The chair of the NSW Farmers Energy Transition Working Group says major cities must do more on renewables as coal-fired power plants close.
"The announced early closure of Eraring Power Station should be a wakeup call for Sydney, because there's going to need to be a lot more solar panels and wind turbines to take up the slack," Working Group Chair Reg Kidd said.
"We've already seen a lot of regional areas become a home for renewables, but there's a limit to the amount we can build without losing valuable agricultural land.
"Since you lose a lot of power in transmission, it makes sense for it to be generated where it will be used."
According to the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), about 10 per cent of the electricity that leaves an Australian power station never makes it to a consumer because it is lost during transmission. Mr Kidd, a farmer and agricultural consultant from Orange, said since more than half of the people in NSW lived in Sydney, more than half of the burden to generate power should fall on the Sydney basin too.
"There's a lot of bare rooftops in Sydney that could hold solar panels, and the southerlies you get along the coast there could spin a lot of turbines," Mr Kidd said.
"If we're serious about the energy transition, then we all need to do our part in generating electricity as close as possible to where it will be used.
"It's silly to just put a bunch of panels out west and lose the electricity generated from them by sending it to Sydney."
