The future of electricity generation in Australia: A case study of New South Wales

The Australian electricity industry has found itself the subject of an intense political debate. At the center is the role of coal-fired generation. The most economic form of new generation technology in Australia is wind on a levelized cost of energy (LCOE) basis. However, new wind generation must be 'firmed' to address variability in output. The analysis in this article finds the optimal plant mix will need to be increasingly 'flexible' to complement variable renewables.