Aussie faces power blackouts

CANBERRA - Australia faces electricity blackouts and rationing unless there's a massive boost to generation, engineers have warned.

And they want nuclear power on the table as part of the solution.

The Australian Academy for Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) has released a communique warning the lights will go out because there will not be enough power to go around.

"Rationing and blackouts are inevitable in future once economic growth picks up," the communique said on Wednesday.

Power blackouts hit some cities last summer because electricity networks could not cope.

And the academy says there's no easy answer.

Coal is problematic because of greenhouse gas emissions, and carbon capture and storage - which could clean up coal - has not been commercially proven, the academy said. Nor has geothermal energy.

"Intermittent" renewable energy, like solar and wind, are too expensive. There's no spare water for hydro power.

The academy said emissions trading would not solve the problem because the carbon price would be too low to encourage investment in clean energy.

So the engineers were keen on nuclear power.

"Nuclear energy needs to be a part of their future base load portfolio if deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions are to be met," the communique said.

Australia has large uranium reserves and exports it for nuclear power, but the federal government opposes a domestic nuclear power industry.

Polls have indicated most people do not want nuclear power plants in Australia, although there is speculation that people might warm to nuclear power due to concerns about climate change.

Opposition energy spokesman Ian Macfarlane blamed the government for the looming electricity problem, saying it had not stood up to incompetent state Labor governments over the issue.

The failure to privatise NSW's electricity industry would hit home for consumers, Mr Macfarlane said.

And he said the government's environmental policies were making matters worse.

"It is aggravating the risk to Australia's energy supplies by pushing ahead with its flawed emissions trading scheme and its continued mismanagement of a mandatory renewable energy target," he said on Wednesday.

- AAP