David Roberts Volts podcast is a leading renewable energy transition discussion in the USA. David recently came to Australia and has been publishing conversations on Australia’s energy transition and similarities and differences with America.
Last month saw the release of the first major update to Victoria’s Gas Substitution Roadmap, so Volts spoke with Lily D’Ambrosio, Minister for Energy, Environment, and Climate Change.
Victoria is the country’s second smallest state geographically, but its second most populated, its most densely populated, and most importantly its most dependent on fossil gas. Fully 80 percent Victoria homes are connected to the fossil gas network, and that number is rising, even in the face of the state’s ambitious decarbonization targets. On top of that, the state is also home to considerable oil and gas production.
The state’s Labor government confronted the situation last year with a Gas Substitution Roadmap, a package of policies that would combine restrictions on new gas hookups, tightened energy-efficiency standards, and subsidies for residential electrification. Most notably, it was up front about the fact that the state would need to transition off of fossil gas entirely at some point and that these were first steps that would be followed by others.
David and Lily talk about what the roadmap says, some of the problems it has not yet addressed, the role of biomethane and hydrogen in a decarbonized state, the politics of fossil gas, and much more.
It is well worth a listen, find the podcast here.