Country Liberal Senator for the Northern Territory Dr. Sam McMahon appears to have channelled Senator Matt Canavan in a reaction to the potential location of a massive solar and storage project- the Australia-ASEAN Power Link (AAPL).
Sun Cable is proposing to build a $20 billion 10GW solar plant across thousands of hectares in the Northern Territory along with 20-30 gigawatt hours of energy storage. Consisting of millions of solar panels deployed using Australian company 5B’s Maverick system, the facility will export a large proportion of the clean electricity it generates to Singapore via a submarine cable.
Last week it was revealed preferred sites for the project are located within Newcastle Waters group of Northern Territory cattle stations.
Renewables Are Dole Bludgers, Blah Blah Blah
Dr. McMahon1 – is not amused.
“Renewables are the dole bludgers of the energy mix,” said Senator McMahon. “They are a great hoax perpetrated by the industry on the gullible.”
Hmm.. “dole bludgers of the energy mix” – that sounds familiar. Senator McMahon doesn’t really explain this assessment or the “hoax” further. Perhaps she’s checking in with Senator Matt Canavan first for some alternative facts.
Senator McMahon goes on..
“Yet this Gunner Government thinks it is a great idea to take up huge tracts of productive land, build a solar farm of non-recyclable panals (sic), the size of which the world has never seen, in an area that is totally hostile to solar panel efficiency and run a 4500km extension cord to Singapore.”
Senator McMahon may want to look at some satellite imagery. For example, Newcastle Waters station is huge (1 million hectares+) and Sun Cable’s AAPL would occupy around 1.2% of it. Imagery of the potential sites published on RenewEconomy indicate they are not what you’d call prime agricultural land and even “productive” could be a bit of a stretch.
On non-recyclable panels – most of a solar panel can be recycled. SQ’s Ronald has previously commented though that at this point in time, it’s just not financially worth it to recycle some of a module’s components. But these panels will be operating for decades and a lot can change in that time. For all we know, there may be a condition or commitment that regardless of whether there is a profit to be made from it, the solar panels will be partly or fully recycled.
On being a “totally hostile” area – solar farms have been successfully and profitably operating for years in various less than ideal conditions in many parts of the world – from Chile to Africa, to China, to … Australia.
As for the extension cord bit, that’s a cute way to put it. A High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) submarine cable is some serious hardware.
According to Sun Cable, the AAPL will not only export approximately $2 billion of solar energy per year to Singapore, it will be able to supply a significant amount of renewable energy to the Territory. There’s a lot to like about the project – and it’s certainly making people sit up and take notice of the potential of solar power.
Footnotes
- In case you’re curious about the “Dr.” title, Sam McMahon completed a Bachelor of Veterinary Science at the University of Queensland and spent 30 years owning and running veterinary practices across the Territory ↩
About Michael Bloch
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“They are a great hoax perpetrated by the industry on the gullible.”
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That is posted on the bumbook pooppile (when using a shovel to clean a cowshed, the shovel contents get chucked over the fence, to form piles of it, that are good for removing to fertilise gardens).
I thought the bumbook people are supposed to be eliminating conspiracy theorists and fake news, from their pooppile. Or, otherwise, getting rid of the manure from it.
Perhaps, if someone here, is a subscriber to that facility, they might want to ask its administrators to get their shovels, and remove the pile of manure deposited on it by the senator.
I’d like to see her recycle a tonne of coal.
Speaking of recycling Ron. There was no mention of who would be responsible for what to do with the facility when it reaches end of life and maintenance of the cable if the Singaporean company goes under or is acquired by a company with less than desirable conservational credentials.
Also could one of you guys discuss how you minimise loss over a cable run of that length. Must be interesting tech.
There is no problem recycling the cable it self as the material is valuable. In less ordered areas of the world, cable theft is a real problem.
HVDC technology is very interesting. They are building a 740 km 1.4 gigawatt interconnector between Norway and the soon to be Disunited Kingdom. The losses are very low and its price, while not cheap, is a lot cheaper than it was just a few years ago. Here is the Wikipedia page on HVDC transmission:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-voltage_direct_current
Maybe Dr Sam should take a look at the land area required to achieve zero carbon emissions to power the globe with solar alone at the link below.
https://landartgenerator.org/blagi/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/AreaRequired1000.jpg
The image is scaled, so it gives an idea just how little land is actually required to utilise solar power to the max.
Remember, the earth receives more than energy in 1 hour in solar energy than what is burned up in fossil fuel in a year. That’s a ratio of about 8000+ to 1.
I’ve been through the Northern Territory. I don’t see much of it being productive.
On another note, it takes about 15,000L of water to produce 1 tonne of red meat. Where is this water, if they are worried about losing cattle production in the middle of nowhere?
What is with these Liberal/National Senators, are they still living in the 19th Century when coal was king?
I’ll simply restate what I wrote at the end of my last article on solar panel recycling:
“I’m a reasonable person and willing to compromise. I’ll accept a requirement that all solar panels have to be recycled, provided the coal power industry is held to exactly the same standard. No more ash dams, ash pits, and ash hills. All that toxic crud has to be recycled — somehow. Technically, every chemical reaction can be reversed, so if they apply themselves maybe they can turn a lump of coal ash back into ScoMo’s heart.”
Don’t forget that the 15,000 or so litres of water is recycled by the bovine that initially consumes it and it is ejected back to the earth from whence it was obtained which displays the efficiencies contained in said bovines. We humans tend to squirt our liquid intakes into sewer pipes which then relieve themselves into the ocean when coastal or back into the water courses in regional and remote regions. Bovines ;one, humans ; less than one.
I’m not sure what point you are making about the efficiency of use of the 15,000L of urine, unless it’s on a regenerative agricultural enterprise along the lines Charles Massy expounds. Does the beast somehow recycle its urine? Should we replace the beasts with humans brought from the coast to improve overall efficiency? Or does the 15K L evaporate into the heat while the beast walks to a bore or other water point every 48 hours to drink from potable H2O captured from the sky (directly or indirectly). And how is this point related to or different ultimately from human contributions to the water cycle which may result in rain somewhere other than the point of discharge. I’m confused. Perhaps others are. Please explain.
Otherwise it sounds like a red herring swimming in 15000L of urine, as far as throwing additional light on this article or the environmental or financial viability of solar generation in the area is concerned.
I lived overseas for decades and am frequently disappointed by Australia’s political slowness to adapt to technological change. Citizen and consumers are another matter. Given the chance they adopt new things quickly.
Our leaders are letting us down and don’t seem to understand that our luck may not last forever in this competitive world.
My prognosis is that the pollies think that being a follower rather than a leader is both low risk and cheaper. They lack genuine strategic intent and frequently confuse strategy with tactics. Eg. Where will our (future) manned diesel submarines going to refuel in any sort of a serious conflict? Completely silly when autonomous swarms and AI are coming at us.
“Renewables are the dole bludgers of the energy mix,” said Senator McMahon. “They are a great hoax perpetrated by the industry on the gullible.”
On Oct 19, Lazard published their latest annual Levelized Cost of Energy Analysis (LCOE 14.0) and Levelized Cost of Storage Analysis (LCOS 6.0).
“…(LCOE 14.0) shows that as the cost of renewable energy continues to decline, certain technologies (e.g., onshore wind and utility-scale solar), which became cost-competitive with conventional generation several years ago on a new-build basis, continue to maintain competitiveness with the marginal cost of selected existing conventional generation technologies.”
See: https://www.lazard.com/perspective/levelized-cost-of-energy-and-levelized-cost-of-storage-2020/
I’d suggest there would likely need to be a huge number of people in on “the great hoax”, and I’d suggest it would only take one or two insiders to spill the beans… And yet it seems none have so far. Why?
I wonder what planet our pollies live on?
Certainly in the world of STEM.
Under a rock?
Of coal?
China has set a zero GHG emissions target by 2060.
And South Korea and Japan are now both looking at a zero target by 2050.
It seems that the International Energy Agency (IEA) in its latest “World Energy Outlook 2020” (WEO2020) has dropped its Current Policy Scenario (CPS), that the fossil fuel proponents seem to have been spruiking to justify their projects, and has added its new Net Zero Emissions by 2050 (NZE2050) scenario that goes beyond its Sustainable Development Scenario (SDS).
Meanwhile, the ABC NSW 7pm news last night (Oct 25) presented a segment on the NSW Hunter Valley coal industry which is reportedly under pressure (see from time interval 18:47 to 23:36).
The Labor Federal Member for Hunter, Joel Fitzgibbon MP, is shown saying:
“I would tell that coal miner, that his or her job, is safe. That coal will remain strong for at least two decades to come, and I’ll continue to make sure that we will have a diverse economy which also builds a future for his grandchildren.”
See: https://iview.abc.net.au/video/NU2030H043S00
Yet it seems China is now reportedly refusing to take Australian coal (both thermal and metallurgical).
See: https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/coal/100920-chinese-state-owned-end-users-given-verbal-notice-to-stop-importing-australian-coal-sources
And Japan is reportedly planning to close or mothball as many as 100 old coal plants by about 2030.
See: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-powerstation-coal-idUSKBN2440AA
And the South Korean President has vowed to close half of the coal plants by 2034.
See: https://www.business.nsw.gov.au/industry-sectors/industry-opportunities/mining-and-resources/coal/coal-in-nsw
Until recently, the major customers for NSW coal exports were: Japan (41%), China (18%), South Korea (17%), and Taiwan (11%), with smaller amounts going to Thailand, Malaysia and India.
See: https://www.business.nsw.gov.au/industry-sectors/industry-opportunities/mining-and-resources/coal/coal-in-nsw
It seems to me some Labor pollies are also “still living in the 19th Century when coal was king”.
Posting again, as previous attempt appears to have been bogged in “moderation”.
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The Labor Federal Member for Hunter, Joel Fitzgibbon MP, is shown saying:
“I would tell that coal miner, that his or her job, is safe. That coal will remain strong for at least two decades to come, and I’ll continue to make sure that we will have a diverse economy which also builds a future for his grandchildren.”
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It seems to me some Labor pollies are also “still living in the 19th Century when coal was king”.
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Go to
https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/wa-feed-in-tariff-slashed/
and, using your web browser “Find in this web page” function, search for “otis” (as in the notorious “Otis Group” – the ultra right wing faction that has taken control of the ALP);
or,
using google search, use the terms
site:https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog otis group
exactly as entered there (or, copy that line of text, and, paste it into a google search text box.
Both the ALP (which, notoriously, imposed the HECS, to the delight of the LNP, so as to restrict education to the effluent class), and, the ALP’s parent company, the LNP, want the plebs to remain uneducated, because, like the line from the western movie, about educating females; “They should never have learned women to read, coz then they started to think.”, and, the LNP/ALP seem to have the same policy, except, they are notsomuch sexist (in this regard,anyway) – they hate everyone, and regard the plebs as needing to remain uneducated (if slaves are not educated, they will do as they are told, an, accept whatever is done to them). And, the LNP/ALP hate the environment, and, want to kill it.
Brett, I see the United States in a lot of trouble at the moment because millions of voters incorrectly told themselves the Democratic and Republican Presidential candidates were just as bad as each other and so either didn’t vote or cast their vote for the one they found most entertaining. This didn’t end well for them. I want to make it clear that no matter what one may think of the Labor party or how disappointed one may be in them, they are not as bad as the Coalition on environmental issues and I recommend people order them well ahead of the Coal-ition in their voting preferences.
Sad that the said Senator has a PhD and cannot understand simple science. Even if global warming was a conspiracy by disorganized scientists (!) what about the simple numbers that a year of fossil fuel we burn took millions of years to be formed and won’t last forever? Idiots!
Senator’s comments is the hoax and only the gullible can believe. It is what I dislike about social media. Every person whether qualified / unqualified, researched or non researched can say anything without a filter. Just anything to get a bit of publicity.
Keep the good work up. It staggers me that there is so much total bias and skepticism seems to pervade basic common knowledge in favor of either /or political power, prejudice, or plain stubborn ignorance. My neighbor and I both have the same solar systems comprising 15 panels, inverter & 8kWh battery installed early in 2018. We are both linked into a neighborhood co-generation project where our excess power is fed into the grid. My neighbor is away from his house most of the working week Most of the electricity bills are in credit. We are home most of the time and analysis indicates that our combined gas and electricity consumed is approx 33% lower in cost than pre-solar. That’s encouraging, but considering the significant volume of green house gas and rubbish that would otherwise have been sent skywards and the fact that we are a back-up to electric supplies for our neighborhood is more than great news for our participation in highly productive, clean technology that’s helping to limit contamination of the environment. All this and we live on the Mornington Peninsula which has a lot less sunshine than up north. When will they learn?