“The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help”. So said Ronald Reagan, the folksy and affable 40th President of the USA. And, so it’s been with energy policy in the USA, Australia, Europe and dozens of other places where lobbyists took control of politicians and … Continue reading Policy Burn Out: Rocketing Power Prices Product of Government Obsession with Unreliable Wind & Solar
Tag: Australia’s energy crisis
Wanna Know What’s Really Powering Australia? It Ain’t Sunshine & Breezes – It’s Coal
After almost 20 years and tens of $billions in subsidies, wind and solar’s combined contribution to Australian energy demand is risible. And that’s on average. Those pesky facts (sunset and calm weather) mean that there are hundreds of occasions each year when their combined contribution is a big fat zero. Meanwhile, back on Earth, … Continue reading Wanna Know What’s Really Powering Australia? It Ain’t Sunshine & Breezes – It’s Coal
Renewable Energy Armageddon: Australia’s Self-Inflicted Power Pricing & Supply Calamity
Chaotically intermittent and heavily subsidised wind and solar are at the heart of Australia’s power pricing and supply calamity. Like a runaway train, the disaster is unfolding before the passengers' very eyes, with state and federal politicians apparently incapable of bringing the disaster to a halt and ever-present rent seekers throwing the throttle wide open. … Continue reading Renewable Energy Armageddon: Australia’s Self-Inflicted Power Pricing & Supply Calamity
Short Circuit: Victoria’s Renewable Energy Calamity Guarantees Blackouts & Rocketing Prices
South Australia’s wind and solar experiment provides the perfect example of how to wreck a power system and an economy with one blow. Not to be outdone, neighbouring Victoria drank the Kool Aid, too - pushing its very own 50% Renewable Energy Target, with a headlong rush into wind and large-scale solar. The lunatics that … Continue reading Short Circuit: Victoria’s Renewable Energy Calamity Guarantees Blackouts & Rocketing Prices
No More Mr Nice Guy: It’s Past Time to Flip the Bird at Wind Turbines
The wind industry has been stealing from us for almost 30 years now. $Trillions in subsidies and all we’ve got to show for it are rocketing power prices, pristine landscapes turned to industrial wastelands, wrecked rural communities and bird and bat carnage. Even former Greens leader, Bob Brown spat the dummy recently over plans to … Continue reading No More Mr Nice Guy: It’s Past Time to Flip the Bird at Wind Turbines
On The Level: Why Unreliable Wind & Solar Increase Power Prices
The relationship between rocketing power prices and chaotically intermittent wind and solar is crystal clear. Let’s call it Germany, Denmark and South Australia, where wind and solar obsessions have driven power prices into orbit. While RE zealots continue to chant the mantra that wind and solar are practically free, and getting cheaper all the time, … Continue reading On The Level: Why Unreliable Wind & Solar Increase Power Prices
Summertime Blues: Renewable Energy Chaos Guarantees More Dark & Sweaty Nights Ahead
Plug your energy hopes into the weather and expect mixed results. No country has ever powered itself using wind power; no country ever will. Australia’s attempt to do so has ended in a fiasco. The leader of the pack, South Australia - a state which set and met its very own 50% RET - suffers … Continue reading Summertime Blues: Renewable Energy Chaos Guarantees More Dark & Sweaty Nights Ahead
Blackout Bitching: Feds Blame States For Australia’s Renewables Fiasco
Australia’s self-inflicted renewable energy calamity was as perfectly predictable as it was perfectly avoidable. The circus started in 2001, when Liberal PM, John Howard introduced a modest Renewable Energy Target, which translated at the time to around 5% of electricity generation. Thereafter, wind power outfits, like the notorious Babcock & Brown (which went bankrupt and … Continue reading Blackout Bitching: Feds Blame States For Australia’s Renewables Fiasco
Loser Pays: Making Wind & Solar Pay the Staggering Cost of their Chaotic Intermittency
All care and no responsibility, the wind and solar ‘industries’ have been allowed to destroy the grid and the power market without consequence. At least on their part; at least for now. The retailer reliability obligation put in place by Federal Energy Minister, Angus Taylor (which was the only part of the National Energy Guarantee … Continue reading Loser Pays: Making Wind & Solar Pay the Staggering Cost of their Chaotic Intermittency
Totally Unreliable Wind & Solar: Deliver Occasional Power & Guarantee Constant Chaos
Talking about wind and solar capacity is like pointing to a giant bucket, with a whole in its bottom; what's promised and what's delivered never match. The consumption of electricity is a here and now kind of thing. No one cares about how many windmills and solar panels there are, only that power is delivered … Continue reading Totally Unreliable Wind & Solar: Deliver Occasional Power & Guarantee Constant Chaos