State Labor sees “primary” role for gas-fired power in latest firming tender for 1.5 gigawatts - Renew Economy

A state Labor government has opened a tender for 1.5 gigawatts of firming capacity and flagged gas-fired power as playing a "primary" role in meeting the requirement. The tender seeks dispatchable generation to support a grid increasingly reliant on variable renewable output.

Where this fits

This is the grid admitting what Energy Realism tracks: a renewables-only system cannot run without firm backup, and that backup is gas. The tender reveals the real cost structure of the transition. Solar and wind are cheap per megawatt; the system cost lies in firming, transmission overbuild, and the infrastructure to manage weather-dependent supply. Gas fills that gap today because nuclear is banned by law. The decision to use gas rather than pursue firm, low-emission alternatives locks in ongoing fuel costs, supply-chain dependence on LNG importers, and continued emissions from a generation source chosen not for merit but for regulatory default.

What it means

Australia is building a grid that requires perpetual gas spending to function reliably. Each gigawatt of firming tender is a bet that gas will remain cheap and available; neither assumption is safe. A firm generation fleet, whether gas, coal, or nuclear, is the backbone of grid stability. Australia has chosen gas over the only low-emission firm alternative available, locking in fuel volatility, import exposure, and higher lifetime system cost. The tender does not signal a problem to be solved; it signals a structural dependency that will define the grid's economics and resilience for decades.