| Pumped storage
how does the developed world work in partnership with the developing world to deal with the fact that the bulk of emissions is going to be coming from the developing world as it develops?
Malcolm Turnbull:
It is critical in Africa and southeast Asia, where there are plenty of opportunities for further hydropower development, that it is done in a way that has the support of the local communities and above all is sustainable. The interesting thing about hydropower is that we’ve always thought about it in the context of damming rivers and making big dams. In fact, with pumped hydro, all you need is two reservoirs at different elevations. It is a huge opportunity as it can have negligible environmental impact and does not affect rivers steams or eco systems.
Tony Blair:
For countries where there is the possibility of having major hydropower projects it is obviously going to be really important that you don’t try to cure one problem and create another. The challenge for a lot of African countries is that it’s not just about sustainability but how do we attract investment? There are often substantial risks with these projects, either of a political nature or concerns over a decent rate of return on investment. They are also capital intensive and require major investment upfront.
I think one of the big challenges, and one that should be a big part of COP26 discussions, is how do you mobilise international capital in support of these big projects? The projects themselves are necessary and almost certainly viable if you can put together the right financial structure.
If you don’t put such things forward it is leaving these countries with very little choice, as they can easily get financing for fossil fuel projects from the private sector. If a country is desperate for electricity that is an easy option, but if you want them to switch to sustainable energy projects, you’ve got to create the financial structure to help them attract financial investment. The good news is there’s a lot of liquid cash out
there searching for investment. This is why it is so important to get practical policy making at the forefront. If we get the best minds around financial engineering to work out how we might finance some of these big hydropower projects, the we will release a lot of capital and be able to do the things we want to.
Malcolm Turnbull: Underwriting the risk is key. If the developed world can underwrite some of the risks associated with these projects and therefore make more finance available, that is going to be key. All of us right around the world are going to have to get our heads around paying for and incentivising for the creation of long duration storage. The challenge has always been for politicians, or retired politicians like us, is that we all know what to do - but we don’t know how to do it and get re-elected. The scarce resource isn’t electrons but with leadership and foresight.
Tony Blair: The will is there. It is a question of the way. It’s important to look at this from the point of view of the governments that are going to have to host these projects, as many will be in the developing world. The problem for a lot of these countries is a lack of capacity, and sometimes the regulatory framework for power generation is poor - so people are not always clear that if the private sector comes in and makes an investment, will it get a proper rate of return? The actual process of governmental implementation is often difficult. That’s why a lot of the focus should be, not as much on winning the argument, as I think that the argument can be easily won, but the focus has got to be on the country in the developing world. You lack capacity and you’re not one of the top-ranking places where private capital is going to go and invest naturally. What is the financial engineering and regulatory framework you require to put in place to attract that investment and make these projects viable? And how does the international community support that? I think that will be the big issue. There is a plethora of things people can invest in, but we need to accelerate pumped hydro.
One of things which I think has been interesting over the past two years is where the international community has been working on covid. This was a crisis that came out of nowhere and has hit us all very hard, but if you think about the levels of innovation and ingenuity that have occurred over the past 18 months because of this crisis - there’s been a massive acceleration. To get to where we are today, we have concertinaed the time for research and development, trialling, and distribution of vaccines in a remarkable way. Now, if you think about it, what this shows is that if you approach something with the requisite levels of urgency and organisation, you can do something which you think is otherwise undoable or unimaginable.
I think the single most important thing for the upcoming discussion for the international community is to take that sense of urgency and that level of organisational focus and apply it to the climate. If you do that for hydropower you can see how you can accelerate its development and deployment. The COP summits succeed or fail through the work that has been done beforehand. My own advice to my own government has been to focus on practical plans. You’ve got to focus practically with this issue of how you can help the developing world sustainably. In the end the simple truth is unless you can ensure the poorer parts of the world develop sustainably, we’re not going to win this battle. If we look around the world today (such as at the
fires in Australia and California, floods across Europe) I don’t think we have to convince people anymore that this is a problem. On the whole, it is pretty clear this is a big problem. So, it’s all now about focus and implementation. What we’re discussing now is a classic example. We know we can make a big difference. We know there are big projects out there to be done. The problem is putting it together with the right financing, and the right regulatory framework, and underwriting the political risk. ●
Above: Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair says long duration storage is going to be essential, and pumped hydro is going to be one of the principle means of achieving that. Unless you have long duration storage, he says the other aspects of renewable energy “simply won’t meet the requirements of energy stability and supply”
References World Hydropower Congress: Tony Blair and Malcolm Turnbull in conversation. Climate Change, Renewable Energy and Sustainable Hydropower: Closing the Gap between Rhetoric and Action. 7 September 2021.
www.hydropower.org/events/ world-hydropower-congress- tony-blair-and-malcolm- turnbull-in-conversation
www.waterpowermagazine.com | November 2021 | 15
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37
