From Watts Up With That?
Essay by Eric Worrall
“Over reliance on coal and ‘sweating the asset’ of coal-fired power is [a] far more serious threat to reliability than renewables will ever be.”
‘Intermittent’ coal won’t keep the lights on: Bowen
Ryan Cropp Energy and climate reporter
Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen has ramped up his criticism of the Queensland government’s new energy policy, arguing its plans to indefinitely extend the closure of coal-fired power plants will raise electricity prices and lower reliability.
…
Mining billionaire and clean energy investor Andrew Forrest on Friday said Queensland had incredibly good renewable energy resources, but would be left behind if it remained wedded to old technologies.
…
Critics of renewable energy technologies such as wind and solar farms describe them as intermittent power sources because they can only generate electricity at certain times of day or in response to certain weather conditions.
But Bowen said a major outage at Queensland’s Callide C coal plant in 2021 had raised wholesale prices by $30 per megawatt hour and left half a million people without power, while the average level of coal capacity that was unavailable due to outages increased by 28 per cent in the second quarter of 2025.
…
“Over reliance on coal and ‘sweating the asset’ of coal-fired power is [a] far more serious threat to reliability than renewables will ever be.”
…Read more: https://www.afr.com/policy/energy-and-climate/intermittent-coal-will-push-up-prices-bowen-20251024-p5n4zf
If you are wondering how anyone could ever describe coal as less reliable than renewables, Federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen has repeatedly demonstrated his rather shaky grasp of engineering. For example, he thinks you can store electricity like water.
What can I say? I’m glad I live in Queensland.
Share this:
Discover more from Climate- Science.press
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
You must be logged in to post a comment.