For years now, we’ve been told that “coal is dead” and that India and China will plump for wind and solar, instead of coal-fired power. Well, that’s the line being run by renewable energy rent seekers and wind and solar zealots around the globe.

It is, of course, complete bunkum.

With hundreds of millions still in abject poverty, both China and India haven’t got time to muck around with expensive, part-time power. Industrialisation requires cheap and reliable power, not stuff that’s delivered in chaotic fits and spurts and, when it is, is insanely expensive, anyway.

Don’t forget, we wouldn’t be talking about wind or solar ‘industries’ in the absence of massive subsidies, guaranteed Feed in Tariffs, government mandates, targets or tax credits.

Australia is one of the world’s largest coal exporters, has abundant, high-quality reserves, and yet is faced with suicidal energy policies, which demonizes reliable and affordable coal-fired power and promotes chaotically intermittent wind and solar, with a raft of subsidies doled out under the Federal government Renewable Energy Target

The RET will cost power consumers more than $60,000,000,000 over the life of the scheme.

Where Australia’s political leadership seems hell-bent on destroying our economic competitiveness, both China and India have directed their efforts and resources at building phenomenal coal-fired power generation capacity.

Whatever lipservice might be paid by China’s wolf warriors and Indian diplomats in international forums about ditching coal-fired power plants, the reality is that both countries are building coal-fired power plants, hand over fist. And have absolutely no intention of slowing down that process.

In the first piece Andrew Bolt interviews energy market economist, Alan Moran, who, quite rightly, remains dumbfounded at Australia’s suicidal energy policies.

In the second, Bloomberg Green – a propaganda outlet for the climate industrial complex and renewable energy rent seekers – is simply dumbfounded by the fact that coal-fired power accounts for over 65% of India’s energy needs and that India is all set to expand that proportion by placing its coalmines in the hands of private entrepreneurs – with a view to improving productivity and output.

Steps which sound like a country that needs more reliable and affordable power, not less; and one which is unlikely to chase the wind and solar pipe dream being peddled by the likes of Bloomberg Green.

‘Going broke by being woke’: Not embracing coal ‘undermines our economic superiority’
Sky News
Andrew Bolt and Alan Moran
30 March 2021

Energy economist Alan Moran says Australia is “going broke by being woke” for not “embracing” coal as the cheapest form of electricity – unlike China, we are negating any chance of once again becoming an “economic superpower”.

“We are being forced to reduce our competitiveness … at a time when China is becoming more and more affluent as a result of its uses of coal or the cheapest forms of electricity – and we are going broke by being woke,” he told Sky News host Andrew Bolt.

“The cheapest power for most countries is coal.

“We have the best coal in the world – the cheapest in the world. We should have the lowest cost of electricity in the world – we did until recently – but we have basically undermined this through our domestic policies.

“Basically, coal is the cheapest form of electricity we have and we can be again an economic superpower – but only if we embrace this.”

Transcript

Andrew Bolt: Joining me is Alan Moran of Regulation Economics, which looks at the economics of green energy. Alan here we are in the West, we’re cutting our coal-fired power stations, China ramping it up. It’s preaching global warming. We’re doing… We’re making ourselves weaker. They’re making themselves stronger. Is it a game to them?

Alan Moran: Well it’s not a game. They’ve got a colossal amount of coal. I mean seven times the amount of coal that we produce is produced in China and they unabashedly use that to produce power cheaply. Indeed, if you look at the cost of electricity, then they’re basically coal generated as ours is. But in their case, the cost of electricity is less than half our cost. They have a lot… They do have some wind, less than half, as much as we have per capita, much less than half as much, but they basically use this low cost energy to be the backbone of their booming economy.

And we’ve benefited from this, of course, as 35% of our exports are to China and they dominate our steel and our iron ore. But we benefited from it, but its made us part of their, I guess, part of their economy, really. We were a junior partner to China and it’s very difficult to see how we get out of this or whether we should get out of it. There aren’t any alternative markets for us. And yet we are now wedded, as you say to, in a dangerous situation in the world to a power which is partly democratic-

Andrew Bolt: Look it’s not just the fact that we are sending our coal to help make them richer and stronger. My point is with global warming, they pay lip service to the theory, they’ve been allowed under the Paris Agreement, they can increase their emissions to double. They’re saying, yes, get on board the global warming thing, which means we de-industrialise. We get weaker. We get less rich.

Alan Moran: Exactly so.

Andrew Bolt: They meanwhile exploit coal and get more rich. This is a game.

Alan Moran: They make a statement that, oh, by 2060 or something like that-

Andrew Bolt: 2060!

Alan Moran: They’re going to be carbon neutral or something like it. Meanwhile, we are actually acting in terms of reducing the efficiency of our energy by implementing more and more wind and solar at the behest of the United States. And this is one reason why it’s a dangerous world because we are being forced to reduce our competitiveness. Maybe we want to do it anyway. There are people in Australia like Mr Turnbull who do want to do that anyway, but we’re being forced to do it at a time when China is becoming more and more affluent as a result of its usage of coal, the cheapest form of electricity. And we are going broke by being woke if you like-

Andrew Bolt: Well, China, I don’t actually believe that China believes in this global warming stuff, right? They’ve had a lot of scientists say, “Hey, listen, this is not a real issue.” I just think they’re just playing the West though. They think oh the West is stupid enough to de-industrialise while we get richer. Fine. There’s one other thing in this Alan, we’ve had the greens push this idea that coal is dead, right? Coal is dead. If you build a new coal fired power station or a mine, it’s a stranded asset. The world’s moving. China’s proving this completely wrong. Isn’t it?

Alan Moran: Oh, yes. They’re building lots and lots of new power stations all the time. As are the other developing countries like Vietnam and Indonesia, India, of course, too. People recognise that they’ve got to have cheap power. And the cheapest power for most countries is coal. It’s certainly the cheapest. We have the best coal in the world, the cheapest in the world. We should have the lowest cost of electricity in the world, we did until recently. But we basically undermine this through our domestic policies and they’re paying lip service, more than paying lip service, they’re actuated by a general consensus if you like that, that the Flannerys in this world have told us that coal is the thing of the past. That it’s dearer anyway, but we have to subsidise renewables just to get them over this hump. It’s all rubbish. Basically coal is the cheapest form of electricity that we have. And we can be an economic superpower, again, but only if we embrace this.

Andrew Bolt: Honestly, we are such fools and China is exploiting our weaknesses. This is a dictatorship. This is the world’s biggest emitter by far. This is the world’s biggest user of coal-fired power, bigger than the rest of the world combined. And they’re preaching to us about global warming. So would I, if you had an idiot at the other end, that was meanwhile buying Chinese built wind turbines.

Alan Moran: Exactly.

Andrew Bolt: Oh my God. Just to make our idiocy even more… Oh gosh. Alan Moran. Thank you so much indeed for your time.

Alan Moran: You’re welcome.
Sky News

India to Double Down on Coal Projects Amid Climate Warnings
Bloomberg Green
Rajesh Kumar Singh
26 March 2021

India has set in motion the biggest ever auction of coal mines in the country despite the fossil fuel’s key role in contributing to global warming.

The country will put 67 mines on the block, the most in a single auction. Winners will be allowed to produce and sell the fuel, a reform meant to dislodge state monopoly over the domestic coal market and open it up to private firms. The deadline for submitting technical bids is May 27 and electronic auctions have been scheduled from June 28 to July 28, the coal ministry said on Thursday.

The auction sends mixed signals at a time when the world’s third-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases needs to shed its dependence on coal. India is under growing pressure to improve its climate commitments, which have forced government officials to debate a possible net-zero emissions target. The country is one of the most vulnerable to climate impacts, and coal mining and burning also contributes to deadly air pollution.

To be sure, the country has set aggressive goals to expand its renewable power portfolio, but coal still accounts for around 65% of its electricity generation.

“India can’t just stop using coal overnight, it will take a decade or two to do that,” according to Tim Buckley, director of energy finance studies for Australia and South Asia at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, or IEEFA. “It’s still a necessary evil for the country for the medium term.”

King Coal
Fossil fuel remains India’s biggest source of electricity

The government also sees private coal mining as a way to create jobs in an economy devastated by the pandemic. Mining projects will bring in new investments and boost socio-economic development in mining regions, according to the ministry’s statement.

“In this tranche of auction special emphasis has been given on protection of the environment,” the coal ministry’s statement said Thursday. “Coal blocks have been selected in those areas where forest cover is low, coal quality is good, mines are close to the infrastructure facilities and resettlement and rehabilitation has to be done at the minimum.”

The government began liberalization of the coal market last year. But after opposition from some states and a lack of investor interest, it whittled down the list of mines to be auctioned from 41 to 19. As the government prepared for the bids then, United Nations’ Secretary-General Antonio Guterres cautioned against investments in fossil fuels, calling such projects “a human disaster and bad economics.”
Bloomberg Green

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April 5, 2021 at 02:31AM