AUSTRALIA NEEDS POWER SHIFT

Sustainable energy in Australia needs a fast switch to renewable power plants.

This is achievable according to the campaign group Beyond Zero Emissions that that the technology is already available to make the change.

But leading scientists working in the field say the campaigners are a little ahead of their time.

Solar researcher and Scientific Director of the Alternative Sustainable Energy Research Initiative at Israel's Weizmann Institute, Professor David Cahen contends that Australia's renewable energy sources aren't just up to the job of baseload power that are already being provided around the world.

In Spain a sea of mirrors reflects the Sun's energy towards a collector tower - providing energy that is stored as heat in a molten salt mixture, allowing the plant to produce steam to turn a turbine right through the day and night.

A new report by the International Energy Agency states Concentrating Solar Power for baseload electricity could be as cheap as coal in about 15 or 20 years.

But there are a few assumptions underlying that calculation, including a growth in plant size, the mass production of equipment and a policy that puts a global price on carbon.

And importantly, the financial community would have to have confidence in CSP.