The Frontier Economics report can be found at: https://www.frontier-economics.com.au/wpcontent/uploads/2024/12/Report-2-Nuclear-power-analysis-Final-STC.pdf
Pricing of the National Electricity Network (NEM) AEMO base cases are significantly more expensive than an alternative with 38% nuclear energy and 54% renewables. Refer to Tables 9 and 10 of Frontier Economics, Report No.2, Dec 2024.
Table 9 – Generation, network and total system costs – sum real $ billion (2025-2051)
| Scenario | Generating Cost ($billions) | Transmission Cost ($billions) | Total Cost($billions) | |
| Step Change | AEMO base case | $528 | $66 | $594 |
| Nuclear alternative | $402 | $44 | $446 | |
| Progressive | AEMO base case | $405 | $32 | $437 |
| Nuclear alternative | $317 | $14 | $331 |
Table 10 – Generation, network and total system costs – NPV $ billion (2025-2051)
| Scenario | Generating Cost ($billions) | Transmission Cost ($billions) | Total Cost($billions) | |
| Step Change | AEMO base case | $190 | $35 | $225 |
| Nuclear alternative | $142 | $21 | $163 | |
| Progressive | AEMO base case | $148 | $17 | $166 |
| Nuclear alternative | $116 | $8 | $124 |
Several critical factors were overlooked in CSIRO in GenCost 2024:
- For intermittent renewables around three times the generating capacity is needed to match baseload energy from coal or nuclear power stations.
- A renewables grid is far bigger than a grid with nuclear electricity connected into it, particularly where transmission lines already exist.
- Renewables + firming took a single point in time firming requirement, rather than consider how firming works within the AEMO ISP model.