Australia’s RE Debacle Means It’s Time to Drain the Subsidised Wind & Solar Swamp

Once upon a time, in a land far away - a place blessed with coal, gas and uranium - electricity flowed all day and all night, and it was practically given away. Then came subsidised wind and solar; mandates; targets; penalties and feed in tariffs. After less than a dozen years, what was an energy … Continue reading Australia’s RE Debacle Means It’s Time to Drain the Subsidised Wind & Solar Swamp

Descent Into Chaos: Australia’s Renewable Energy Policies Implode As Power Prices Rocket Out of Control

Blind panic doesn’t cover it: Australia’s energy crisis has MPs and rent-seekers running around like chooks with their heads cut off. Retail power prices (see above) have jumped anywhere between 20 and 28% in the last 12 months, in those states with major wind and solar capacity – adding to 13-20% increases, the previous year. Energy … Continue reading Descent Into Chaos: Australia’s Renewable Energy Policies Implode As Power Prices Rocket Out of Control

Mission Possible: Runaway Renewable Energy Policy = Australia’s Economic Suicide Pact

It’s possible to turn an energy superpower into an economic disaster: Australia did it in less than a decade. Its energy policy was hijacked by eco-zealots and handed to wind and solar rent-seekers, on a platter. A combination of witless and corrupt politicians meant that the mission was accomplished with the sort of split-second timing … Continue reading Mission Possible: Runaway Renewable Energy Policy = Australia’s Economic Suicide Pact

Crunch Time: Australia’s Self-Inflicted Energy Crisis Down to Wind & Solar Obsession

At the heart of Australia’s self-inflicted power pricing and supply calamity is an obsession with intermittent and unreliable wind and solar. Mandated and massive subsidies - that those attempting to deliver electricity using nature’s wonder fuels have been wallowing in since the Australian Labor Party seriously upped the RE ante in 2010 - resulted in a … Continue reading Crunch Time: Australia’s Self-Inflicted Energy Crisis Down to Wind & Solar Obsession

No Way Back From RE Disaster: Energy Minister Abandons Australia’s Power Consumers

What passes for political leadership in this country is engaged in a wind and solar-fuelled economic suicide mission. Subsidies to grid wrecking wind and solar (when soft loans, green schemes and taxpayer handouts are added) are pushing $5 billion a year, punishing households and businesses alike. As wind and solar power capacity increases, power prices … Continue reading No Way Back From RE Disaster: Energy Minister Abandons Australia’s Power Consumers

Australia Enters Third World: Chaotic Delivery of Wind & Solar Forces Industrial Users Off Grid

Dictating when and if power consumers get electricity was once the preserve of communist dictatorships (think the USSR, North Korea and Cuba). Thanks to a maniacal obsession with intermittent wind and solar, Australia now sits comfortably in the same dismal ranks. No longer can industrial users expect to have power according to their business plans … Continue reading Australia Enters Third World: Chaotic Delivery of Wind & Solar Forces Industrial Users Off Grid

Renewables Disaster Killing Australian Industry: Big Users Forced to Shut Down In Calm & Cloudy Weather

  Australia’s enviable prosperity isn’t due to sunshine and breezes, it’s down to iron ore, coal and a bevy of other minerals including copper and uranium. Australia also has an abundance of bauxite which, when a reliable and affordable power sources is added, turns ‘NT road-gravel’ into aluminium - a high-value metal used in all … Continue reading Renewables Disaster Killing Australian Industry: Big Users Forced to Shut Down In Calm & Cloudy Weather

Affordable Energy Wars: Australian MPs Determined to End Subsidies to Wind & Solar

  The solution to Australia’s self-inflicted energy calamity involves a battle between deluded zealots and pragmatic realists. In the former camp sits Audrey Zibelman (head of AEMO) and Kerry Schott (head of the Energy Security Board), along with a band of equally deluded fellow travellers. In the latter, it’s the 30 or so Liberal and … Continue reading Affordable Energy Wars: Australian MPs Determined to End Subsidies to Wind & Solar

Monash Forum: Rattles Renewables Rent Seekers with Threat to Endless Subsidies

  In a little over 15 years, Australia has gone from an energy superpower to an international joke. Power prices are rocketing, and its Eastern Grid is on the brink of collapse. All for the sake of a pointless, ideological obsession with wind and solar power. Thankfully, a solid rump of 30 Liberal and National … Continue reading Monash Forum: Rattles Renewables Rent Seekers with Threat to Endless Subsidies

Germany’s Anti-Wind Power FDP Free Democrats Crush Greens in North Rhine Westphalia

Germans are a relatively cool tempered bunch, keen for consensus and to avoid serious civil confrontation. Which goes some way to explain why Germany was overrun by these things; with thousands of them speared all across their farms and forests. However, Germans quite obviously have their limits of tolerance. During the winter just gone, with … Continue reading Germany’s Anti-Wind Power FDP Free Democrats Crush Greens in North Rhine Westphalia