Often wrong, never in doubt, the mainstream press is responsible for the idea that we’re well on our way to an all wind and sun powered future. The need for massive and endless subsidies is ignored; and the chaotic intermittency of wind and solar, brushed aside with waffle about mega-batteries saving the day.
The mainstream press has berated us for a decade with the idea that wind and solar stand as meaningful substitutes for coal, gas and nuclear power plants. Fun facts like sunset and calm weather suggest otherwise.
For example – the combined output of every wind turbine connected to Australia’s Eastern Grid during May, thanks to Aneroid Energy. Note the numerous occasions when output plummets by 2-3,000MW in minutes, often falling to between 200 and 400MW – which represents between 3 to 6% of the total 6,558MW of capacity spread from Far North Queensland, through NSW, all across Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia.
As Alan Moran details below, it seems that the scribes who once championed wind and solar are having second thoughts. And seem to be crab walking away from their earlier predictions about our ‘inevitable’ renewable energy transition.
Is the AFR rejoining economic rationality?
Catallaxy Files
Alan Moran
4 July 2019
The AFR has spent a decade of extolling the merits of renewable energy. It has waxed lyrical on the beneficial effects of taxes on fossil fuels (aka renewable subsidies, the NEG). But, following a passage rightly pointing out the cost imposed on the nation by a gas reserve policy, comes this from the editorial in today’s AFR
The loss of baseload power from sudden shutdown of Victoria’s Hazelwood coal-fired power plant in early 2017 .… was precipitated by the force-feeding of unreliable renewable energy into the power grid. Rather than penalise the source of Australia’s prosperity, governments need to fix the policy failures that have caused the problem.
In promoting the opposite position, for years the AFR has given regular columns to the green left writers at the Grattan Institute, the Australia Institute and elsewhere. It has hosted a coterie of in-house journalists ceaselessly opining on the merits of “modern” sources of electricity – the sun and wind – marching daily to replace all their antediluvian fossil and nuclear rivals. It has approvingly cited the renewable energy scam’s boosters, including green interventionists like Garnaut and Yates as well as self-serving business leaders like EnergyAustralia’s Tanna, the appalling ex-AGL chief Andy Vesey, the cashed-up wind and solar farming subsidy-seekers, and political appointees heading regulatory agencies.
Here is just a small sample of headlines
July 25 2018 The NEG won’t stop the unstoppable march of renewable energy
August 20 2018 Thank God for renewable energy targets, state and federal
August 9 2018 NEG agreement will be our first step to energy sanity
Nov 21 2017 There is no credible alternative to the National Energy Guarantee
So, what has caused this apostasy? A sudden revelation that has dawned on Stutchbury, Potter, Macdonald-Smith, Tingle that the policy they have commended for so long is empty of virtue? Or is it just a bout of indigestion after which the previous economy-crushing policy promotion can be resumed?
If the former, can we expect to see journalistic pieces that examine ways out of the predicament created by a disastrous policy germinated over 20 years ago by John Howard?
The latest editorial is certainly right: we need to fix the policy failures that have caused the failure. But how to do this with a legacy of unreliable wind and solar facilities poisoning the low cost, reliable electricity system we previously had and, given our abundant easily mined coal, could once more be the backbone of the economy?
Catallaxy Files
STOP THESE THINGS 
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Mixed messages are coming out about the Mortlake Gas plant explosion. The Andrews Labor government, in its efforts to repeat the South Australian ‘ruinable’ energy debacle, now appears to be at the exploding gas infrastructure stage!
Quote…
The Standard JULY 9 2019
‘ORIGIN Energy says no explosion occurred at the Mortlake Gas Plant’
Reporter Rachael Houlihan
EMERGENCY services were called to an electrical fault at the Mortlake Power Station when one of two generating units was extensively damaged.
An Origin Energy spokeswoman said a generating unit at the Mortlake Power Station experienced an electrical fault early on Monday morning.
She said an explosion did not occur.
“The generating unit’s fire detection system activated and the local CFA unit attended the site,” she said.
“Operational control was handed back to Origin at approximately 8.30 am.
“Origin is undertaking an investigation to determine when the unit can be returned to service.”
It could take up to six months for the generating unit to return to capacity.
Country Fire Authority commander Paul Marshall said a fire alarm was activated at 6.13am on Monday morning.
“Three CFA appliances responded from Mortlake and Warrnambool,” he said.
“Mortlake arrived on scene first and firefighters donned breathing apparatus to access the building.
“There was no fire present, but certainly there was a reasonable amount of smoke present.
“The smoke had been caused as a result of an explosion in one of the generators.
“That has caused significant damage. At the end of the day there wasn’t that much required.
“From the CFA point of view we made sure the incident was safe and there was no other hazards.”
Mortlake is a gas-fired power station comprising two generating units each of 292 MW.
One generating unit remains available for the market.
The power station provides up to three per cent of the state’s power needs.
It is the largest gas-fired power station in Victoria.
…end quote.
Link below…
https://www.standard.net.au/story/6264470/generator-offline-at-mortlake-power-station-after-electrical-fault/
So the company is trying to minimise the damage, but really saying there was no explosion and that is was just an electrical fault is believing we’re gullible – obviously the CFA has no reason not to not tell it as it was – there was probably an electrical fault but that fault caused an explosion which has caused significant damage – otherwise why is it going to take 6 months (maybe longer) to fix it?
The question is what caused the electrical fault – was it something to do with the ‘shocking’ weather and an incident with electricity supply?
Is it global warming, overpopulation, or both being promoted by Malthusian eugenicists like Prince Philip? Overpopulation vs under development – development = declining population ie., Japan.
Here in the UK we have now got a petition which has generated a Parliamentary debate on BIAS in the BBC largely on its Climate output which has consistently suppressed valid challenges to the Alarmist Hysteria and climate policies.
There is also a crowd funded move to generate a judicial review on the the matter. Currently around £30,000 and rising. (See WUWT- stop BBC Bias.)
We live in hope.!?
It will be interesting to see how the dark green forces in the BBC et al manage to keep a lid on this can of worms.
Must have cut the champagne out on the free lunches. Bottom line without taxpayer energy user funded subsidys. the windweasels would be in fitzroy begging on the streets.
The UK must follow Australia’s example.
The fools rush in…in AU…
Apart from country areas, city infrastructure has been playing catch-up for many years. Since the demise of a commitment to national growth, infrastructure has only been built to service current needs. This results in major upheavals when renewal or expansion is required. Government even channels traffic onto private toll roads for their profit, with gridlock supplying extra profit to oil companies – CO2 anti Adani coal protesters blockading Brisbane city foolishly don’t know they’re helping oil companies laugh all the way to the bank. Will they have another road convoy?
As well, most people don’t know that our light sweet crude oil that is cheap to refine is exported and we import heavy crude giving tax deductions for the increased refining costs.
Then we are continually told to watch the ‘fuel cycle’ for cheaper petrol. Oil production and refining is a continual 24/7 process. So where does the ‘cycle’ come in?
Besides that, as most production is from west Asia going directly to Europe and here, what has Singapore got to do with pricing?
We see the same lack of commitment to growth and infrastructure in the USA. The similarities suggest to me that this is where the oligarchs want to go. They don’t want to pay any taxes to support wise infrastructure management, which would maintain and grow the systems that allowed them to get rich in the first place.
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