back renewables as much as possible while putting the coal industry on life support.

They really didn't like Elon walking in and showing the country how possible renewables are.

[u/Mcnst]

He actually shreds a tear when being told that Australians cannot afford electricity.

I tried finding out the actual numbers; https://www.globalpetrolprices.com/Australia/electricity_prices/; 8¢ in China, 10¢ in Canada, 15¢ in US, 21¢ in Australia.