By Jo Nova
Panic-stations in Renewable Utopia
Even the AEMO, our green grid operators, have realized Australia is not ready to shut down the last coal plants by 2037 which was the plan up until five minutes ago.
Things must be desperate. After 20 years of telling us how wind power was absolutely, definitely cheaper — for the first time, an official admitted the blasphemy — “wind is becoming too expensive”.
Now they tell us.
Reality for ALP as coal will be needed until 2049, says AEMO
By Colin Packham and Richard Ferguson, The Australian
Coal will be needed to stabilise the energy grid until 2049 under an extraordinary 12-year extension of the fossil fuel that threatens Labor’s net-zero target, as the green-energy revolution leads to a 100 per cent explosion in power transmission costs.
In a 115-page document that mentions “net zero” just once, the Australian Energy Market Operator has warned that wind is increasingly becoming too expensive and there is a risk the nation is overbuilding transmission lines through rural and regional Australia.
So, “Net Zero” has vanished from the pages, and what appears in its place is a 100% explosion in transmission costs. The AEMO must have realized how daft the Net Zero label would look next to a plan to keep coal fired power on…
So where are the apologies?
The AEMO should have known all this three years ago before the Labor Party launched their rocket mission to a Renewable Moon. Or were they expecting some miraculous discovery, some wonder-battery, hydrogen plant, or supersized windmill to pop into existence in 2024 and it didn’t happen? Perhaps they thought they understood the Australian climate… What a shame they were willing to place a $128 billion dollar bet (of our money) on it. They could have just read poetry from 1904 and been better prepared.
Ponder that the AEMO could have told Minister Bowen the bad news this three months ago, before he supersized the national Net Zero Target. The fact that they left him hanging in the breeze, suggests something has shaken even the AEMO in the last few months. Was it the catastrophic collapse of transformers at the Waratah superbattery? The breakdown occurred as the battery was being hooked onto the grid to start. Did the failure signal that a battery driven grid was going to be much more risky and difficult than they had expected? Was it the steady stream of wind turbine projects that collapsed before they were started, or the hydrogen dreams that fell to pieces? Or was it the fierce opposition to the high voltage lines?
And lets not forget last week — when the AEMO also got a nasty shock. The Australian pointed out they assumed the wind power never goes below 14% capacity for days on end only to find out that it already has?
The plan is still to build massive infrastructure that doesn’t work most of the time:
Optimal for who? China?
AEMO’s Optimal Development Path said grid-scale wind and solar capacity would need to rise from 23GW to 58GW by 2030, and double to 120GW by 2050, to replace coal.
Their excuse is that solar power is surprisingly popular, ignoring the fact that all the demand for it was created by government subsidies and incompetence, and everyone hates living next to a wind turbine.
Rising capital costs and supply-chain constraints have pushed developers more firmly toward solar rather than wind, a tilt that has implications for storage requirements given the daily generation profile of each technology.
Now, apparently, the old coal plants will keep going through the 2040s. The story is that they will shift to a “flexible role” (also known as an inefficient role). They will be used “sparingly” during the extended dunkelflautes that the AEMO forgot to plan for.
So either the giant shell of the old coal plants will be left running on standby most of the year to provide the frequency stability for a few weeks a year, or this flexible-coal-fantasy is just the marketing spin to disguise the truth. It’s what they would say to the Greens to soften the blow. It’s how they pretend this is just a small policy tweak.
They could hardly come out and say “we’ll just keep running the coal plants full bore…”
The A.E.M.O. is growing apprehensive,
Because “wind is becoming more expensive”,
So wind power isn’t cheaper,
As the cost is much steeper,
For Australia, with coalfields extensive.
— Ruairi
h/t Bally
Are we allowed to say: “Told you so!”?
660
Australian is Governed by Incompetent Idiots
Labor/Greens/TEALs/LINOs
480
Governed by incompetent idiots, of course. But they in turn are advised by scientifically illiterate fools sometimes called graduates from our modern universities. There is an awful lot of blame to go around, climate scientists, journalists, bureaucrats and politician. And let’s not forget the Numbies that vote for them.
230
You’re assuming it’s not deliberate.
Fossil fuels are associated with a prosperous western culture. We can’t have that.
140
To imply it is deliberate is to give the Blob an intelligence it does not possess.
22
I know it is deliberate. World War III in progress, and we haven’t prepared for it.
50
On the Duck Rule, I agree.
It would be a coincidence of impressive proportions were it not.
Almost as probable as that one little innocent snowflake descending into Hell Fires – the instant they get a power-cut [Mr. Miliband’s virtual power stations apply?].
Auto
30
A transition needs to begin.
Why?
Carbon is a rare commodity.
If we turn it all into COx to get more carbon we will have to reverse this process.
This has NOTHING to do with the weather.
It is rational.
How we go about this is the argument.
Does it need to happen by 2050? No.
Does it need to happen by 2200? Maybe.
Is any government capable of getting it done as a well thought out project? No.
40
We’ve already got a process for changing CO2 into useful carbon molecules.
Some call it life. Green life. It’s good at it too.
320
That is part of the argument.
Can we use a natural process to convert COx back to carbon and is that carbon useful?
I do have samples of copper wire coated in graphene that have 90% less resistance. That exists. I have a lab and raman spectroscopy. It would cost a few cents/km to make superconductors.
This carbon did not come from a tree. It originated from coal.
40
Wood is good, grass is good, why would you bother with graphene?
You can even turn that CO2 into alcohol but that’s a two step process.
30
Intercalate deuterium into the graphene and magnetise it and get more useful properties than neodymium at a very low price on a copper surface. Great for multi-state computing.
Flow water over the surface and turn para water into ortho-water.
Make a low resistance super conductive circuit between ortho and para water and get 0.5V/40mA/square cm 7*24*365 days or better than any commercial solar cell.
Scale up to a GW or just make light bulbs.
30
Tell us more. I have been asleep on the job.
Have there been any new developments with super capacitors?
40
I don’t want apologies.
I want prosecutions. What they are doing is not consistent with actual science, engineering, reason or even basic human decency.
The truth has been well documented ever since the start of the scam in the 1990’s. There is no problem that needs “solving”. The destruction of our energy supply must therefore be deliberate and malicious.
And I don’t want a postponement. I want abandonment of these ridiculous and meaningless targets.
970
I would like to see the calculations and assumptions that AEMO have based their results on. Then allow the people to use that same information to simulate the electrical grid and see what works and what doesn’t.
I wouldn’t be surprised to read in the AEMO assumptions list that all aluminium smelters will be gone within a couple of years. And we know that the government would have been briefed on this detail, so the question then arises. When were the government going to tell the workers of the termination of their employment?
I just can’t see industry and weather dependent generators being the supply point. Too many variables affecting a regular service.
300
AEMO is sufficiently delusional (or dishonest) that they think aluminium smelting and other energy intensive industries can not only run but thrive on random electricity.
It’s not clear how we would compete with countries like the United States or China who use power stations for their electricity.
And hearing them talk about “the transition” sounds equally ridiculous as a “gender transition”.
As for the BS about “60,000 new jobs” that’s just because “renewables” need an enormous amount of expensive short-lived infrastructure that needs to be maintained over huge areas to produce a small amount of useless, random product. Compare that to a power station producing an inexpensive, reliable product for 50+ years with a relatively few amount of people, all in one place.
I often wonder, do the clowns that write their BS actually believe it?
420
“greater insulation from international price shocks” – Using our own coal and gas would overcome ‘international’ prices
60,000 new (not replacement for lost) jobs. Assume $100K/job (salary, super, benefits, payroll tax, etc) = $6 billion/year that has to be paid for via electricity charges
It’s a good job the pollies can charge everything to the tax payer (currently topical) as they are lousy at managing finances
210
Do they believe it? I don’t know if they believe it but I do know that they do not understand what they write. For all we know it was written by AI.
60
All the numbers, all the theories, all the fear, the propaganda , the blatant lies, the obfuscation, the promises, not to mention the half arsed excuses, the arrogance.
All for nought. There isn’t even a climate threat. Both parties are to blame . I believe they’ve been colluding in the destruction of our country, national, democracy! Dump both of the parties. A bunch of teenagers could do a better job!
240
I am with David Maddison.
Never forgive. Never forget. Prosecute.
These AEMO people have contributed to huge national economic damage.
Do they think they can walk away on the excuse of assuming they were on a noble cause?
They must be held unaccountable.
Punishment is required to help stop other bureaucrats from taking the Mickey.
They cannot claim that they did not know that they were mistaken.
They received letters and emails from concerned people from the beginning.
People like me were even more concerned when my approaches were brushed off or not answered. These are modern indicators of corruption.
Stamp out intellectual corruption where and when you see it.
It is often linked to money corruption. Follow the money.
Geoff S
451
While the vast majority of those in positions of power and influence believe they are on the right(ious) side, there cannot be any prosecutions, let alone apologies.
50
Not only that, but under what law of the land would you seek to prosecute them?
And, who would bring the suit?
30
The best that will happen is there will be a “Wall of Shame” with the portraits of these folks. In the USA, I’d suggest Al Gore for a start.
Who initiated the Pink Batts insulation fiasco? You could start with that person.
50
the Pink Batts insulation fiasco
I will admit that the operation of that program did seem rather “unorganized”. But has anyone ever analyzed the actual installations and determined if what level of any reduction in heating/cooling costs were achieved?
The first thing I did in all houses I have purchased in Australia (and elsewhere) was to add insulation. And this addition (now required by the national building code) is one of the few things I consider worthwhile when looking at the increase in prices of Australian housing in the thirty or so years I have resided here.
10
I read it differently. AEMO have in fact issued a number of warnings over the years. Governments have chosen to ignore the warnings while escalating their demands. The latest AEMO warning is basically that on its current trajectory the system will collapse. We have known that for some time, of course, but while I am sure we would have liked AEMO to have been stronger, their job is to implement what government demands, not what is optimal. In the circumstances they have probably done about as much as they can, and the real fault is from the government.
21
Eng_Ian,
Two ways of answering your question:
https://wattclarity.com.au/articles/2025/12/20dec-aemo-releases-draft-2026isp/
As AEMO has stated in its press release, and as the lads at WattClarity have highlighted, AEMO’s draft 2026 ISP is purposefully designed to present “the least-cost roadmap for generation, storage and transmission infrastructure in the National Electricity Market (NEM) to supply secure and reliable electricity, and meet government policies* to 2050.”
“AND” is the critical word in that sentence, for those of us who understand Boolean logic!
The second way comes from this slightly older advice from AEMO:
https://www.aemo.com.au/newsroom/news-updates/aemo-progressing-transitional-system-security-services
In October 2025, AEMO went to the market for what it calls “Type 2 Trials”. The purpose of the trials is to resolve a bunch of unknowns that are critical to this energy transition. Note some of the interesting trials that need to be completed:
Black Start Capability from IBR: As an outcome of SA’s 2016 state wide blackout, AEMO found that it couldn’t restart the SA grid with wind and solar generation. It required synchronous generation to establish grid voltage and frequency first.
Zero synchronous generation: Despite decades of renewables being added to grids, not one country, and no renewable industry proponents, anywhere in the world, have ever thought to demonstrate that a grid running exclusively on energy generated by wind and solar. As AEMO points out:
“This would be a world-first demonstration of zero synchronous generation in an islanded system larger than 100 MW.”
Bottom line: AEMO has known for many years now that simply replacing coal and gas generators with wind and solar would not be sufficient. But only now is AEMO doing the engineering work needed to test the many assumptions that the renewables industry simply ignores!
100
Labor can still hold on to their 2050 “no coal” claim so BoBo the clown can resign in peace
190
Black-Out Bowen needs to be charged with FRAUD on the Australian People.
350
Bowen – the human equivalent of a tampon dispenser in the men’s room.
110
Nah, those can be useful under certain, specific circumstances.
Bowen wouldn’t even by useful for blocking cold wind under a door.
60
“Tits on a bull” is more appropriate.
60
Oh dear, how will Mr Bowen handle AEMO’s belated realisation that coal is essential to our energy future? As President of Negotiations for COP OUT 31, he surely wants to appear there as a paragon of renewables, not a maintainer of dirty coal powered stations.
You’re the minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris. How about focusing on the latter part of your job title.
50
Exactly what has this cost every Australian. How many older power stations could have been converted to High Efficiency Low Emission technology units or how many Nuclear Powered Generators could have been afforded???
All this nonsense over a non existent threat. Clowns could have made a better job of governing ( that means LNP & ALP )
😵💫😵💫😵💫😵💫
490
By 2049 the scam will have been running for over half a century and Australia will likely be a failed state and the first of the scam perpetrators will probably have died by then.
430
I think you should have said: More likely a state of China – a bit like Tibet. And we are well on the way to that ‘lovely’ scenario! The thought of prosecutions gives me a very warm feeling, so bring them on.
310
Prosecution is a lovely thought, but who would prosecute? All sides at all levels, with few exceptions, have been on the same page.
90
A public lynching would be more appropriate!
131
So true Gary and Graham. The trouble is: they mostly appear to be wannabe’Snout Troughers’ like a certain Minister for (Mis)Communications; they get their rocks off on power and dont like upsetting their mates!
40
There are numerous rural communities campaigning actively against wind and solar installations. Perhaps Chris Bowen could spend a week in each community explaining this unfortunate revision to his plan. Sack cloth and ashes might be his appropriate attire. Of course, he might need insurance against farmers with buckets of tar and satchels of feathers!
390
No, Albo will remove Bowen from this portfolio, now that he is a full time UN climate spruker, and put some other poor bunny in his place. Bowen will be exempted from all blame and will sink into oblivion as the next COP dies a death from disinterest and mismanagement.
280
You mean there’d be another idiot that wants the “Black-Out” nick name?
Mind you, there’ll probably be a queue.
150
The last Australian politician tarred and feathered was John Keith McDougall (Labor MP) in 1919 due to Labor’s contempt for servicemen.
Just sayin’, not advocating.
In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain wrote about how the conmen scammers “Duke” and “King” were tarred and feathered by an angry mob when their scams were revealed.
Just sayin’, not advocating.
180
Hot tar is apparently very easy to get off the body, just not off the skin.
A friend told me. And I concur, this is not a fitting treatment for a politician, not even BO Bowen.
52
Back in the day, the tar used was pine tar which is not as hot as petroleum tar and people survived the treatment.
No doubt it wasn’t pleasant or easy to get off, however.
Here is an account from the American Revolution.
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/tarring-and-feathering
70
We’re going to need a lot of tar. And you know which type is easier to find.
We could use the solvent cut bitumen but it doesn’t smell like a new road, (said a friend).
20
We are civilized now so we could use honey instead.
41
And then drop him in the bear enclosure at the zoo…
70
Nah D C,
He’s not even brave enough to face a 30 minute interview from a wet-lettuce-armed and friendly ABC journo in a secure office, let alone an angry mob of shotgun armed farmers at a local showground.
60
‘ … numerous rural communities campaigning actively …’
Its a mixed bag, some communities don’t want Snowy 2 electricity towers over their land and then we have this mob who hate fossil fuels.
‘The Lock the Gate Alliance had an operational budget of $4.38 Million in 2024 ($3.8 Million in 2023). It is funded by grants, donations and receives in-kind support. Lock the Gate received approximately $415,000 of Australian Government JobKeeper subsidies over 2020 and 2021.’ (wiki)
21
With the amount of money spent on this scam around the world, we probably could have electrified the Third World, found a cure for Malaria, and knocked a few cancers on the head. That is the tre EVIL of this whole thing – it has concentrated money and power into the hands of people who are not interested in these great things. The Opportunity Cost of Green Boondoggles is gargantuan and the people who believe in the Green Religion are just plain bad news – believing this stuff requires Faith, and it smacks of a lack of intellectual integrity. If they had any standard of proof before they believed…
520
AEMO –
Australian Electrickery Muppet Orifice
220
An Electrickery orifice, that must be where you put your arm when operating the Oz Muppet, (BO Bowen).
Now get that picture out of your mind.
50
Why’s everyone so negative about wind?
Obviously the wind is always blowing *somewhere*. And it’s free.
All we have to do, then, is put up wind turbines *everywhere*.
130
That’s not even true even over a continental landmass the size of Australia, at least where the wind plantations are.
(I know you were being sarcastic.)
160
And the corresponding slogan, “The sun is always shining somewhere” is definitely not true, even in Australia. We are a continent that, crudely put, is only three hours from East to West. Even on the longest day of the year, there are more than three hours of darkness.
100
We just have to shift the pole so that Oz always faces the sun, all day, every day.
You know that BO Bowen is now writing up the legislation to do that. He’s even pondering the thought of raising that 3 hours to 24.
40
Hi David,
And let’s not forget that I told them that in a scholarly paper published some 13 years ago, and still available to download load from the journal for free. As Geoff Sherrington says, they and other government agencies have been advised down the years of this and no doubt in many other analyses, all ignored.
Rather than: “The wind is always blowing somewhere”, the reality, at least as far as the fullest extent of the Eastern Australian grid, and beyond, the paper showed, comprehensively, that, rather, it is correct to say: “The wind is often blowing nowhere”.
It’s all there in the paper, comprehensively analysed, and it has been shown to be a regular, if chaotic, occurrence, down the years since, as an examination of, for example, the monthly wind charts at anero.id readily shows.
As you say, David, Geoff, these people must be held accountable.
The AEMO is an engineering organisation. We engineers must abide by a Code of Conduct. It is always the case that, independent of one’s employer’s requirements, the engineer has a professional responsibility to speak up, even if it comes at personal cost.
Great article, Jo.
Regards,
Paul Miskelly
150
The truth is that there was never a CC emergency at all, just look up the data.
The co2 Coalition Scientists have presented the facts and even provided us with a quiz using the facts, so why do we have to live in Labor’s super expensive fantasy world and waste TRILLIONs of $ every 15 to 20 years?
And all for zero change to our weather or climate.
The data proves they are wrong, so when do they call an early election and let the voters decide?
160
How many people would, from their own personal observations, conclude that there is a “climate emergency” ?
There have always been droughts and floods and storms etc.
70
And Dorothea noticed a few years back that here in Oz we have:
“… droughts and flooding rains…”
50
Yeh, I think that’s what Jo was referring to in saying the AEMO would have been off reading a poem from 1904, but the poem wasn’t completed in that year. Dorothea Mackellar wrote the first lines of “My Country” in 1904 but she redrafted the poem over the next few years and it was first published in 1908.
Nonetheless, it highlights the contradictory nature of pro-climate change believers in recent years. They seemingly attribute all recent natural disasters to climate change. It’s as if every natural disaster that occurred prior to the 1950s doesn’t exist.
30
Just look at those numbers: grid scale wind and solar capacity must rise from 23GW to 58GW by 2030, and double to 120GW by 2050. Does that include rooftop solar?
So much “capacity” and transmission lines to meet demand that peaks at 30GW and averages 24GW.
Yesterday at midday, according to Open Electricity, across the AEMO grid rooftop solar produced 16GW, utility solar 7GW, wind just 1.4GW, while coal delivered 8.5GW.
At 7pm, solar delivered 1GW, wind 3.5GW, batteries 1.7GW, hydro 4.3GW, gas 2.7GW, and coal 15.5GW.
Crazy “wreckenomics” from Blackout Bowen that is only going to get worse.
250
Assume for simplicity that the 120GW of WDG is all solar. A short winter day WITH FULL SUN, (I’ve even ignored the fact that in winter the sun is not at 1000W/m2 due to the additional atmosphere that the rays have to travel through).
6 hours of solar. So that 120GW of panels would generate 120 x6 = 720GWHr
And at peak demand, 30GW x24 hours = 720 GWHr.
So no allowance for a cloudy day. And of course if some of the 120GW was wind instead of solar, then you could say the same about the wind not being blowing at full strength.
Somebody should point out the bleeding obvious to whoever spat out these numbers. There is NO provision for a cloudy day. Where is the power coming from when it’s cloudy?
60
Today in Victoria is a perfect example of little to no renewable energy production. Thick cloud envelopes nearly 100% of the state and probably will for a couple of days. Plus, it’s calm, windless. The whole state is essentially being powered by coal, gas and a little bit of hydro.
90
Again, it takes just 5 minutes to check the CSIRO data and they tell us that the SH is already a co2 NET SINK, so what’s their problem?
Just look it up under “seasonal variation”, so why do they insist we WASTE TRILLIONs of $ every 15 to 20 years and all for a ZERO return?
https://capegrim.csiro.au/
170
Whilst that is factually true, …at the risk of being “tarred and feathered” ,….i would remind you that is not the definition as defined by the UN dictators.
They are strictly concerned with ANTHROPOGENIC sources and sinks.
Save your ammo for a better target.!
10
When, oh when, will the willful liars and profiteers be properly called out (and voted out or sacked)?
Some were making lists of “deniers” and threatening pretty awful punishment, or stranding a genuine expert in the airport (and some made movies inciting worse?), but the more scientific out there need a good table with very clear evidence and quotes so that the worst offenders can’t just switch coat and walk away from the damage they have done (or are still doing).
120
Ardern walked away from her mess, and its likely all these people will slowly change tune and slide away. They may offer a few sacrificial lambs but the main instigators will have no consequences. Look at Dan Andrews.
140
Ah, but its all ‘our’ fault, in the war between those in power and those paying for it… If only we would accept that they know better than us and we do as we’re told!
“Community opposition and planning logjams could drive a 30 per cent blow out to the cost of replacing ageing coal-fired power stations with clean energy projects”
..and the propaganda has started about how we must accept a few billion more being spent on the extra lines if we want any electricity at all.
“The lack of high-voltage power lines to connect far-flung wind and solar farms to major cities has emerged as one of the most difficult obstacles in the race to keep electricity supply and prices stable as more coal-fired power stations are expected to close in coming years…if the current delays to the clean energy rollout continue, the cost major generation, storage and transmission projects would increase by up to 30 per cent.”
So, the REAL bet is .. when will Australia build its next coal or gas-fired generation station? Only then will be know this scam has run its course.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/renewables-delays-drive-electricity-cost-blow-out-20251208-p5nlqq.html
160
I predict they will start with gas and slowly wean themselves back onto filthy coal, primarily to save face.
30
Looks like Victoria has suddenly made a U-turn and decided to do that.
20
Huh!
Wind replace Coal!!!
Tell him (umm, you know who) he’s dreamin.
Wind has 91 Industrial Wind Plants with around 3000+ individual turbines with a total Nameplate of 13,460MW, and in 2024 delivered 16,466GWH to the grid.
Just two coal fired power plants, Eraring and Bayswater (both in NSW) have a Nameplate of 5,460MW, and in 2024 delivered 31,897GWH to the same grid.
So in however few years we’ve had wind power, and at a cost of untold BILIIONS of dollars, wind, with almost 2.5 times the Nameplate, has not even got close to the power delivery of ….. TWO coal fired power plants, just a little more than half of it in fact
The point is ….. All those figures are readily available for ….. ANYONE to see!
Tony.
490
The object is a failed, authoritarian state so minimally distinct from a protectorate of China that any difference matters not a whit. State governments have ensured a semi-literate electorate incapable of framing questions. What could be better? No meaningful Opposition. Media suitably compliant. Multiculturalism has eviscerated culture. The US is in low-level civil war. Just China remains. Or so it appears at times,
There is an alternative but since it includes Israel I suppose it counts for nothing. A volume of essays by the great literary critic, Lionel Trilling, was entitled The Moral Obligation to Be Intelligent. No chance in 2025.
90
Tony, just to add to what you have pointed out.
The coal fired power stations were capable of producing much more than what you have stated if not for the curtailment that they have to endure due to the policy of favouring unreliables.
160
Again, the Royal Society has told us the truth and even if we stopped all co2 emissions today it would take thousands of years for temperature and co2 levels to drop to levels of 200 years ago.
So if you want to return to the LIA they provide us with their thousands of years guide, just read their first few paragraphs.
Even “the Conversation” has PARROTED the same bleak TRILLIONs of $ message. So do any of our blog donkeys believe we should follow their advice?
Here’s the link to their question 20 and answer……
https://royalsociety.org/news-resources/projects/climate-change-evidence-causes/question-20/
40
Neville,
Sadly, the Royal Societies of the world have mostly been captured by small groups of devout ideologues who do not speak for the mass membership.
Geoff S
80
Naturally, the idiot Bowen’s response is to blame the previous government.
Of course, the extension of what Bowen says is that if the previous government didn’t “lead the charge” to “modernise” the grid then the blame for that fiasco is all on Labor.
80
Australia shouldn’t be treated as a laboratory experiment but a nation of free people
90
The A.E.M.O. is growing apprehensive,
Because “wind is becoming more expensive”,
So wind power isn’t cheaper,
As the cost is much steeper,
For Australia, with coalfields extensive.
210
You guys have an election coming up?
30
First half 2028. Australia is in a similar situation as the last years of Biden. The incompetence and destruction is becoming obvious and the opportunity to correct still a couple of years away, and no certainty even then.
130
And unfortunately I read a number of the younger generation more than willing to turn in a “spoiled ballot” than speak up about the problems being continued by the major political parties.
20
Love the picture of the “Christmas Road Train”.
Don’t think it will fit under B1’s tree.
60
130
https://youtu.be/uqpq9tP14PA
10
I think that Tom Baker ended up marrying her. Hope she gave up the ray gun for his sake.
20
Give it time. Maybe in the next year “they” will also admit that man made climate change is also not proven. But there will have to be a blame game and unfortunately due to our present Labor or Liberal governence it’s going to be a painful experience. They’ll need to be dragged kicking and screaming to reality. Mr Trump did this, thank you Donald.😀
70
Extract from email from IPA (Institute of Public Affairs) by Dr Peter Ridd.
https://ipa.org.au/
The disconnect from reality of the Australian Government is profound.
Australia will be the last hold out on the planet that remains fanatically committed to the anthropogenic global warming scam and is prepared to destroy the nation in pursuit of this madness.
140
Net Zero can be considered dead & buried when the Government of the day & the opposition declares subsidies are dead & buried, never to be resurrected .
Until then, rest assured, the calculating morons will be trying all avenues of immoral deception to continue their assault on the nation!
60
Net Zero can be considered dead & buried when the Government of the day & the opposition declares subsidies are dead & buried, never to be resurrected .
Until then, rest assured, the calculating morons will be trying all avenues of immoral deception to continue their assault on the nation!
60
In the new revamped AEMO policy relating to coal, there are 2 major problems. They want to use coal as a flexible ramp up/ ramp down type backup. Geez, any casual observer of the CC/energy debate over the last 30 years knows this is not how coal fired power stations work. That for efficiency they have to be chugging away at least 80% capacity. For some reason these fools now think coal is like gas. Yikes. The second problem is that the present coal fleet WONT last until the 2040’s without either major upgrades or replacement. I suppose this will be the AEMO’s next epiphany, they will realise this fact. Wow, they might even discover Victoria alone has enough coal for at least 500 years generation. Baby steps, fellow climate realists, baby steps.
100
That’s a property of any large steam turbine generators, really. It takes time to get the steam reservoir up to working temperature and pressure, and time to spin the large turbines up or down.
The same applies to most nuclear fission power generation as well.
As I understand it, the steam component of CCGT is similar, but with smaller turbines.
Steam turbines are intended to provide the most output from the least fuel, over long time frames.
It makes sense to have a mix of low cost, slow response; medium cost, medium response; and high cost, fast response components in the system.
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Actually, that is true for any major capital asset, electricity generators (, coal or gas,), hydro dams, solar or wind farms, desal plants, bus fleets, trains etc etc……..anything of significant value, if it is not being utilised 100% has to amortise its overheads ( inc depreciation) over less output utilisation..
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Jo,
I wouldn’t get too excited, the ISP draft still shows we’re on a delusional path to NET ZERO (Net Zero economy). Coal Capacity dropping from the current 21 GW to 12 GW in 2031, 6 GW in 2035, down to 2GW in 2046. page 12 has a graph of predicted coal generation. They are still looking at a further 6000km of transmission lines.
P24 states “Key changes from the 2024 ISP”.-“For transmission network, cost estimates increased up to 100% in real terms”
“Updates in approach to social licence
• New land use complexity analysis – in response to the ECMC ISP Review recommendation for deeper
consideration of community sentiment in network planning, incorporating local advice from jurisdictional
planners and TNSPs on social licence in early-stage options planning.”
“Grid-scale renewables, dispatchable storage and flexible gas needed by 2050 are 120 GW, 55GW/618
gigawatt hours (GWh) and 14 GW respectively, all at similar scales in the 2024 ISP, reflecting the pairing
of variable renewable energy (VRE) with batteries, and higher wind output (that is, more energy for every
megawatt [MW] of capacity compared to the 2024 ISP”
Better to go to the source (AEMO) than a paywalled The Australian article.
https://www.aemo.com.au/-/media/files/major-publications/isp/draft-2026/draft-2026-integrated-system-plan.pdf?rev=01e6116c8dbd473a954928253886791c&sc_lang=en
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To be clear Gazzatron, at 1am Perth time last night there was no report on the AEMO site. There were only articles I could read at The Australian and the Courier Mail. I wanted to see it myself and I waded through the AEMO fluff and palaver 6ft deep. All I could get was an ISP Toolkit to nowhere…
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Hi Jo,
Fair enough, when you’re on a deadline to get the information out you’ve got to use what’s available. No criticism of your methods was intended.
My point (without being able to read the paywalled article) was that the line by the Australia writer: “Coal will be needed to stabilise the energy grid until 2049 under an extraordinary 12-year extension of the fossil fuel that threatens Labor’s net-zero target.” seemed to be a bit hyperbole, while in reality, it seems from my brief scan of the ISP, nothing much in the AEMO plan has changed.
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I don’t think the Australian was being hyperbolic. It is extraordinary that the AEMO have completely changed position on whether we need coal plants to run a renewable grid. And this does muck up the Labor “Net Zero” Targets for 2035. Though, in theory, supposedly not the 2050 target (haha-b-ha).
At 2am WST I was not going to wait another 4 hours for the AEMO to release the report at 9am EDT. 🙁
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So can anyone tell us what’s wrong with the climate today and please link to proper data to support your claims.
Here’s my problems with their BS and nonsense.
SLR 1.5 mm a year since 1850. See 2025 study by Dutch Engineers.
Death rates from extreme weather events the lowest in 300,000 years and drop in death rates of at least 98% since 1900. Population then just 1.6 billion and 8.2 billion at risk today. THINK about that Fossil Fuel safety factor.
Life expectancy the highest in 300 K years. Just 32 years in 1900 but about 74 years today.
Polar bear numbers today at least 5 times the 1950 numbers.
Global population the highest in 300 K years and over 7 billion increase since 1800 and the start of the IND REV.
Calories intake per capita the highest in 300 K years.
Lomborg’s PR study quotes Dr Nordhaus, Dr Tol and IPCC etc that Humans will be 4.34 times richer by 2100. And that’s after unmitigated so called CC.
Massive drop in farm labour numbers since 1900 and yet record crops and food for 8.2 billion people today.
The poorest continent of Africa has seen the greatest increase in population since 1950. POP in 1950 just 227 million and life exp just 36 years. Today POP over 1500 million and life exp now 64 years.
A huge drop in poverty around the world and the highest level of literacy, including girls in Human history or the last 300 K years.
So where’s their CC emergency today and why are the 8.2 billion Humans so safe from extreme weather events today and just in the last 0.1% of our existence. Think fossil fuels and the boom since the start of the IND REV in the UK.
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Here Senator Matt Canavan tries valiantly to find the full cost of Labor’s net zero.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn7NNMgnOyk
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I don’t understand the Question Senator………..lol
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After watching President Trump on YouTube for an hour at a TV Cabinet meeting on agriculture themes, I found myself wishing that our Federal Government could learn from his success, realise that they have got too much wrong and opposite Trump solutions, then apologise and calll an early election to allow democracy to advance.
My Mum used to quote “There are none so blind as those who do not wish to see.”
Geoff S
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Today you can fill an 80 Litre petrol tank in two minutes at 30 Mj/Kg. Until we invent a battery that has an energy density of 10 MJ/kg and can fully charge in two minutes, we will still be burning fossil fuels.
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So much for Coal becoming a stranded asset!
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As Rick Will keeps telling us,.. its the solar farms that are becoming the stranded assets,..
…and most likely the wind farms also by the look of it.
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The wind is free, The means to harvesting the wind are very expensive.
Sunlight is free. The means to convert light to power are entirely dominated China. Does anyone expect this dominance to be weaponized in the near future to advance the interest of the Chinese Communist Party. BTW their flag is NOT green. It’s very red.
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