by ERIC ABETZ – WHAT is it about the relentless pursuit of so-called renewable energy by our leaders that they overlook the need to provide affordable and reliable electricity supply to Australians?
Especially at a time when the cost of living is front of mind.
- Renewable energy pushers have finally been mugged by reality – and not before time.
- The debacle of the renewable energy transition is being witnessed daily.
- Similar stories flooding out of Europe were ignored to the detriment of Australia’s family budgets, jobs and national well-being.
In a first-world country blessed with huge energy resources, the unreliability and cost of energy is a national scandal.
Even if one accepts the need to “transition” from fossil fuels to other forms of energy, there is the foundational requirement to keep the lights on and our factories and farms producing at an affordable price.
TRANSITIONING
Time and again warnings have been provided that inherent in the word “transitioning” is the imperative that energy supply and affordability need to be maintained.
Those who have correctly sounded those warnings of common sense have been decried as “deniers” and economic vandals along with all sorts of other descriptors to avoid the discussion.
In that scenario, leaders of all stripes have virtue signalled how quickly they can decommission coal-fired power stations and set zero emission targets.
Decommissioning and net-zero targets can be achieved overnight by simply turning off all the power stations.
But the hugely more difficult task, with its accompanying cost factors, is the provision of alternate, affordable and reliable energy.
An unwelcome reminder of this monumental task is the concern around the slated closure of the Eraring power station in NSW in 2025.
The newly elected Labor Minns Government commissioned a report to provide a handy excuse to try and slow down the currently manic net-zero transition.
Why a report was needed is obvious. It was to cover the government’s proverbial backside from being kicked by the citizens who feel betrayed by the hype and propaganda associated with “transitioning”.
In a completely unsurprising finding the recommendation has been made to extend the life of Eraring.
Apart from that there was also the “ground-breaking” insightful suggestion that a mechanism to orderly manage the retirement of coal-fired power stations be established.
Who would have thought it necessary?
MUGGED
This previously foreign concept to the renewable energy pushers and political leadership has finally mugged them – and not before time.
The Eraring inquiry suggested that negotiations be entered into with the owners of the power station to prolong its life to prevent reliability gaps and guarantee no adverse price impact.
That such an inquiry was at all necessary is a complete exposure of the manic nature of the irresponsible renewable push.
Where was the leadership willing to state the bleeding obvious – we need reliability and affordability in any transition.
The false narratives are being slowly but relentlessly exposed as the predictable chickens called reliability and affordability are coming home to roost.
All this is happening at a time when speculation is rife that the Australian Energy Market Operator will soon alert the unsuspecting public that all the promised essential infrastructure and up-grading of the grid to cope is falling way behind schedule.
The management debacle of the renewable energy transition is now being witnessed on a daily basis.
AVOIDED
A debacle that could have been easily avoided by true and responsible leadership willing to level with their citizenry about timelines, capital costs and power bills.
The owners of Eraring will undoubtedly rub their organisational hands in glee knowing that the commodity which they were being pressured to close is now all of a sudden in demand.
The shortfall cannot be made up from elsewhere so Eraring’s owner, Origin Energy, has some sway and negotiating cards with which to play.
The public is at the mercy of the provider.
This lack of foresight and deliberate denigrating of those providing the warnings by the leadership of our country is at best negligence writ large.
The fact similar stories flooding out of Europe were ignored to the detriment of Australia’s family budgets, jobs, and national well-being requires a national apology and for the responsible people to be brought to account.
The realistic fear for Australians is that Eraring will be one of many more cases to emerge over the next few years.PC
Net Zero Economic Prosperity …
Expensive electricity and gas, when available, when the the wind blows and the sunshine is suitable, a competitive edge lost.
Many people do not seem to understand what base load electricity is and that maintaining it is essential to stabilise the grid. Think of tap water supply that is pressurised and always available, pressure provided by pumps. Power Station generator units perform a similar role but supplying electricity 24/7.
Intermittent supply from wind and solar destabilises the electricity grid and causes management issues at power stations, steam driven turbines driving the generators, fossil fuels to heat the water. Or Small Nuclear Reactors replacing the coal, gas, biomass fuel for heating.
The transition to so called renewable energy (wind and solar) began when Rudd-Gillard Labor created their Renewable Energy Target (RET) of plus 30 per cent of electricity grid supply, recently raised by Albanese Labor to 80 per cent RET. The former CEO of Snowy Hydro predicted that if achieved the “farms” and dedicated new transmission lines and grid would take at least 80 years to complete. And that includes back up generators such as gas fired, battery storage, pumped hydro (ask Malcolm how that is going), and even machinery that duplicates the stabilising Power Station generators provide at a constant speed (RPM). Then consider the enormous areas of land needed, and ocean.
The obvious zero emissions choice is not wind or solar, nuclear energy is emissions free. The latest Small Nuclear Reactor (SMR) and now Mini Nuclear Reactor (MMR) are compact and much smaller than the older and not so old Power Stations with built on site reactors. SMR is factory built and transported to site and if required pre-fabricated building, a sports oval area needed. Or utilise existing Power Station locations and even consider replacing just the coal fired system with SMRs.
I will post a price guide.
Price Guide
https://www.smrnuclear.com.au/_files/ugd/c733f6_323d92b6a9ea4313b3d1d4ae85e0a794.pdf
Why do people take an instant dislike to Chris Bowen (and most other politicians)?……it just saves so much time!
The Party that once represented the working class now caters to the next fad. The ALP has been veering toward communism for decades. High Immigration, High Taxes, the list is endless. The LNP are not much better. But The Once Great Lucky Country was admired and respected for its Heath, Energy, Transport, Education & Manufacturing and Communication Operations. Now we are laughed at and are slaves to the WEF/UN/WHO and it is time to MAGA – Make Australia Great Again. “Running the economy well only has a purpose if it gives a human dividend.” – JOHN HOWARD 2004, after his record fourth straight election victory .
It is revealing that Anthony Albanese, follower of the late Russian revolutionary Marxist Leon Trotsky, is pushing Uluru Statement (Voice+Treaty+Truth telling) – Makarratta – for which the now older activist Noel Pearson and comrades are behind and that committee member Thomas Mayo in the video now circulating thanked the Communist Elders for their advice.
Gives you an idea of the intelligence of Bowen, Bandt & their friends.
The bottom line is this: humans do not control the climate. There are a plethora of reasons to support this:
1 2007 Judgment in the Al Gore movie An Inconvenient Truth which found ALL the alleged consequences of anthropogenic global warming, AGW, shown in the movie were either false or exaggerated and alarmist.
2 2010 Climate Gate where thousands of private emails of the alarmist scientists were released by a whistle blower. Publicly these scientists were saying the science was settled and AGW had been proved. Their private emails however showed the science was a mess, the models did not work and the predictions were wrong. The emails also revealed the scientists intended to continue lying to the public and censoring sceptical scientists
3 2020 at the height of the Chinese virus when the world economy was shut down human emissions of CO2 fell by up to 40%. Since AGW tells us that human CO2 is responsible for the increase in atmospheric CO2 and atmospheric change occurs immediately to surface emissions there should have been a variation in atmospheric CO2 content and increase. There was none.
AGW is complete and utter BS; and everything which flows from it like renewables is also BS.
Why do so many people detest Chris Bowen and hate what he and his comrades are doing – and planning to do – to this wonderful country? That’s not hard to understand when you consider that Australia produces just over 1% of global CO2 emissions, so nothing we do will make any effective difference to global warming.
China produces approximately 30% of global climate emissions and India produces approx. 8%. Both countries are building coal-fired power stations and have absolutely no short- or even medium-term intention of reducing their reliance on coal and gas because it would impact too heavily on their economies and their citizens’ lives.
The UK and most of the European mainland countries are backing off their charge towards Net Zero because they are waking up to the fact that it is far too harmful to their economies due to the huge increase in energy prices that affect everything that’s produced and manufactured.
So why on earth does Albanese and ‘Blackout’ Bowen and their comrades together with the Greens and the Teals and Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore continue with their obsession to reduce CO2 emissions?
As we all know, it’s purely a matter of virtue-signaling: “Aren’t we wonderful for doing what we can to save the planet?” Well kiddies – you’re not going to save the planet because the planet doesn’t need saving! We are just going through a perfectly normal period of global warming and that will be followed in due course by a period of global cooling – because that’s how it works!
Wake up to yourselves and stop wasting taxpayers’ money on virtue-signaling when it should be spent on defence and national security!
Defence and national security?
They inherited AUKUS developed from 2019 by the Morrison Coalition Government with POTUS Trump and UK PM Johnson, and signed late in 2021 revealing a very long list of projects near and longer term future. One is the supply of operational nuclear submarines to the RAN and development of a new generation nuclear submarine for the three AUKUS partners.
Albanese Labor have already cancelled several ADF orders including the outstanding 30 F-35 Lightning stealth fighters for the RAAF. When the F/A-18 Classic Hornets were retired they were replaced with F-18 Super Hornets including electronic warfare Growler versions, the stealth fighters have that technology and much more. Now despite the defence alert situation Labor have cut back on very important assets.
And media releases on missiles and other AUKUS projects read as if Labor is responsible for procurement.
And there is another cut back, cruise missiles for the latest RAN air warfare destroyers (three) but none for the Collins Class Submarines (six) that are also important assets and as conventional propulsion vessels slower and with shorter underwater endurance that nuclear submarines, but installed latest US technology compatible with US Navy, and Royal Navy.
And a separate question, why are the latest RAN Patrol Ships so lightly armed, they are designed for coastal operations but why not give them weapons that are the best possible?