Year 10 Science · Unit 4 · Lesson 6

Mitigation Strategies and Renewable Energy

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Learning Goals

Compare solar, wind and hydro in terms of how they generate electricity and their limitations.
Apply the idea of intermittency to explain why storage is needed in a high-renewables grid.
Evaluate a real-world energy decision using advantages and limitations of each source.

Warm Up

Compare the technologies

Complete the table to compare three renewable technologies. Fill in all blank cells.

Feature	Solar PV	Wind	Hydroelectricity
Energy source it converts
Main limitation
Dispatchable? (can output be controlled on demand?)
One Australian example

Your Turn

Real-world context

A coastal regional town in South Australia currently buys electricity from a coal-fired station several hundred kilometres away. The local council wants to switch to renewable electricity. The region has excellent daytime sunshine, strong onshore winds, and is near the coast, but it has no major rivers and no suitable terrain for a dam. Power is needed 24 hours a day, including through the evening peak and overnight.

(a) Which two renewable technologies are the best fit for this town, and why? Explain using the town's natural resources.

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(b) Explain the intermittency problem this town would face, and describe one storage technology that could keep the lights on overnight. Identify one advantage and one limitation of that storage choice.

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(c) A councillor suggests building a small nuclear plant instead, arguing it is "low-carbon and works at night." Give one reason this is a poor fit for solving the town's emissions problem in the short term.

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Wrap Up

In one sentence, what was the main idea of this lesson?

Answer Key

Teacher use, Compare the technologies

Energy source converted: Solar PV, sunlight; Wind, kinetic energy of moving air; Hydro, kinetic/potential energy of flowing or falling water.
Main limitation: Solar, no output at night or heavy cloud (intermittent); Wind, varies with wind speed (intermittent), plus visual/noise concerns onshore; Hydro, needs suitable terrain and water flow, vulnerable to drought, environmental impact on rivers.
Dispatchable?: Solar, no; Wind, no; Hydro, yes (can be turned on/off quickly).
Australian example (accept any valid): Solar, 3.5 million-plus rooftop systems / utility solar farms; Wind, southern and eastern coast wind farms; Hydro, Snowy Mountains scheme / Snowy 2.0.

Teacher use, Your Turn

(a) Solar PV (excellent daytime sunshine) and wind (strong onshore winds). Hydro is ruled out because the town has no major rivers and no suitable terrain for a dam. Award marks for naming both and justifying each from the resources given.
(b) Intermittency: solar produces nothing overnight and wind output is variable, so generation will not always match demand, especially through the evening peak and overnight. Storage options: lithium-ion batteries (advantage: respond in milliseconds and improve grid stability, fast to build; limitation: limited duration / higher cost per MWh for long storage) OR pumped hydro if terrain allowed (advantage: very large capacity and long lifetime; limitation: high capital cost and needs suitable terrain, which this town lacks). Accept a battery as the realistic fit here.
(c) Any one: new nuclear takes roughly 10-20 years to build, so it would not cut emissions in the urgent 2020s-2030s window (solar/wind can be built in 12-18 months); very high capital cost; long-lived radioactive waste; Australia has no commercial nuclear experience and a federal moratorium; it is not renewable (uranium is finite). Award marks for a clearly explained reason, not just naming it.