Chief Scientist clashes with Lucy Turnbull over 'shipping sunshine'

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Australia's top scientist has said exporting renewable energy is the country's biggest post-coronavirus opportunity, and that investing in gas for at least a decade is the most efficient way to get there.

But Chief Scientist Alan Finkel faced pushback from former Sydney Lord Mayor Lucy Turnbull, who told a limited Q+A audience – the first live crowd since the pandemic began – that Dr Finkel's dream of "shipping sunshine" was best realised through a battery technology revolution.

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Australia's future is renewables, but also gas, according to Chief Scientist Alan Finkel.AAP

Speaking alongside engineer Jordan Nguyen, anthropologist Genevieve Bell and science and technology editor Rae Johnston, Ms Turnbull and Dr Finkel clashed over Australia's pathway to net zero emissions by 2050.

"We have to have a national and a global goal of having net zero carbon by 2050," Ms Turnbull said. "The way to get there is to have renewables, plus storage. Not just batteries – you can have pumped hydro, and the battery technology revolution is really amongst us."

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Backing battery power: Lucy Turnbull.Jessica Hromas

"I think if we over-invest in gas, and we think about it for the next 30 years ... that's about the same as building a power station," she added.

The federal government released a Technology Roadmap last week pledging a new wave of spending on energy projects to cut Australia's carbon emissions, sidelining coal but highlighting gas a key fuel of the future.

The roadmap also flags electric vehicles, batteries and renewables as target technologies.

Dr Finkel said using gas in the short- and medium-term was Australia's most efficient pathway to net zero emissions.

"The quicker we can get there the better," the Chief Scientist said. "If we just try and bring on a lot of solar and a lot of wind electricity ... there will be a limited rate given the availability and cost of batteries."

"Gas has much, much more scale than batteries. Gas is effectively the perfect complement to solar and wind," he added. "Maybe 20 or 30 years from now we'll have new kinds of batteries, vastly powerful, more extensive batteries and we can do it with batteries. The quickest way to develop our renewable electricity system is to support it with gas."

Ms Turnbull's reply was for Australia to be aspirational, looking to one day "have the goal of having the emissions profile and aspirations of say, Denmark, with the energy costs of Saudi Arabia".

"If you have that goal, what is your pathway to get there? It probably isn't gas," she said.