Germans soon recognised the importance of their coal-fired power plants, forced to reopen them days after shutting them down in January 2021 because, surprise, surprise, the wind stopped blowing. And that big backpedal occurred long before Vlad Putin began putting the squeeze on the gas supplies needed to prop up those occasions when Germany’s 30,000 wind turbines decide to down tools.
In Dan Andrew’s People’s Republic of Victoria, a similar plotline has been laid out, where ideologues have managed to hijack its coal-fired power supply, with a view to shutting down its remaining plants in the very near future.
History may not repeat, but it often rhymes, which leads STT to predict that the Victorians, just like the Germans, will be forced into an embarrassing retreat if they truly are as foolish as they appear to be.
Daniel Wild from the Institute of Public Affairs takes a look at another moment when hubris and ambition appear to have trumped logic and reason, at least momentarily.
Victoria’s Energy Policies Are A Direct And Devastating Attack On Working Families
Institute of Public Affairs
Daniel Wild
20 October 2022
“The commitment to end coal-fired power generation in Victoria by 2035 is a direct and devastating economic attack on Victorian working families. It will set off a cost-of-living crisis the likes we have not seen,” said Daniel Wild, Deputy Executive Director of the Institute of Public Affairs.
The announcement today by the Victorian Government that it will a pursue a renewable energy target of 95 per cent by 2035 will see the energy bills of families and small businesses soar, and many manufacturing and resources jobs lost.
“It won’t be the wealthy, inner-city elites who will incur these costs, it will be working families and small businesses in the outer-suburbs and regions. At a time when energy bills are skyrocketing, this is the last thing struggling Victorian families need.”
The effective re-nationalisation of Victoria’s energy grid is an admission by Daniel Andrews that the state government has completely botched the energy market through commitments to net zero, and highly subsidised renewables, which have completely distorted the market.
“For years, the rhetoric of those who have pushed the net zero agenda have told us that the private sector wants renewables, that it is a cheaper source of energy and that it would unlock investment. This announcement proves that to be completely false,” Mr Wild said.
“By seeking to re-nationalise Victoria’s energy system, Daniel Andrews has confirmed that unaffordable, unreliable, and experimental renewables can only be sustained at the taxpayers’ expense.”
The IPA’s recent research report, Australia’s Net Zero Energy Crisis: An Analysis of the Electricity Price Implications of Net Zero Emissions by 2050, found that, historically, every gigawatt of coal-generated capacity removed from the National Electricity Market is linked to an increase in the average wholesale electricity price of approximately $22 per megawatt hour.
“Today’s announcement will decimate what is left of Victoria’s once great manufacturing and heavy industries, which seems to be the intent of those who push net zero policies,” Mr. Wild said.
“Victoria needs more reliable and affordable energy, not unreliable and subsidised renewables. If we are going back to the dark old days of state-owned energy companies, it should, at a minimum, support reliable and affordable baseload power sources, such as coal and nuclear, and be focused on keeping the lights on.”
Institute of Public Affairs
AGL’s Loy Yang Closure To Leave Families In The Dark And Electricity Bills Up 21%
IPA Today
Daniel Wild
30 September 2022
“AGL’s early and unanticipated closure of Loy Yang A is estimated to result in a 21% increase in the average retail electricity bill across the National Electricity Market,” said Daniel Wild, Deputy Executive Director of the Institute of Public Affairs.
New IPA research shows the closure of Loy Yang A, a vital source of affordable and reliable energy, will see household electricity bills rise 21%, and 1,000 jobs lost in the Latrobe Valley alone.
“It might be alright for billionaires and inner-city elites to live with expensive and unreliable energy as AGL is proposing. However, it is the families that cannot afford ever-increasing power bills, and the workers who will lose their jobs, that will pay for this renewable energy fashion statement,” said Mr Wild.
“The announcement of Loy Yang A’s early and unanticipated closure is a dark day for Australia’s energy security, Victoria’s economic future, and families struggling to pay ever increasing household bills.”
The IPA’s recent research report, Australia’s Net Zero Energy Crisis: An Analysis of the Electricity Price Implications of Net Zero Emissions by 2050, found that, historically, every gigawatt of coal-generated capacity removed from the National Electricity Market is linked to an increase in the average wholesale electricity price of approximately $22 per megawatt hour.
Therefore, Loy Yang A’s early decommissioning will increase wholesale prices by approximately $49 per megawatt hour – a 63% increase on top of the average post-Hazelwood wholesale price of $78 per megawatt hour.
“The job losses, unaffordable energy price rises, and elevated risk of rolling blackouts from the early and unanticipated closure of critical coal-fired power stations, is evidence of the policy of net zero emissions in action,” said Mr. Wild.
“Neither side of politics, in Canberra or Spring St, has a plan to prevent the lights going out in Victoria following AGL’s reckless and callous decision to shut this vital source of affordable and reliable energy early.”
Both the Federal and Victorian Governments should immediately:
- Immediately end all commitments to net zero emissions by 2050.
- Cut red tape and remove all bureaucratic impediments to coal, gas, and oil exploration and development.
- Ensure that any prematurely shut coal-fired power stations are, at worst, mothballed rather than decommissioned, so they can be brought back online, as is happening in Germany.
via STOP THESE THINGS
November 20, 2022, by stopthesethings
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