Yet Another One Bites the Dust – Naroghid Knocked Out

Party time – AGAIN! At this rate the cellar will be empty before Christmas.

STT has been a little slow-off-the-mark to report on yet another glorious VICTORY for the people of Naroghid near Cobden, Victoria.  Our excuse is that there are so many GREAT news stories to report on at the moment we’ve been spoiled for choice.

What with leading Australian businessmen, Dick Smith dumping a bucket on wind power as pointless, infantile nonsense.

Make sure you take the chance to watch Dick’s doco.  Here’s a taste where Dick fronts a bunch of “ageing-new-age-travellers” in Northern NSW.  Note the look on the greentards’ faces as he explains to a group of them that wind and solar power make no sense simply because they are unreliable and intermittent.  The mung-bean-munchers who made up the audience seem to react with stunned horror as Dick lays out the daily consequence of sunset and meteorology – ecofascist heresy.  STT thinks it a pure “Greentard-Gold” moment.

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Here’s The Standard’s take on yet another great moment for hard working rural people and Australian power consumers.

Wind farm ditched: VCAT setback decision kills off Naroghid plan
The Standard
Sean McComish
18 July 2013

A proposed wind farm at Naroghid, near Cobden, has been scrapped after the state’s top planning authority gave neighbouring landowners the right to veto turbines near their homes.

The small-scale, 20-tower wind farm had been given a 2006 permit without a two-kilometre setback rule which gives farmers and landowners a chance to boycott turbines inside the zone.

But the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) has ordered the parent company Wind Farm Developments to seek a new permit that would enforce this law after the previous permit lapsed.

The ruling effectively kills off the project because of the high number of objectors surrounding the proposal.

The company has remained tight-lipped throughout the long-running saga and took 24 hours to release a statement this week confirming that it had in fact ditched its hopes.

“Naroghid Wind Farm Pty Ltd has announced the Naroghid wind farm project will not be going ahead in its current form,” spokesman Alistair Wilson said.

“The recent VCAT decision has necessitated a review of the project.  The VCAT decision meant further court hearings and delays would be necessary and for a small wind farm project this is not a commercially viable proposition.”

Revelations also emerged earlier this year of abusive correspondence between the department of planning and solicitors representing the company.

Pro-wind farm lobbyists have been calling for the Napthine government to scrap the setback rule, saying it has stifled proposals since it was brought in by the Coalition.

Victorian Greens leader Greg Barber said the news was an example of planning laws undermining the renewable energy sector.

Meanwhile, the company rejected rumours it had sold off its Woolsthorpe wind farm project.

“Work is continuing on the Woolsthorpe wind farm,” Mr Wilson said.

He said the project had not been sold and main track construction at the site was progressing.
The Standard

They’re nothing if not predictable.  Every time the rules are applied AGAINST them the greentard and eco-fascist cries “foul”.

Right on cue Greg Barber starts crying into his organic Pinot Gris, lamenting the fact that the rules – set up to avoid further disasters such as Waubra and Macarthur – were simply applied in their terms.  Dreadful stuff – the law – it has a habit of getting in the way of 5 Year Plans.

Barber has already caught STT’s attention as the “bright” lad that doesn’t know when not to ask questions.  In doing his windmasters’ bidding, Barber made the job of prosecuting the REC fraud at Waubra a whole lot simpler.  Thanks Greg.

Then dig a little deeper – whether or not further planning permission is granted for projects in Victoria – the wind industry in Australia is already on the ropes.  There is only one project under construction in Victoria – and that’s 27 fans at Mt Mercer.

Currently, wind weasels have approval to build over 1,200 turbines in Victoria, alone.

So – any lack of construction activity has nothing to do with planning rules – nothing to do with pesky local opposition – and everything to do with ECONOMICS.

Australia’s economy has hit the wall with tens of thousands of jobs lost in the manufacturing sector during Labor’s chaotic term in Government – thanks to the escalating cost of doing business here  – including the spiralling costs of electricity being driven by the RET.

Greentard blog site, The Climate Speculator carried this lament last week – as AGL spelt out the fact that there is absolutely no future for wind power in Australia.  The wholesale market is flatter than a pancake and there is clearly no demand for any more intermittent wind power generation capacity.

True it is – that the retailers will be affected by the RET as we approach 2020.  However, they have a choice.  They DO NOT need to purchase wind power – they can simply pay the “shortfall charge” – currently $65 per MW – on 20% of the electricity they sell.

Origin Energy and other big retailers are suggesting that they would rather pay the shortfall charge than have to muck around with intermittent and unreliable wind power. Energy Australia Chief, Richard McIndoe signalled the end of the RET and the wind scam with his comment last week that:

“I don’t think it’s a practical target, and ultimately I therefore see that we will be paying a fine as opposed to seeing these [wind farm] projects built.”

Trying to balance the most geographically stretched grid in the world is hard enough – without having to find hundreds of MW in a hurry every time the wind stops blowing.

Origin have also said that they will simply pay the fine and pass the entire cost of it on to – you know who? Ah, yes, of course, that’ll be US.

Retailers paying the shortfall charge will not – of course – result in any reduction in CO2 emissions – but will result in a HUGE INCREASE in our – already punishing – power bills.

Just another reason why the majority in the Coalition party room are ready to scrap the RET in its entirety.  Bruce Scott is just one example – and STT hears his Nationals colleagues are right behind him.

And the bloke best qualified to take the Energy Portfolio – Angus “the Enforcer” Taylor – has made his mission to scrap the RET plain enough.

Although STT notes the wind industry’s wild claims – made through their pet journo Marcus Priest in the Financial Review today – that somehow Angus is out of line with Coalition policy and was “slapped down” by Greg Hunt and Ian “Enron” Macfarlane.  Anyone that knows Angus Taylor would be rolling on the floor with the suggestion that those 2 intellectual pygmies and policy lightweights would be game to “slap” anything – other than their thighs – with Angus present.

Macfarlane’s so close to Babcock and Brown Mk II (aka Infigen) that he isn’t game to say loud enough for them to hear that the majority in the Coalition party room, including the Head Boy, have already decided to scrap the RET outright. The way Macfarlane is cavorting with the boys from Infigen he’ll be lucky to get a front bench spot at all.

And the claim made in the AFR that the Coalition supports the RET in its current form of 41,000 GW is laughable.  IF – and it’s a mighty big IF – the wind weasels are lucky the Coalition might tolerate a RET of around 27,000 GW.  But even then, the balance of that – much reduced – target is more likely to be met with new and upgraded hydro projects in Australia and the BIG hydro projects planned by Origin in PNG.

The Momentary-Muppet-King has just called the election for 7 September – so only a few more sleeps – and the Coalition Victors can get on and dismantle the whole stinking subsidy driven mess.

I’ve just called 7 September as my last day as Prime Muppet