How the current Australian government destroyed a great electricity policy
Australia had a great electricity policy – let’s get it back, REneweconomy, By David Leitch on 31 March 2017 When the ALP lost government in 2013 Australia had a secure, but rising, cost of electricity. Network prices had risen substantially, causing bill shock mainly because the AEMC and COAG had failed to rein in the Australian Competition Tribunal; and because networks were – and are – entitled to earn a perpetual rate of return on sunk costs, even when those costs have been fully recovered and notwithstanding that capacity utilisation has fallen.
The carbon tax was adding around $30/MWh to electricity prices, but the increase in network costs and the community emphasis on energy efficiency driving lower consumption were the key factors. The wires and poles cost tripled between 2008 and 2013.
However, over the next five years it’s the generation cost that drives prices up from $274/MWh (before retail discounts) to maybe $324/MWh (and the federal government loses, say, $10 billion of tax revenue in the process).
More importantly Australia had a suite of policies that:
- Encouraged energy efficiency. Every large corporate had to explicitly report on its energy efficiency plans.
- A carbon tax. Although this was meant to transition to floating carbon price it was actually far more effective as a tax. The advantages were.
- It raised final prices encouraging efficiency.
- Simple to administer
- At $30/t raising more than A$10 bn a year. By contrast fuel excise which most people don’t really think about raises about $12 bn a year. For an average house in Australia that carbon tax added $180 per year to their costs. By contrast the fuel excise at $0.38 litre and assuming a motorist uses 9 litres/100 Km, and drives 15,000 km a year costs say $600 a person. In two car households the cost could easily be over $1000 a year. This to your author’s mind shows the difference between perception and reality.
- The known price enabled both generators and consumers to plan around the fixed cost. Space does not permit in this article but providing confidence around the cost of capital is the main way Govts can contribute to keeping electricity prices low.
- Most importantly it penalized high carbon emission raising the variable cost of brown to or above that of black coal and making gas cheaper, at the time, than coal
But what if the carbon tax forced old generation to close but no new generation was built? Wouldn’t that be a problem for energy security? So that’s where…
- Renewable energy incentives come in. That was done by the LRET. In addition, state governments decided to offer high feed-in tariffs for rooftop PV. This lead to a glut of RECs and so the LRET scheme was split in two, small and large. The surplus of large certificates has only recently been worked off. We’ve criticised the LRET policy several times as being a high cost and unreliable way to get new renewables into the system but it did at least a provide a carrot. Reverse auctions can do the same job in a cheaper and more targeted fashion.
The net impact of these policies was to raise final electricity prices to households by 10 per cent and to business by about 15 per cent. By and large the Australian system was regarded as one of the best in the world. Fig 1 shows that the explicit cost of the LRET and SREC scheme is small, even at today’s inflated REC prices.
The coalition eliminated the old policies, but didn’t replace them with anything newEnergy efficiency was completely de-emphasised……….
Announcements as a substitute for policy
To this day there is no federal policy other than what’s left of the RET. Zero, zip, nada. There is no policy because the federal government is opposed to the policies being adopted all over the world, which a majority of Australians want and which the electricity industry wants.
This is leading to a breakdown of the cooperative federalism of the past decade and is another impediment to reform of the management of NEM. In fact, there is no management, just a committee (COAG energy committee) and government organisations with no KPIs (the AEMC for instance). There are announcements “Snowy 2”; and now, an after-the-horse-has-bolted ACCC review of retail prices…….
Some might see this as a hopeless situation, but because of Australia’s fantastic wind and PV resource, and because the cost of wind and PV has fallen, its actually a great opportunity to build a 21st century grid that will be the envy of the world.
Wind in the USA produces electricity at US $42/MWh = A$63/MWh unsubsidised (the consumer pays $20/MWh and the tax credit is worth about $22/MWh). Capacity factors in the USA are getting up to 45-50 per cent – by comparison, a typical combined cycle gas plant is at 50-60 per cent. Australia’s newest wind farm is at 43 per cent in its first three months.
Australia’s 5GW of distributed solar and the low energy density of networks (electricity consumed per Km of wires) makes this a fantastic country to build a decentralised grid using solar PV and household storage. But again, where is the federal government vision? Where is the policy? Where is the modelling? The lack of initiative and policy cannot be excused on any level, 3 year election cycle or no. Australians have a right to, and do expect more.
Despite our advantages we are well behind what the rest of the world is up to………
In the USA a very recent survey of 600 utility companies confirmed they they plan to continue their decade old shift to wind, and PV and distributed energy despite the election of Donald Trump. And why wouldn’t they? Its good economics and sound policy with a decade of experience behind it.
The federal government has criticised state policies but offers nothing in return…….http://reneweconomy.com.au/australia-had-a-great-electricity-policy-lets-get-it-back-24428/
Australian Energy Market Operator new boss Audrey Zibelman will reform Australia’s energy vision
Australia, she says, is actually going to lead the world on this, both on the breadth and the scale of what she, chief scientist Alan Finkel and many others describes as the inevitable and unstoppable energy transition.
She is talking storage, and demand response. And she is not just talking about grid scale, but about households and businesses, and tapping into their own resources of rooftop solar and battery storate, something that SA Power Networks says will be everywhere, thanks to its plunging costs.
Zibelman does not have the regulatory powers that she had in New York, and more’s the pity because AEMO, according to its submission to the Finkel Review, is clearly frustrated by the glacial pace of change in the country’s rule maker, the Australian Energy Market Commission.
How AEMO’s new boss will reform Australia’s energy vision http://reneweconomy.com.au/how-aemos-new-boss-will-reform-australias-energy-vision-37484/ By Giles Parkinson on 29 March 2017 Audrey Zibelman, the new chief executive of the Australian Energy Market Operator, has been in the job for little over a week, but is already making her mark, signalling the biggest shift in energy management philosophy in a generation.
If Australia’s fossil fuel industry had hoped that last September’s state-wide blackout would lead to a u-turn on the shift to cleaner and decentralised energy system, then the release of the Australian Energy Market Operator’s final report in the event would leave them bitterly disappointed.
And if they had any thoughts that the new CEO of AEMO, Audrey Zibelman, was going to afford them the indulgences that they had gotten used to over the last few decades, then they are going to be disappointed on that too. Several hundred energy market participants converged on Adelaide’s Hilton Hotel on Wednesday to hear the findings from the final report into the now notorious system black and, more crucially, to hear the first public insights from the new AEMO boss.
“Thank god you’re here,” said the Grattan Institute’s Tony Wood, referring to a former TV program, but echoing the mood of most.
And while many in mainstream media chose to focus on the role of wind farms in South Australia’s “system black,” and wonder why the shuttered Northern coal fired station is not being fired up again, both AEMO and its new boss were looking to the future, and with a sense of urgency.
Zibelman is the former head of New York’s Public Service Commission, charged with implementing that state’s ambitious Reforming the Energy Vision program, and its target of 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030, which is going to focus a lot on decentralised generation. Continue reading
As costs tumble, Australia poised for large-scale solar boom
Australia on cusp of large-scale solar boom as setup costs tumble, experts say, ABC News, PM By Angela Lavoipierre , 30 Mar 17 Large-scale solar looks to be on the cusp of an Australian boom.
The country has quietly had a record-breaking year in the construction of major solar projects, and the trend is predicted to continue.
Seven large-scale solar projects were completed in 2016 and even more will be built over the next 12 months, as rapid advances in technology propel large-scale solar towards price parity with wind power.
Clean Energy Council CEO Kane Thornton said it was “a record year” for large-scale solar, which could soon overtake wind as the cheapest form of renewable energy, thanks to rapid advances in technology.
“Already this year in 2017, we’ve had over a dozen projects committed and now moving onto construction,” he said.
“The costs of large scale solar has halved in just the last few years here in Australia. “We expect over the next couple of years [it] will really reduce the cost to a point that it is the lowest cost form of renewable generation in this country.”
Ivor Frischknecht, who heads the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) — the agency that delivers Federal Government funding for renewable projects — said the boom was approaching sooner than anyone expected.
“A couple of years ago we analysed the market and thought that by the early 2020s we might be able to get there, to be cost competitive with wind,” he said.
“But in fact we’re there already — we’re seeing large scale solar projects happen without any support.”
ARENA said the formation of a domestic solar industry had also brought down costs.
Moree solar farm ‘ground-breaking’
Moree is the site of one of Australia’s newest large-scale solar farms and the fourth largest in the country.
The town of less than 10,000 people in northern New South Wales has perfect conditions for generating solar power, enduring a record 54 consecutive days over 35 degrees Celsius this summer.
The Moree solar farm is an example of the kinds of challenges once faced by large-scale solar in Australia……http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-29/australia-on-cusp-of-large-scale-solar-boom-experts-say/8377226
Canberra’s shining example of renewable energy development
Renewables roadshow: how Canberra took lead in renewable energy race In the latest in our series on Australian green energy projects, we find out how the ACT is transitioning to 100% renewable energy, aided by the country’s largest community-owned solar farm
• How the ‘nonna effect’ got Darebin’s pensioners signing up to solar
• How Daylesford’s windfarm took back the power, Guardian, Michael Slezak, 30 Mar 17, As Australia remains mired in a broken debate about the supposed dangers of renewable energy, some states and territories are ignoring the controversy and steaming ahead.
While Australia is far from the renewable capital of the world, the Australian Capital Territory may soon be among the world’s top renewable energy regions. And as it transitions, the ACT is demonstrating the benefits of the renewables boom to the rest of the country. Continue reading
$1billion battery and solar farm for South Australia’s Riverland
Lyon Group announces $1b battery and solar farm for South Australia’s Riverland, ABC News, By political reporter Nick Harmsen, 30 Mar 17 A $1 billion battery and solar farm will be built at Morgan in South Australia’s Riverland by year’s end in a project the proponents describe as “the world’s biggest”.
The builder, Lyon Group, has already proposed a smaller solar farm and battery storage facility, named Kingfisher, in the state’s north.
Lyon partner David Green said the project was 100 per cent equity financed and construction would begin within months, employing 270 workers.
“Riverland Solar Storage’s 330-megawatt solar generation and 100-megawatt battery storage system will be Australia’s biggest solar farm with 3.4 million solar panels and will also include 1.1 million batteries,” he said.
Mr Green said land had already been secured and grid connection was already well advanced.
Work on Lyon’s 120 megawatt Kingfisher project is slated to begin in September next year……
Lyon to bid for SA battery tender
The Lyon Group has already signalled its intention to bid for a SA Government tender to build a battery storage system with 100-megawatt output. The tender arrangement would give the Government the right to tap the battery storage at times of peak demand, but allow the project owner to sell energy and stability into the market at other times.
An expressions of interest process closes on Friday.
Other companies, including Carnegie, Zen Energy and Tesla, have all suggested they could be interested in bidding…….http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-30/new-solar-project-announced-for-sa-riverland/8400952
Why Australia’s power companies block battery systems
The real reason our power companies block battery systems, http://www.theage.com.au/business/the-real-reason-our-power-companies-block-battery-systems-20170329-gv8ybe.html, Brian Robins, 29 Mar 17, If you’re wondering why battery storage is still on the fringe of the energy debate in Australia, and why power prices are high, just ask Dr Tony Marxsen, the head of the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO).
He made it plain earlier this week the big power companies have invested hundreds of millions of dollars on quick start power stations, so-called “gas peakers” and they aren’t going to be giving up their sway over the market any time soon: they want to make sure they get a return on their money.
Richard Turner, the founder of Zen Energy, a renewable energy outfit, asked Marxsen on Tuesday when the electricity market would shorten to five minutes from the present 30 minutes the settlement period. Sound technical? Sure, but that change would see a rapid rollout of battery storage with the potential to bring down power prices.
At the heart of the electricity market is a 30-minute settlement period. Power generators bid to supply electricity in five-minute blocks but the price they receive is averaged out over 30 minutes. Pressure is building for change, but the power generators don’t want to budge since the status quo gives the coal and gas generators a return over a longer period, while batteries which can be turned on, and off, quickly, are penalised.
“The fundamental challenge is it will affect adversely the business model of investors in gas peaking plants,” AEMO’s Marxsen said of any change. “They’ve entered into contracts based on existing arrangements therefore there is the need for transition.
“A five-minute [interval] is the long term future of Australian energy but it is a matter of transition – in a matter of years.”
The trouble is Australia’s thermal power generators are a powerful oligopoly and have been lobbying hard to keep storage out and to prevent the market operator from changing the rules. The overseer of the energy market, the Australian Energy Market Commission has just extended for the second time, now until mid-year, a review into the vexed issue.
“Transition can be painful,” Grattan Institute’s energy program head Tony Wood said of the roadblocks to changing the competitive landscape. “The losers will shout louder than the winners will.”
But the way Zen Energy’s Turner sees it the lack of access to the electricity market is forcing some states, like South Australia, to put $150 million on the table to back battery storage. He expects Victoria to follow suit with the closure this week of the giant Hazelwood power station.
“Governments are putting money on the table … to substitute for what should be available on the grid,” he said. “The rules have to change quickly.”
“Last Wednesday in Adelaide, we had four 30-minute periods when in the first five minutes the wholesale electricity price hit $14,000 a megawatt hour. When those events happen, the big generators power up to meet that demand. Even if the price is negative in the final few minutes of that 30-minute window, the generators receive the average price for that 30 -minute period of, say, $2500.
“Is that market manipulation? Maybe, but they get away with it. If there was five-minute pricing, the battery would come in, grab that demand and eliminate that pricing event. Batteries just help make the system more stable rather than wait for generators to fire up and get going. Even after averaging the price out over 30 minutes they’re making a ridiculous amount of money, protecting their investment – and preventing the introduction of new technology.”
Chaired by Ross Garnaut, who headed up the federal government’s climate change review, Zen has teamed up with Santos to use gas as a back-up for renewables. It is also working up plans for solar farms as it evolves towards becoming a power utility.
“What people don’t understand about renewables is the need for diversity of sources. You can’t just have wind,” he says. You also need solar for when the wind doesn’t blow and batteries to help smooth the energy flows to meet demand.”
So removing the half-hour average settlement rule and allowing payment in five-minute blocks would tilt the playing field towards batteries, which store output from wind and solar systems, and save energy users money.
The road blocks slowing the penetration of renewables in the energy sector comes as the Commonwealth Bank has raised $650 million through an issue of five-year green bonds, carrying an interest rate of 3.25 per cent on the fixed rate portion of the raising and 2.715 per cent on the floating rate portion of the raising. The funds are to be invested in renewable energy and low carbon assets.
With “too much” solar, Norfolk Island needs energy storage
Norfolk Island has “too much” solar, now it wants storage,REneweconomy, By Giles Parkinson on 30 March 2017 Norfolk Island, the former penal colony and now tourist destination located nearly 1,500km off the east coast of Australia, is calling for proposals for energy storage to maximise its use of solar PV, minimise a growing “solar debt,” and cut its crippling electricity costs.
The island, with a population of around 1750, and a floating tourist population of 300-600 people, has one of the highest penetrations of rooftop PV, with 1.4MW of solar that produces more than its daytime demand.
This is despite the fact that the Norfolk Island regional council actually brought the installation of solar PV to a halt in 2013 with a moratorium designed to stop the “ad hoc” installations, and because it had no other means of controlling and managing the output.
Now, things have changed.
The cash-strapped administration wants to try and store the excess output of solar so it can reduce its reliance on diesel, cut its hefty electricity charge of 62c/kWh (unlike other islands, like King Island, it gets no subsidies), address the growing bank of “grid credits” given to those who produce excess power from their PV and perhaps allow more people who don’t have solar PV to add it to their rooftops.
Back in 1997, the council bought the last of its six second hand 1MW diesel generators, partly on the assumption that demand would grow. Instead it has fallen around 20 per cent, and it only ever uses two of the units at most, and outside peak times it uses only one.
The council says the oversupply of solar is occurring each day “at all times of the year and not only in summer” when the sun is out.
Because the diesel generator needs to operate at a minimum 30 per cent capacity, excess solar output is shed via a 400kW load bank. Excess solar did not get a cash tariff, but grid credits that are now amassing into a considerable continent liability.
“The fuel savings from less usage of diesel in the daytime have not been matched by actual savings as, effectively, those PV consumers (generating more than they or their fellow consumers are using during daylight hours) are resulting in the need for Norfolk Island Electricity (NIE) to shed the excess in daylight whilst then burning diesel at night time to supply both PV and non-PV connected households at no/limited cost to the PV consumer.”
So, now it is is looking for battery storage as part of a wholesale review of its pricing structures, and as the administration comes under pressure from households that have not been allowed to install solar PV, but can clearly see it as a cheaper option than the current grid prices…….http://reneweconomy.com.au/norfolk-island-much-solar-now-wants-storage-58159/
Rapid fall expected in price of solar plus battery storage for South Australia
S.A. network says solar plus battery storage to cost just 15c/kWh, REneweconomy, By Giles Parkinson on 28 March 2017 The price of rooftop solar and battery storage for household and business consumers will fall to just 15c/kWh within a few years, leading to a dramatic reshaping of the energy grid, according to a leading network operator. Rob Stobbe, the head of SA Power Networks, which operates the local network in South Australia, says rooftop solar has already fallen to around 5c/kWh for households and businesses. Continue reading
Giles Parkinson on need for battery storage to be configured properly
Batteries not configured to remove demand peaks, network says[good graphs], REneweconomy. By Giles Parkinson on 27 March 2017 SA Power Networks, currently running the largest residential battery storage trial in the country, says its early finding suggest that battery storage devices are not configured to help reduce network peaks. In fact, in some ways they may be making the situation worse.
SAPN last year installed 100 batteries in customer premises in the city of Salisbury, in what is the largest virtual power plant installed to date, and is now getting some early results from the three-year trial.
The most dramatic finding is represented in this graph below [on original] . It shows how solar affects grid demand and what happens when battery storage is added. Rather than smoothing out the peaks, it can actually make the “ramp up” periods more abrupt.
According to Mark Vincent, SAPN’s head of network investment strategy and planning, this is not a good outcome.
Vincent told RenewEconomy during a recent visit to SAPN’s innovation centre in Adelaide that it underlines the need for new algorithms to be put in place to change the behaviour of battery storage devices so it takes the peaks – both bottom and low……….
Battery storage will be crucial for the SA network, because the state has traditionally had the highest volatility, and with the introduction of more wind and solar, will reduce its dependence on traditional fossil fuel plants.
That leaves battery storage to play a crucial role in meeting peak demand and providing grid stability, and SAPN hopes that it will help offset further investment in new poles and wires or equipment upgrades.
Already, the state has 650MW of rooftop solar, accounting for nearly 6 per cent of its demand in 2015/16, and within a decade the output of rooftop solar is expected to be more than minimum demand in the state………
“To maximise the benefits of solar PV/battery installations, smarter algorithms in battery management software are needed to slow down the rate of charging of the batteries and their rate of energy discharge so we can lop off the demand and generation peaks.
“In turn, we need to make sure that our tariffs are designed to encourage battery vendors to configure their systems in this way, and so that customers will also see a benefit.
“Without those changes to the configuration of batteries so that they charge and discharge in smarter ways, widespread uptake of batteries has the potential to lead to inefficiencies that will require a significant response from us as distribution network managers.”
SAPN says that while it “doesn’t make financial sense” for most customers to invest in batteries just yet – contrary to some private estimates – it admits that prices are reducing rapidly.
“We think it’s inevitable that customers will invest more and more in battery systems. Our challenge is to make sure that they operate these systems in ways that reduce and don’t increase network costs to all customers.” http://reneweconomy.com.au/batteries-not-configured-remove-demand-peaks-network-says-64339/
Australian Greens call for an independent energy authority – Renew Australia
Greens push for electricity crisis to be taken out of politicians’ hands, The Age Adam Morton , 25 Mar 17,
The Greens are pushing for a new public authority to take responsibility for Australia’s beleaguered electricity system out of politicians’ hands.
It follows several organisations, including energy company Origin, the Australian Council of Trade Unions and ClimateWorks, calling for an independent body, similar to the Reserve Bank, to manage what has been described as an energy crisis.
Focus on the future of the electricity system has heightened in the lead-up to the closure this week of Hazelwood, Australia’s oldest and most emissions-intensive power plant, which when fully operational had the capacity to deliver about a quarter of Victoria’s electricity.
The Greens will introduce legislation in the Senate to create what it calls Renew Australia, which it says can short-circuit a stand-off between the federal and state governments by taking responsibility for the transition to a clean electricity supply……
Energy companies, business groups, unions, charities, scientists and environmentalists have called for a bipartisan national plan, including an emissions intensity scheme, to drive a smooth change as greenhouse gas emissions are cut.
The Snowy Hydro Scheme, owned by the NSW, Victorian and federal governments, is the latest to back this sort of scheme. The federal government has rejected this sort of scheme.
Not all the above groups would endorse the Greens’ model, which requires that at least 90 per cent of energy is renewable by 2030, expands the national renewable energy target and introduces a emissions intensity standard that sets out a timetable for the closure of coal-fired power plants.
The authority would cost $500 million and would be expected to leverage $5 billion of energy construction in four years. The Greens also want to create a $250 million clean energy transition fund to help coal communities as plants close and change electricity market rules to make it encourage large-scale battery storage…….
In a submission to an energy security review by chief scientist Alan Finkel, ClimateWorks – a research body affiliated with Monash University – called for an independent statutory body to take over regulatory responsibilities from the COAG Energy Council, which is made up of federal and state energy ministers.
Origin backed the creation of a body similar to the Reserve Bank to manage the shift to lower emissions.
The ACTU called for the introduction of an Energy Transition Authority. Its responsibilities would include managing a planned closure of coal plants and an industry-wide scheme that allowed retrenched coal workers to get jobs at other power stations.
This model has been used at Hazelwood, where some workers will transfer to other Latrobe Valley generators. http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/greens-push-for-electricity-crisis-to-be-taken-out-of-politicians-hands-20170325-gv6bl7.html
Success of Australia’s Clean Energy Program
Clean energy grant companies see profits climb, says Department of Industry chief economist, The Age, Eryk Bagshaw, 26 Mar 17, “……..a new report from the Department of Industry’s Office of the Chief Economist has found the $1.2 billion Clean Technology Program saw not only gains for Coca Cola, but 547 other projects across Australia, with a 10 per cent reduction in manufacturing emissions.
“Both employment and turnover among these firms grew about 25 per cent faster than similar firms without Clean Tech grants,” the report’s author economist Sasan Bakhtiari found. “Exports grew about 50 per cent faster, but only for those Clean Tech firms already exporting.”
In Gunnedah the local leather processing site replaced lighting, compressed air and water heating systems to reduce the carbon emissions intensity of the facility by 13 per cent and save $95,000 in energy costs per year, while new trout smoking equipment at the Snowy Mountain Trout Farm in Blowering Dam reduced carbon emissions by 84 per cent and banked yearly savings of $3000 in energy costs.
“The majority of grants went to fully Australian-owned firms,” said Dr Bakhtiari. “The program seems to have offered a lifeline to firms that [were performing badly] that eventually enabled them to turn around and start growing jobs. …… http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/clean-energy-grant-companies-see-profits-climb-says-department-of-industry-chief-economist-20170315-guyxw9.html
The Waubra anti-wind power campaign still lives!
Can wind turbines make you sick? Debate divides tiny Victorian town of Waubra, ABC Radio, PM By Danny Tran, 24 Mar 17, In the sleepy Victorian town of Waubra, a bitter feud over wind power is driving a wedge between neighbours and friends.
Key points:
- There are 79 wind farms in Australia and more than 2,000 turbines producing 5 per cent of the nation’s electricity
- Waubra’s own wind farm is one of the largest in Australia, with 128 turbines on the properties of 37 farmers
- Wind turbine syndrome describes symptoms a small number of people claim arise from living near wind farms
About two hours north-west of Melbourne, Waubra produces enough electricity from its wind turbines to power two of Victoria’s largest regional cities.
But after almost a decade of operating, wind power remains a painful issue in the town, which is only home to about 500 people.
Waubra is so synonymous with wind power that opponents have christened the so-called illness that some claim comes with living near turbines “Waubra disease”.
The town might be at loggerheads over whether wind can make you sick, but what does the science say?
What is wind turbine syndrome?
Waubra disease, better known as wind turbine syndrome, describes a range of symptoms a small number of people claim arise from living near wind farms, ranging from headaches to nausea.
It was first coined in 2009 by New York paediatrician Dr Nina Pierpont, who claimed wind turbines disrupted the inner-ear through inaudible, low-frequency vibrations.
The claims were rubbished by science and health bodies across the world, but anti-wind power groups seized on Dr Pierpont’s claims, which quickly spread to Australia.
Experts dismiss wind turbine syndrome as the result of a “nocebo” effect, where negative expectations of symptoms can amplify an actual negative effect — the opposite of a placebo.
But that hasn’t stopped Waubra locals from taking a side………
the Australian Medical Association’s Victorian president, Dr Lorraine Barker, said that anxiety over being near wind turbines can cause symptoms of its own.
“There is no indication that infrasound, for instance, could induce the symptoms … [but] anxiety certainly can,” Dr Barker said.
“Noises that are continuous in the background can be irritating, so that level of irritation may affect someone if they are standing very close to a wind turbine.
“However, infrasound, or the sound that is beyond the detection of the human ear, is not believed to cause harm to humans.” http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-24/victorian-town-divided-over-wind-turbines/8373760
Australian media distorts facts on renewable energy: 3. Fairfax media
It actually shows the most extreme demand scenarios that it can think of – a one in ten year likelihood in this case – and graphs that over and above what it considers to be the “average” supply. Repeat. That is average supply, not total supply available.
the idiotic and ignorant reporting in the mainstream media is allowing the fossil fuel generators and their protectors in the Coalition to blind public perceptions with complete nonsense. Fake news indeed.
Fairfax joins media hysteria over post-Hazelwood “blackouts” http://
reneweconomy.com.au/fairfax-joins-media-hysteria-over-post-hazelwood-blackouts-37842/
Fairfax Media led the front page of The Age newspaper (see image right) [on original] with an “exclusive” story that warned of 72 days of potential blackouts across the state over the next two summers.
“Victoria’s energy security has been thrown into question, with the state facing an unprecedented 72 days of possible power supply shortfalls over the next two years following the shutdown of the Hazelwood plant next week,” the story by Josh Gordon begins.
And how does it come to this breathless conclusion? Fairfax, like other media, such as the ABC’s political editor, Chris Uhlmann, is basing the forecasts of blackouts on this graph that appears on the website of the Australian Energy Market Operator.
It purports to show – in the light red at the top – the periods when Victoria could face a shortfall of supply. The graph for South Australia is even more dramatic. But is that really what is says? Blackouts all summer?
Not at all, says the AEMO – a reply they would happily give anyone who bothered to ask. Continue reading
Australian media distortion of facts on renewable energy: 2 THE AUSTRALIAN
there we have it. A report that says South Australia could easily aim for 40 per cent renewable energy is portrayed as a warning that 20 per cent is the natural limit. It boggles the mind.
Weatherill – to his credit – keeps on repeating that the blackouts and near misses in South Australia have not been about technology choices, but about grid management. Even AEMO agrees. But some journalists don’t want to know.
The CSIRO outlines a scenario for 86 per cent in that state by 2035. Zinc refiner Sun Metals is building a solar plant because it is cheaper than coal-fired generation in Queensland. The former head of Hazelwood says that solar and battery storage is already cheaper than baseload gas.
But don’t expect to read much about those exciting developments in much of the mainstream media. They just don’t seem interested.
How The Australian distorted S.A. renewables advice http://reneweconomy.com.au/how-the-australian-distorted-s-a-
renewables-advice-19781/ By Giles Parkinson on 22 March 2017 Readers of Rupert Murdoch’s The Australian newspaper would have been fascinated to learn this week that the South Australian government had apparently ignored advice in 2009 to limit the amount of wind energy in their state’s grid to 20 per cent. South Australia has, of course, gone well beyond that, with wind energy now meeting more than 40 per cent of the state’s electricity demand, and rooftop solar another 5-6 per cent. The combined total is likely to exceed 50 per cent by the end of the year, well ahead of its 2025 target.
But this target is under attack from the fossil fuel industry and their proxies in the Murdoch media – as Media Watch documented so well on Monday – and by some in the ABC itself.
On Sunday, the ABC’s political editor Chris Uhlmann wrote that it was “well documented” that any more than 20 per cent wind energy created problems for the grid.
We debunked that piece of nonsense with this story – The ABC’s Uhlmann gets in wrong on renewables. Again – on Monday, which noted that the CSIRO regarded anything up to 30 per cent penetration of wind and solar as “trivial.”
On Tuesday, The Australian followed on from Uhlmann, and with gusto, in this report titled Energy crisis puts the wind up Jay Weatherill (subscription required). Continue reading
“Small” rooftop solar is driving Australia’s solar energy boom
Regional home and business owners driving Australia’s solar energy boom ABC, PM By Angela Lavoipierre 22 Mar 17 When you think of solar, you probably think of vast fields of black panels at large-scale solar farms, producing enormous quantities of power.
Key points:
- The highest uptake of rooftop solar is in the regional and urban fringe areas
- Moree, NSW is a perfect example, with 19 per cent of homes sporting rooftop panels
- The cost of installing solar systems has decreased by around 80 per cent in the last decade
But Australia’s real solar engine, at least for the time being, is a much more humble sight. It is small collections of solar panels on ordinary homes and businesses around the country.
At 2.8 per cent, rooftop solar contributes far more to Australia’s total energy mix than largescale solar, which currently comes in at around a quarter of a per cent.
Claire O’Rourke is the national director of Solar Citizens, a group which lobbies for private solar owners.
“It’s not the inner-city latte-sippers who are going solar,” she said.
“It’s definitely the highest uptake around those urban fringe areas and in regional areas as well where you’ll see in some areas 30-40 per cent of homes with solar on rooftops.”
There are nearly 1.6 million Australian homes with solar panels on their rooftops. To put it in perspective, 1.4 million of those homes took up solar installations in the last decade.
“These are kind of remarkable figures for an industry that was seen as more of a cottage industry 15 or 20 years ago where it was kind of off-grid hippies that were taking it up,” Ms O’Rourke said.
“But it’s very much a mainstream option for people to manage their energy use and also to take control of their rising power bills.”
According to the Grattan Institute, consumers in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide are paying nearly twice as much for electricity as they were a decade ago. Ms O’Rourke said that was part of the reason rooftop solar had been booming. “Prices have gone up, bills have gone up, and the other contributing factor is that the costs of solar has rapidly decreased,” she said. “So if you look at a bit of technical analysis, it’s dropped from $9-a-watt for out-of-pocket expenses on installing a solar system, to $1.60.”So it’s like an 80 per cent decrease in out-of-pocket installation costs in only a decade.”
Moree embraces solar….. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-23/regional-australia-drives-solar-boom/8377670
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