Elon Musk says Australia’s energy emergency is easily fixable - Part one | 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 the 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 scrambled 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 hospital I can't they want a record of it and now we'll find out what's happening towns and cities are lighting up public transport is on the move [Music] and firmly homes are coming to life [Music] inside a control room in Sydney's west staff from trans grid the company charged with ensuring the lights stay on work the phones at number two tire number 3 type 130 for calling in power from generators all over the state half the population has dinner at 6 o'clock irrespective so they do it the other half have it denote 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 yesterday's food oh yeah yeah well when I have lunch later it won't be yesterday so it'll be Monday's on 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 entire country of the solar powered or some combination of wind solar geothermal hydro Elon Musk is the Tesla man an American billionaire whose developments of electric cars would dawn and space rockets is seeing technology pushed 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 it's Rayleigh you could actually export power to Asia this 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 stabilise the grid but musk is also hoping it will be a light bulb moment for the world you have do these things that really get the world's attention otherwise that they just don't believe you there are things possible what do you want the rest of the world to see I really want thrill to see that you can do a very large-scale 100 megawatt system is it's really quite enormous this is three times more than the next biggest battery in the world that 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 headfirst 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 just more if people make big claims like that I'd like to check if they're real he thought I was joking cuz I had a check for it 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 so wait just checking his Co sure you know he says he's gonna happen and make it let's make it happen right so this is these are public tweets yeah and but in a way that's that's part of our 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 enough people saw that that it was like alright that you know he better get that done [Music] Kennan 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 offers for tens of millions I think we added it 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 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 I have the world's biggest prawn I didn't realise there's this big battle going on it was like mr. Hollywood's walked into town okay and it's like but treasurer Scott Norris and declared that this was just a shiny you know distraction and that and that it was a kin to what is shiny it is shiny and it was it's it's akin to the big pineapple or the big banana or it's just one of those kitsch I don't know what wait is that a real thing the retort attraction okay is it like the world's biggest banana or something something like okay what are you disappointed by that oh we get that all the time it can be a little disheartening sometimes 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 game it was sold to the people of South Australia as an answer to their woes by Jay Weatherill whereas in reality it is just a fraction of what that state needs everyone is fair game in what is now a high-stakes political power play electricity the supply but particularly the cost is constantly Naurang away at the federal government and it's Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg 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 RG bar G 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 opportunities 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 $0.50 a week perhaps and I'm supposed to applaud that well that's just a Labour Party distraction and Distortion is that not true that is not true so what will they get they will get up to a hundred and fifteen dollars a year saving and when they say a couple of hundred dollars truly you're out of touch you'd set 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 Labour Party your bills will go up by hundreds of dollars that's what the modelling shows no longer are we allowing the Labour Party to pursue an ideological approach you see though politicking don't hate you saying that because that's just more politic well the reality is that politics is a battle of ideas our idea is a national energy care he 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 and lowers power bills for pensioners like Brian and Faye Willis all this talk doesn't mean much they still have to tailor their lives around the electricity bill 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 curtains shut because 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'll be pretty right what do you do through winter we did not use the heater once we tend to use blankets put on two pairs of socks instead of one or where the UGG boots it's stuff I presume that before you took for granted in 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 the Elon Musk learning of this growing power poverty is overwhelming cost of power is making it almost a luxury item Wow really everybody that Andros is that expensive Australia has so many national 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 they're Australians today wondering well should we go without some food sure you know that's just not something you would ever expect I did not expect that hmm the otter fur mask 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 under new renewables it's just a question of when in fact it's it's it's it's in the definition that 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 into the dark ages we go or find something that is renewable so all of this is about saving ourselves yeah coming up now yep boring now the billion dollar energy business in our own backyard it's like hitting gold it's not they call it the the new oil and how to slash your electricity bill this is it this is the battery will serve as an inspiration really to the whole world this is possible that's next on 60 minutes

Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

Views: 1,799,103

Rating: 4.6324968 out of 5

Keywords: crisis over energy supply and cost, Australian energy crisis, power crisis, electricity, gas, bill shock, power prices, Elon Musk, world’s largest lithium ion battery, Jamestown, South Australia, Liz Hayes, Grace Tobin, 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia

Id: w7BMaG3zyVo

Length: 14min 9sec (849 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 29 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/JM2845]

Part Two: https://youtu.be/U63z6YOGYCY

[u/gittenlucky]

What is this high electricity cost they are talking about? I found this analysis. on page 6, it says the rate is $0.20 USD/kWh, which is high, but not crazy. The way the reporter is talking, it makes it seem like people are all eating eating cold leftover sandwiches because they can't afford to turn on the microwave.

I grabbed this screen shot of an electric bill (the other one just had an overdue amount, so you can't make any assumptions about that. In this screenshot, you can see the following information

• $8.76 AUD daily cost ($6.63 USD)
• 31.89 kWh used daily in the month
• 25.92 kWh used daily this time last year
• 23.03% increased usage over this time last year

With this, I calculate the monthly bill of $8.76 * 30 days = $262.80 AUD ($198.76 USD). The cost last year would have been about $227.06 AUD ($171.62 USD). High, but not crazy high. After all, they are using a lot of electricity. I have an electric stove / oven, electric dryer, air conditioner, and well pump, but my family only uses 13 kWh per day (averaged over the last couple years). At first glance, I would argue they need to focus on lowering consumption which would lower their bills and fix the overloaded grid.

[u/ptfrd]

FWIW, here's part of the Twitter conversation in March that seems to have sparked all this.

[u/themightykappa]

Full video: https://youtu.be/T9nrdyix-hw

[u/Iambro]

https://www.reddit.com/r/teslamotors/comments/79k0ix/elon_musks_australia_interview_video/