Liberal Coalition flounders, – its Renewable Energy Policy based on bad advice
the Coalition – and in particular its energy spokesman, Ian Macfarlane – needs little encouragement to argue against wind and solar. But such decisions should not be based on false premises.
The dangerous thinking behind Coalition renewable energy policy (excellent charts and graphs) REneweconomy By Giles Parkinson on 29 August 2013 The Coalition’s admission this week that it had thrown the Australian Renewable Energy Agency into the basket of climate change and green energy programs 
to be cut if elected should not have taken people by surprise, because they have been hinting at it for a few months.
But it does raise questions about where the Coalition is heading with its energy policies, and why there appears to be such deliberate moves to wind back support mechanisms for wind energy and solar, and other emerging renewable technologies.
Part of the problem may be in the quality of the advice it is receiving. Many in the Coalition defer to the Institute of Public Affairs when asked about climate change and renewables policies. The IPA, of course, is a right-wing think tank 
that doesn’t accept the science of climate change, and argues against climate and clean energy policies.
More recently, Greg Hunt has been using the work of Bjorn Lomborg to justify Direct Action. Lomborg, as we discussed in last month’s piece, is known for downplaying the dangers of climate change, for arguing that renewable energy should not be deployed until costs are reduced in research labs, and for suggesting that wacky “geo-engineering” schemes such as cloud whitening should be priorities.
That may explain why the Coalition is now targeting ARENA, whose job it is to help take technologies out of the lab and actually deploy them. The Coalition also intends to shut down the Clean Energy Finance Corp, which plays a similar role, as well as the Climate Change Authority, which conducted last year’s review of the Renewable Energy Target. The Coalition wants the RET to be reviewed yet again, but not by the CCA. The uncertainty is already causing Australia to fall down the ranks of investment attractiveness.
Another document that may be influential in Coalition thinking was circulated in recent months by one of its so-called “star” candidates, Angus Taylor, the anti-wind campaigner who is seeking election in the seat of Hume in NSW.
The document was put together under the banner of Port Jackson Partners, the consultancy where Taylor used to work. The central theme of the report is that the Coalition could drop the renewable energy target entirely (and immediately), save up to $3.2 billion (or up to $300 a household) by 2020 and still meet emissions reduction targets. But it’s based around a whole series of false assumptions. It is more likely to push up costs by around $1 billion a year.
The first assumption is on the issue of costs. As is typical of such documents, it gives a bleak picture of renewable costs and a rosy picture of fossil fuels. It says that wind costs are virtually double that of gas. But the reality is that there is, and will be, very little difference between the two…….
As we have seen in the past, the Coalition – and in particular its energy spokesman, Ian Macfarlane – needs little encouragement to argue against wind and solar. But such decisions should not be based on false premises.
As the November 2011 document suggested, the real focus should be on network costs, which the AEMC agrees is the biggest cause of rising electricity prices. That is where reform is needed, and where a properly advised Coalition government could drive the biggest savings for consumers, if it was to embrace some of the suggestions for distributed generation.
Another part of the Taylor document also questions the viability of the wind industry, based on the published returns of leading renewable energy companies. There’s no doubt that many are struggling, for a variety of reasons. But it’s a bit like suggesting that we shouldn’t have developed the internet because the early dot.com companies made losses, or that we should abandon cars because the big motor companies do the same. Port Jackson Partners knows better than that, and so should the Coalition, if they are as savvy about business and the economy as they say they are. http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/the-dangerous-thinking-behind-coalition-renewable-energy-policy-84896#sthash.caiuPtjK.dpuf
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1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 
They’re blind, they’re deaf, they’re rusted on and they’re no longer able to think for themselves. “They believe”.
It all reminds me of the Pied Piper of Hamelin.
Australia’s future is stuck between a rock and a hard place.
The election will solve very little, but it will sharpen our enthusiasm for a nice cold beer.
Cheers
Mick
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