The Greens and the Libs agree on one thing at least: that storage should be subsidised. But should it?
The mainstream media has been full of news about energy storage over the last few months. [Read more…]
Turnbull Twisting Arms Over Natural Gas Is A Zero Sum Game
Don’t believe the hype. Domestic gas prices have very little effect on retail electricity prices. Someone should tell Turnbull.
According to the mainstream media, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has been busy twisting the arms of natural gas producers. He wants Australians to pay less for Australian gas. Specifically he wants us to pay less than overseas customers pay for Australian gas.
This has upset gas producers because, like most companies, they would prefer to sell stuff for more money rather than less. [Read more…]
Does Rooftop Solar Hurt The Have Nots?
Do solar rebates result in the poor subsidising the rich?
If you spend a significant amount of time on the internet, which I can’t recommend as it is a silly place, then you may have come across people who claim rooftop solar is an enormous scam that depends on government subsidies unfairly taken from those who can’t install it, or choose not to. [Read more…]
Electricity Bills Are Rising Because Of A Lack of Competition And Coalition Opposition To Renewables
Ronald unveils the true culprit behind current electricity price rises.
Australia’s grid electricity prices are about to soar so high they’ll probably suffer from altitude sickness. Households in all states, with the possible exception of Tasmania, are looking at increases in electricity bills of roughly 20% over the next two to three years. [Read more…]
Natural Gas Blamed For Rising Electricity Prices But Is Not the Main Villain
Is the rising electricity price really all down to gas prices?
Last week I wrote about how electricity prices in Australia are about to shoot so high the International Space Station will have to take evasive action. It appears it’s not enough for the electricity sector to make Australians pay ridiculous prices, they are going to force us to go right to ludicrous. [Read more…]
South Australia Is Actually Second Cheapest State For Household Electricity
Not true Malcolm! A typical house in SA pays less per kWh for electricity than any other state except NSW.
Grid electricity is not cheap in South Australia. Here in Adelaide it’s never a happy time when I get an electricity bill. My last quarterly bill was $203 for 389 kilowatt-hours of use. All up, that means I paid over 52 cents for each kilowatt-hour of grid electricity. [Read more…]
The ‘SA Energy Crisis’ Is A Myth Peddled By Liars
If you repeat a message long and loud enough many people will accept it as true.
At the start of the month I wrote that South Australia’s grid was in disarray. I warned that more blackouts were inevitable as soon as summer rolled around again or adverse weather struck.
With my warning I wanted to give people a sense of perilous urgency on the need to do something about the dilapidated state of the grid that we depend upon for our jobs, our well being, and civilization itself.
But that was on April Fools Day.
I wasn’t serious. [Read more…]
Blackouts In SA While Generators Stand Idle & Politicians Bicker
Joyce titters, Weatherill gets mad, Australia cooks.
Late on Wednesday afternoon, in the middle of a heatwave, electricity was cut off to roughly 90,000 Adelaide properties for around 45 minutes.
Because I have access to a working TV at the moment1 I have seen an implausible number of people shitting bricks over this incident. So many bricks I could use them to build a Great Wall of South Australia. I’m sure it would be effective at keeping foreigners out. After all, who’d want to enter a state surrounded by shitty bricks?
To all the people who are acting like this is some sort of unprecedented event2, I have to ask which bloody country do you live in? Rolling blackouts during heatwaves in Australia are not uncommon and have occurred in every mainland state, including those that are almost entirely powered by coal.
But for those who are complaining for the right reasons, your anger is bloody well justified. [Read more…]
Despite What The Coalition Says Or Doesn’t Say, The “Solar Rebate” Won’t End Soon
Will they scrap the Renewable Energy Target (and by extension the ‘Solar Rebate’) or won’t they?
The Australian newspaper has reported that a couple of Coalition MPs have said Australia should scrap its Renewable Energy Target (RET) if Donald Trump dumps the United States’ commitment to the Paris climate agreement. [Read more…]
Will Trump Take A Dump On Solar?
Will Trump destroy the US clean energy industry?
Donald Trump has won the US Presidential election. The people of the United States of America have spoken. They haven’t spoken very well, but they have done it. And since they will have a guy in charge who never shuts up, they’re not likely to stop now.
RSS - Posts
Currently Raging Debates: