Tag: South Australia blackouts

Power Drain: Risible Reliance on Intermittent Wind & Solar Means Summer Blackouts Beckon

  Subsidised into existence, intermittent wind and solar now pose existential threats to Australia’s once reliable power supply, this summer and beyond. No industrialised country has ever run itself on sunshine and breezes; no country serious about maintaining first world living standards, ever will. So just how Australia’s energy boffins still cling to the notion … Continue reading Power Drain: Risible Reliance on Intermittent Wind & Solar Means Summer Blackouts Beckon

Policy Burn Out: Rocketing Power Prices Product of Government Obsession with Unreliable Wind & Solar

“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

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

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

Code Black: Wind & Solar Chaos Guarantee Mass Summer Blackouts (Again)

  As Summer approaches, Australia's wind and solar obsession means more mass blackouts are guaranteed. During January 2018, load shedding caught power consumers short in South Australia, Victoria and NSW. Energy hungry businesses such as aluminium smelters and even hospitals were forced to power down during a run of scorching days and nights, when temperatures … Continue reading Code Black: Wind & Solar Chaos Guarantee Mass Summer Blackouts (Again)

Reality Check: Heatwave Blackout Gives Victorians Taste of the ‘Transition’ to Wind & Solar

The dreamers who think they’ll soon be running entirely on sunshine and breezes, have just been smacked with reality, in Victoria, at least. There’s something poetic about watching infants being forced to grow up. And, so it is, with once loyal RE zealots, being forced to rethink their love affair, after their taste of what … Continue reading Reality Check: Heatwave Blackout Gives Victorians Taste of the ‘Transition’ to Wind & Solar

Renewable Energy Meltdown: Heatwave Leaves Wind ‘Powered’ South Australians Sweltering In the Dark

If you’re relying on the weather for your power, prepare yourself to live without it: South Australians know the drill very well. In yesterday’s post, we focused on 25 January the day when Victorian wind power output struggled to produce 20% of its nameplate capacity, and 200,000 households struggled to survive without air-conditioning, or any … Continue reading Renewable Energy Meltdown: Heatwave Leaves Wind ‘Powered’ South Australians Sweltering In the Dark

Wind Power Chaos Reigns: Scots Build Diesel Generators & Brace For Week-Long Blackouts

Let renewable energy zealots and other such ideologues anywhere near your power system and prepare for deadly chaos. Wind and solar ‘powered’ South Australians know what it is to do without power for days on end. Having experienced plenty of load shedding lasting for 5 hours or more, South Australians got a real taste of … Continue reading Wind Power Chaos Reigns: Scots Build Diesel Generators & Brace For Week-Long Blackouts

Renewable Energy ‘Transition’: More Wind Power, Higher Prices, More Blackouts

The chaos that comes with intermittent wind and solar get serious in summer, when demand surges, the sun sets and/or calm weather sets in. This summer, the barbecue stopper will literally be another round of what’s euphemistically called “demand management”: Soviet era power rationing, an integral part of Australia’s ludicrous attempt to run on sunshine … Continue reading Renewable Energy ‘Transition’: More Wind Power, Higher Prices, More Blackouts

Blackouts Beckon: Calm Weather & Sunset Deliver Chaos in Renewables Obsessed Australia

In renewables obsessed Australia these days, whenever the sun sets and/or calm weather sets in, the talk inevitably turns to blackouts. Last summer, load shedding caught power consumers short in South Australia, Victoria and NSW. Energy hungry businesses such as aluminium smelters and even hospitals were forced to power down during a run of scorching … Continue reading Blackouts Beckon: Calm Weather & Sunset Deliver Chaos in Renewables Obsessed Australia