SA govt to spend $100m on diesel generators (but could have spent $8m keeping coal plant instead)

I’d like to thank South Australia for so selflessly showing the world how well renewables work. (And thank we West Australians for paying for it).

To get ready for the shortfalls next summer, the SA government is said to be ordering in 220MW of diesel generation at an expected cost of $114m.

The government has contracted privately owned South Aust­ralian electricity distribut­ion company SA Power Networks to obtain and install 200 megawatts of back-up generation across the state before summer. But despite promising a “detailed costing” would be provided in last week’s state budget, Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis did not offer any such details.

The opposition said the budget had allocated $114m for operational costs in 2017-18 from the $550m energy plan, “indicating the diesel generators are going to be very expensive”.

This $106m sacrifice is expected to reduce global temperature by 0.000C, but will save the premier from being called a climate denier at dinner parties:

“Eighteen months ago the Tasmanian government spent $64m in leasing, site establishment and operational costs for 220MW of diesel generation for three months when a combination of drought and repairs to the Basslink left it short of electricity,” energy spokes­man Dan van Holst Pellekaan said. “Rather than spend $8m a year to keep the (coal-fired) Northern Power Station operating, Jay Weatherill has chosen to spend up to $100m a year on diesel generation until the government turns on its promised new gas generator in two years’ time.”

—  The Australian, Michael Green.

 SA will be building a new gas generator in two years time to take advantage of obscenely high gas prices.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

9.7 out of 10 based on 124 ratings

195 comments to SA govt to spend $100m on diesel generators (but could have spent $8m keeping coal plant instead)

  • #
    Bitter&Twisted

    On the bright side these diesels will produce much less in the way of pollution (Sarc?.

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    • #
      OriginalSteve

      It depends….were the diesels made by a German car manufacturer? If so, you couldn’t be sure….

      / sarc

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    • #
      Graeme No.3

      A couple of little points overlooked by the SA Govt.

      The ‘gas generator’ they are “building” is an Open Cycle Gas Turbine. (They’ve contracted out the building part). Much as Tom the Expensive fancies himself donning a cocked hat and strutting out onto the deck shouting “Start the Turbine” it overlooks that it will only run for limited times, be expensive to run and generate almost as much pollution as an up to date coal fired plant.
      Like all high temperature air+fuel processes the diesels will generate CO2, some particulates and nitrogen oxides, as will the OCGT. A coal fired plant has a wet scrubber but as far as I know the cheaply built OCGTs aren’t so equipped. So we could claim that either solution proposed by the SA Govt. will cause higher pollution than a coal fired plant. And more than would a more efficient CCGT, which would also deliver cheaper electricity.

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      • #

        OCGT is less thermally efficient than exhaist gas recyclig CCGT but otherwise clean. Gas produces only a relatively low amount of water vapour and CO2 as combustion products, natural gases, 40% the CO2 per/KWh of coal. So gas needs no scrubbers.

        Coal generation scrubbers are for all the toxic nasties in the burning rock. Doesn’t affect CO2. Coal burning emits 2.5 times as much as burning gas/KWh.

        If you don’t know how the chemistry works, it’s because coal is mainly carbon that burns in air to produce mostly CO2 and all the energy.

        Gas is different, as there are two reactions happening to produce the energy. Burning LNG/Methane , CH4, in air produces both water vapour (the 2H2 + O2 reaction that makes the Space Shuttle lift off, plus CO2 from the Carbon burning in air, so less of the energy comes from burning carbon than burning hydrogen. And the gas itself is pretty clean when burnt, so little else to scriub.

        E&OE

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        • #
          Rod Stuart

          Perhaps I have misinterpreted, but it sounds like you are suggesting that a simple cycle gas turbine produces only CO2 (which is of no consequence) and no NOX, which is.

          00

  • #
    King Geo

    I AM DEFINITELY LOL NOW (thank god I am from WA not SA).

    The Weatherill SA Govt is the laughing stock of the world – at least Denmark doesn’t have one of world’s largest uranium deposits nor ample natural gas (like the Cooper Eromanga Basin). March 2018 can’t come come quick enough for SA voters to rids itself of the worst State Govt in living memory.

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    • #
      Sceptical Sam

      If the Liberal Party doesn’t manage to defeat these labor incompetents at the next South Australian State election then South Australia will get everything it deserves.

      Unfortunately, it’s the rest of Australia that pays for it.

      And, if the Liberal party – should it win the SA election – doesn’t abandon the stupid renewables policy, then it will also get everything it deserves at the next Federal election.

      570

      • #
        James Murphy

        The rest of Australia suffers, but before writing-off the whole of SA, don’t forget that less than 50% of SA voters cast their ballot in favour of Labor.

        Admittedly, this still shows that SA has a sizeable percentage (and number) of dimwits…

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        • #
          Dennis

          SA also has an electoral gerrymander that advantages the Labor Party in state elections.

          Last year the Electoral Commission revised boundaries easing the gerrymander situation but Labor still retains the advantage. They challenged the redistribution in the High Court and lost. The challenge indicated how desperate Labor are to cheat their way back into power.

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          • #
            OriginalSteve

            I propose we call for the govt to be sacked, Gough v2.0

            After all , precedent has been set, and quite frankly it only seems to happen, deservedly so, to Leftists….

            60

          • #
            Freedom of Beach

            Dennis, It is also an electrical gerrymander ‘favouring one party or class’ of energy over another, with disastrous results for the wellbeing of South Australian society for generations to come.

            Whilst SA’s wind factories are ostensibly ‘saving the planet’, Weatherill is in reality seeking to save his thin political skin with shiploads of diesel for when the wind doesn’t blow and the lights go out !!!

            90

    • #
      Rereke Whakaaro

      I am sitting here, wondering which part of the saying, “When you find yourself in in a deep hole, stop digging”, the South Australian Labour Party doesn’t understand?

      They have all the appearance of small children, running down a hill. Once they are going they can’t stop. And if the try to stop, they fall over, graze their knees, and cry for mother.

      Mother in this case, will presumably be the Federal Government, and thus all Australians will share the angst, in the fullness of time.

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      • #
        Robert Christopher

        “When you find yourself in in a deep hole, stop digging”

        Very inappropriate advice if you were in a coal mine producing cheap coal! 🙂

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      • #
        Roy Hogue

        RW,

        Your likening them to children is right on the money. We’ve been in the hands of children for a long time. When in a deep hole, stop digging, requires that first you’re able to tell that you’re in a hole. If you can’t determine that, you see no need to change anything. And so it goes and goes and goes… …forever.

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    • #
      Manfred

      It doesn’t have to be this way.

      Yes it does. It is a watermelon cult initiation rite.

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  • #

    SA Power Networks? I know nothing about them, but I’m ready to bet that there are some staunch Labor/Green supporters in key positions who are totally passionate about saving the planet thingy. Even more passionate than those people who run Asia’s mega-refineries. There’s nothing they won’t do for the planet thingy. Nobody greener or tree-huggier than an oil man these days.

    Now, I wonder what happens when the price of diesel drifts to the level of, say, late 2007…

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    • #
      toorightmate

      The majority owner is Mr Li Ka-Shing – a fair dinkum Aussie.
      I wonder which way his political donations go.

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  • #
    el gordo

    ‘SA will be building a new gas generator in two years time to take advantage of obscenely high gas prices.’

    Not necessarily, the pseudo Marxists have intervened into the free market.

    ‘The Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism is due to be in place by July 1, even though the draft policy was only released on June 13, leaving gas exporters scrambling to respond and ready their businesses.’

    Read more: http://www.afr.com/business/energy/gas/gas-market-on-edge-as-bass-strait-disruption-sends-prices-north-20170630-gx234w#ixzz4lTwQKGZg
    Follow us: @FinancialReview on Twitter | financialreview on Facebook

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    • #
      David Maddison

      I don’t like the term “pseudo Marxist”. What do they believe or disbelieve that a Marxist doesn’t?

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      • #
        Kevin Lohse

        Marxists believe in violent revolution to secure the socialist utopia. Pseudo-Marxists don’t like anything that goes bang and scares the cat.

        30

  • #
    Glen Michel

    This Country will go on with this nonsense for so long that most of us here will be in despair. There is no end to this idiocy; you can point out the deficiencies, wastage, inefficiencies and utter failure, but no one will be listening. Peak stupidity! It’s in the streets and everywhere. Sauve qui peut!!

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    • #
      Glen Michel

      Actually, I’m so peed off with this bilge that I’m going fishing. Stuff you politicians. I wish someone with influence would ask if they had the confidence of the army.This place NEEDS something radical done.

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      • #
        Rereke Whakaaro

        If asked, we can send a gum-boot.

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        • #
          ROM

          Gumboots used to be used to stuff tomcats down into them head first when something radical was to be carried out regarding the future of the tomcat’s sex life.

          Not sure how this technique could be applied to the politicals but if Rereke can send some green, red, blue and rainbow coloured gumboots over, I’m sure somebody will think of something.

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    • #
      Sean McHugh

      I suspect that Australia has the worst politicians in the western world.

      00

  • #
    James

    Have these politicians investigated logistics of diesel supply in a state that has zero refining capacity? These generators will consume about 500000 of diesel per day. I have assumed a 50 percent efficiency, and a 50 percent run time per day. South Australia gross state product o6 6 percent of Australia’s GDP. From what I can determine Australia’s on road diesel fuel consumption is 30,000,000 liters per day. So six percent of this 1800000 liters, so we would be looking at a large increase in fuel consumption, all of which has to be imported into the state, and often from outside the country.

    Does Australia have any refining capacity left operational?

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    • #
      Sceptical Sam

      Good question.

      My understanding is that Australia has just five refineries operating – Mobil Altona and Viva Energy Geelong in Victoria, Caltex Lytton and Eromanga in Queensland, and BP Kwinana in WA.

      Kurnell, Clyde and Matraville in NSW all closed. Crib Point in Victoria closed. Bulwer Island in Queensland closed. Port Stanvac in South Australia closed.

      Five operating, six shut.

      Says it all doesn’t it.

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    • #

      No refinery at Kurnell any more, but there’s a desal plant, as new but for some rust and storm damage. Lots of rain has got in, but no desalinated water yet.

      Will that help?

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    • #
      Rereke Whakaaro

      You can consume a lot of diesel, in shipping diesel around a country the size of Australia, to the locations where the remaining diesel will be used.

      Do they have no logistics expertise in the Government?

      Are they not on speaking terms with the Army, who are usually proficient in such matters?

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      • #
        yarpos

        mmmmmm….they are talking lots of shipping. Once they get the diesel to SA they will need to start moving it around again as they seem to be talking about a distributed 220MW around the State.

        Doesnt seem enough even if you add the proposed 100MW for 30 minutes battery. I thought they had a > 300MW problem that really cant wait 2 years for an answer.

        110

        • #
          Graeme No.3

          yarpoz:

          You are assuming that the SA Government can do simple arithmetic. They are ignoring, or have forgotten, that Hazelwood shut down so they believe that supply from Vic. will come to their rescue. If it doesn’t stand by for Weatherdill and Tom the Expensive claiming that the eastern States have stolen ‘their’ electricity.

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      • #
        David Maddison

        Maybe they could build a diesel pipeline from Victoria. It would be just like an electrical interconnector…

        61

    • #
      Yonniestone

      An interesting link to Diesel generator on wiki (accuracy?) goes into the various sizes, capacities and supporting main utility grids, abstract;

      During normal operation in synchronization with the electricity net, powerplants are governed with a five percent droop speed control. This means the full load speed is 100% and the no load speed is 105%. This is required for the stable operation of the net without hunting and dropouts of power plants. Normally the changes in speed are minor. Adjustments in power output are made by slowly raising the droop curve by increasing the spring pressure on a centrifugal governor. Generally this is a basic system requirement for all powerplants because the older and newer plants have to be compatible in response to the instantaneous changes in frequency without depending on outside communication.[8]

      How much you ask;

      Fuel consumption is the major portion of diesel plant owning and operating cost for power applications, whereas capital cost is the primary concern for backup generators. Specific consumption varies, but a modern diesel plant will at its near-optimal 65-70% loading, generate 3 kWh per litre.

      Send the bill to the greens

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    • #
      John Michelmore

      As of end of April 17 Australia has 20 days of diesel in stock, mostly imported, its been like this for years. You worry too much, if shipping was affected by war etc we’ve still got some bees wax we can make candles with here in SA, but maybe all those diesel trucks bringing the GST and the other essentials from the east, to SA, might stop. My goodness we had better order some more diesel, I’ll send Jay an email, this might have slipped his mind!!

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    • #
      John Michelmore

      As of end of April 17 Australia has 20 days of diesel in stock, mostly imported, its been like this for years. You worry too much, if shipping was affected by war etc we’ve still got some bees wax we can make candles with here in SA, but maybe all those diesel trucks bringing the GST and the other essentials from the east, to SA, might stop. My goodness we had better order some more diesel, I’ll send Jay an email, this might have slipped his mind!!

      50

    • #
      Dennis

      The fuel transport firms will be running their hands together, all that extra fuel transportation, jobs for drivers of up to four tanker trailer rigs burning Diesel in their massive Diesel engines.

      40

  • #
    David Wood

    Actually that’s quite small change even though the rest of Australia will be paying most of it.
    Under the Renewal Energy Target, Turnbull is planning to encourage spending of about 40 billion dollars over the next few years to increase wind and solar generation by 33500 GWh per annum by 2020. A lot of this money will no doubt be courtesy of the long-suffering taxpayers via subsidies and the like.

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    • #
      Rereke Whakaaro

      … 40 billion dollars over the next few years to increase wind and solar generation by 33500 GWh per annum by 2020.

      I tend to get an itchy nose, when I see phrases like that. It sounds good in the press release, and it will give the vaporous luvvies the warm fuzzes. But it is so ambiguous as to be meaningless.

      Is that 40 billion dollars a year? Or is it 40 billion dollars in total? If it is 40 billion dollars in total, how will the money be spread over the period between now and 2020?

      If it is spread, what are the incremental benefits along the way, or do we need to wait until 2020 to know if the policy was successful or not.

      And does the, “increase [in] wind and solar generation by 33500 GWh per annum”, imply an additional 33500 GWh, every year between now and 2020, or is 2020 the end date when the sum total of 33500 GWh will suddenly come on-stream?

      If we are discussing a total of 33500 GWh incrementally coming on-stream between now and 2020, how much will actually be commercially available over each the next three years?

      As soon as you spend money on infrastructure, you are committing to continue to spend money on maintaining the infrastructure. Does the 40 billion dollars include the ongoing maintenance of the previous year’s installations, over the remainder of the project?

      And how much money will need to be put aside to maintain this 33500 GWh over its projected operational life? Is that also accounted for, within the 40 billion dollars, or will it be separated out as, “an operating cost”, and if the latter, how much will need to be put aside in each annual budget to cover the maintenance and depreciation costs.

      In short, 40 billion dollars does not sound much, if you say it quickly enough as just one sound bite, in a larger presentation of sound bites.

      The reality will be, that the total overall lifetime costs will be at least ten times that much, if not twenty times.

      That is what the Australian Taxpayer will be expected to pay for.

      250

      • #
        Manfred

        DW #7: Turnbull is planning to encourage spending of about 40 billion dollars over the next few years to increase wind and solar generation by 33500 GWh per annum by 2020.

        RW #7.1: And how much money will need to be put aside to maintain this 33500 GWh over its projected operational life?

        Assuming perfectly orientated sun tracking, perfectly clean panels, it is ALWAYS worth remembering that their average efficiency is 15% of rated output, which declines at a minimum of 1% pa.
        Wind generation capacity factor is stated to be around an average of 25% (range 2.7% – 75%) in Australia. The life of a windmill is around 25 years BUT as the cost of maintenance increases it adds to the cost of power. Windmills also decline in efficiency, by as much as 25% of ideal production value, over a decade or more.

        If the Australian government intends to generate 33500 GWh from wind and solar, it will need to set-up a nameplate output of what, perhaps four to six times this value to achieve the goal output? Is that why ‘”about $40B is required over the next few years.” As RW pointed out, the vagueness of the estimate is as telling as the proposition is weak.

        Others may analyse this far more effectively than me, but at first glance, it seems that here lies another Watermelon lemon policy by any other name, doomed to impoverish most Australians in return for nix.

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        • #
          David Wood

          Manfred,
          It is difficult to find reliable numbers for the capacity factors of wind and solar farms. Does anyone know of a reliable source for such numbers?

          50

          • #
            Graeme No.3

            Reliable source – NO. The figures being quoted in Australia run 30-33% which is quite high by world standards and rival those in Texas.

            Nominally the closer you go to the poles the higher the CF ( Shetlands 48-50% ) North Cape ( Norway) 57%. But (on-shore) Germany is 16-18%, Denmark 21-23% and the UK 21-27% . The variability is because SURPRISE! some years are windier than others.
            The figures all overlook that for roughly 30% of the time the turbines are stationary but drawing some power from the grid. And quite a bit more when they start up ( turning the nacelle, hub grid motors turning blades to the right angle etc.) And if they are placed too close together there is the ‘wind shadow’ effect reducing output as well.

            The easiest way is to take the figure given out by the turbine owner before the turbines start producing and reduce it by 15-20%.

            40

      • #
        David Wood

        Rereke,
        A little clarification is in order.

        The Renewable Energy Target (RET) see http://www.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au/RET/About-the-Renewable-Energy-Target was introduced in mid 2015 with the aim of increasing the amount of renewable energy produced by 33000 GWh in 2020. Since the capacity factors of wind and solar farms are rather low ( say 25% and 20% respectively) the installed capacity required to produce 33000 Gwh is rather high. If the same ratio of wind to solar production as was the case in 2015 continues to apply about 9.2 GW of new wind capacity and 7.6 GW of new solar capacity would need to be installed between mid 2015 and the end of 2020. Reasonable current estimates of the cost of building wind and solar farms are at least $2million per MW for wind and $3million per MW for solar. This is the basis of the éducated’ estimate of $41.2 billion (about $40 billion) which will need to be spent between mid 2015 and the end of 2020 to achieve the RET.

        Quoting from the above government source.

        ”The Renewable Energy Target works by allowing both large-scale power stations and the owners of small-scale systems to create large-scale generation certificates and small-scale technology certificates for every megawatt hour of powe​r they generate. Certificates are then purchased by electricity retailers (who supply electricity to householders and businesses) and submitted to the Clean Energy Regulator to meet the retailers’ legal obligations under the Renewable Energy Target. This creates a market which provides financial incentives to both large-scale renewable energy power stations and the owners of small-scale renewable energy systems”.

        At the end of the day, consumers of electricity must bear the total cost of this government scheme. In my opinion it is simply a back door way of implementing the Carbon Tax.

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        • #
          Rereke Whakaaro

          David,

          Not meaning to criticise, but you are focussing on the administrative and accounting thought-bubbles related to what is desired, and hopefully expected, at some point in the future.

          As soon as I read, “Reasonable current estimates of the cost of building wind and solar farms are at least … [some guesstimate] for wind and [another guesstimate] for solar”, I start looking around the room, to see if I can spot the large, smelly rodent.

          And what do we mean by, “educated ‘estimate’ of $41.2bn”? I was assuming that we were discussing new technology, at least, “new” to the Australian situation. So where and how did this “education” in estimates to suit the Australian environment come from?

          Is a panel of competent, and registered, Electrical Engineers willing to put their individual names to this scheme?

          The fact that, “at the end of the day, consumers of electricity must bear the total cost of this government scheme cock-up”, is the one thing I agree with you on. And as I said before, “the total overall lifetime costs will be at least ten times more [than the estimate], if not twenty times”.

          50

          • #
            David Wood

            Rereke,
            I don’t think you were too critical. The capital cost guesstimates are mine.
            I’m retired now (Chem Eng), but spent most of my career involved with the construction of major industrial plants in the aluminium industry. The capital costs per MW I used are an amalgam of the wide range of data available on the internet and are for land based wind farms of about 3.5 MW per individual tower and medium sized solar farms 10-100 MW capacity which seems to be the most usual size in Australia. I agree that the $40 billion estimate is probably conservative and does not take into account all of the costs associated with the plants including transformers, transmission lines, roads etc, which no doubt would add considerably to the cost of putting these plants into operation. Thus the $40 billion only represents the initial cost of building the facilities, certainly not the lifetime cost of operating them and disposing of them when they fail or become obsolete. It’s probably true that the government and hence the taxpayers of Australia will pay for a goodly proportion of the total, and that most of this will end up in overseas hands.
            As an aside I live on the Sunshine Coast and our local council has decided to join the renewables gravy train and is constructing a 15MW solar farm at a published cost estimate of $50 million ($3.33 million per MW). Whether it will actually be built for this is yet to be seen and am certain that the council will be most reluctant to publish any significant overruns if (when) they occur.
            I agree with Tony Abbott’s view of global warming as crap, and think that the expenditure of vast sums on so-called renewable energy facilities is an overly expensive waste in attempting to fix a non-existent problem.

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      • #
        Dennis

        Just over one billion dollars is the approximate cost of one major public teaching hospital.

        50

        • #
          David Maddison

          Which is probably about five times what it should be were it not for CFMEU union thugs whereby an unskilled labourer gets $151,000 per year.

          91

          • #
            Dennis

            David during the dockside union battle with employers it was reported that waterside crane movements per hour were way behind world’s best practise at around 17 per hour and after the dispute ended and the workforce reduced considerably crane movements increased to about 25 per hour.

            A friend told me that he had met a young wharfie in his early twenties, a forklift truck driver who was earning an average of $80K a year (1990s). And that to obtain work on the docks the applicant needed to be a union member and have a relative already working there.

            80

        • #
          Graeme No.3

          Except in SA

          20

          • #
            Graeme No.3

            That was meant for Dennis at 17.1.3.

            The new Royal Adelaide Hospital is said to have cost $A2.8 billion (ABC) or $A3.1 (The Australian).

            It is said to have 120 beds more than the old RAH (the ABC) or less than the old RAH (The Australian quoting the Doctor’s union). It is likely to be the latter because the State Government has now announced a new hospital for women to be built alongside the one about to open.

            30

            • #
              James Murphy

              How much money did it cost taxpayers to merge the Queen Victoria hospital with the Children’s hospital in the (I think…?) early 90s?

              Now they want to split them again…? Wonders will never cease.

              There is no doubt that hospital services need to change to accommodate a changing population, but judging by other actions, long term planning is not something understood by anyone involved with the SA government in the last few decades.

              30

      • #
        OriginalSteve

        Shame on you Rereke for asking for specifics and accountability. 🙂

        The only way this lunacy will stop us if a politicians relative dies on the operating table when the franken-grid they have created, claims its first victim….

        30

        • #
          Rereke Whakaaro

          Sorry Steve,

          I am just getting sick of the wishy-washy, “the government is doing all this for you, and for the environment, and it will all be wonderful when it all eventually works”.

          30

          • #
            OriginalSteve

            That’s quite ok, I knew what you meant.

            My concern us that Aussies ate so apathetic ( and a bit stupid / niaive ) that it will take something significant to truly wake them up.

            However, the Pinkos have thought of that, which is why we have police state laws created but not in use, and significant beefing up of the police into paramilitary units to put riots down unmercifully…..

            00

      • #
        ROM

        $40 billion for renewable energy over the next few years? No problem!

        I thought we taxpayers / government were having trouble raising and justifying $55 billion to build the NBN and so the cost had to be reduced to a minimum [ now $50 billion going up! ] if we were to get a nation wide broad band network.

        Seems that Turdbull’s and the politicians attempts to “Save the Planet” comes at some considerable cost to the low status proletariat whose welfare and health and living standards and means of warming and cooling and feeding themselves must be sacrificed to “Save the Planet” all over again.

        Done of course to the loud sounds of Regalia’s of green Trumpets heralding the visionary and truly great watermelon coloured politicians who in their personal sacrifices and their “serving” [ ??? ] of the populace are “Saving the Planet”all over again.
        Albeit at that same polulace’s expense all over again!.

        [ sarc/ ]

        40

    • #
      Robber

      33,500 GWh is the 2020 renewable energy target or about 23.5% of total electricity demand – to be met by wind/solar/hydro. We are already at about 14%, 6% of which is hydro.
      So the increase over the next three years requires wind/solar to increase from 8% to about 18%. The Clean Energy Regulator tracks progress through the allocation of clean energy certificates. There are over 500 accredited renewable energy power stations in Australia with around 40 new accreditations each year.

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  • #
    thingadonta

    Diesel comes from oil of course, and yet the South Australian government, under pressure from the greens, hinders oil exploration off the South Australian coast to make it virtually impossible, despite BP and others wanting to explore there for the last decade or so. Where do they think the oil in the diesel generators comes from?

    The greens live in a dreamworld where there is no mining, (yet they use laptops, bikes, copper wiring, iphones, TVs, cutlery, and fly metal-based planes to conferences); no quarrying (yet they use roads, have houses, tiles, bricks, pavements, glass, ceramics, buildings etc); and no oil or gas exploration, (yet they use diesel generators, gas power stations, planes, hybrid cars and gas heating when renewables don’t function).

    You will never see anything so contradictory and so ridiculous as when greens want to thwart, ban, hinder, obstruct, and ban every mine, every quarry, and every example of oil exploration and production, whilst at the same time utilizing all of these things every single hour of every day in which everyone actually lives. They even go to protest metal mines using metal loudspeakers in metal cars, and protest oil exploration using oil-based cars and boats.

    Their contradictory dreamworld just doesn’t wash with the laws of nature and science, yet they call themselves nature and science enthusiasts.

    So now we get more expensive fossil fuel generators paying for and making up for the less expensive fossil fuels which was stopped by the usual greenwash ideology.

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    • #
      TdeF

      The real ignorance is that the Greens know no chemistry. This is from the founder of Greenpeace, Dr. Patrick Moore.
      So they think oil and coal and gas and diesel are alldifferent.
      Only coal is hated.
      Diesel, the stuff which runs Green diesel cars, is ok. Far preferable to coal.

      It says a lot about the failure of our school system that you can get to be Premier and know nothing.
      Then Steve Bracks former Victoria Premier was against dams because “dams don’t make water”. Another genius.

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      • #
        Yonniestone

        The Water cycle, Carbon cycle, Milankovitch cycles its all a mystery to child minds, I heard they thought the Menstrual Cycle was a German motorbike…..

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        • #
          Crakar24

          LOL yonnie

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        • #
          David Maddison

          I learned about the Milankovitch Cycle in about grade 5 and in addition through my own reading. I doubt even a university “professor”, who is probably an “affirmative action” appointment, would know about that these days.

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      • #
        thingadonta

        “dams don’t make water”.

        Yes, current green thinking is that dams can’t store water when it doesn’t rain so they aren’t useful in drought, and can’t stop floods as they would be already full. Any self-respecting 1st year engineer or 8 year old can see through this claptrap.

        What dams do is mitigate against excess drought, and excess floods. But then, greens arent known for understanding mitigation against extremes, as their whole thinking and approach is based on extremism.

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        • #
          TdeF

          It’s cruel and inhumane to trap water against its will. Water should run free to the sea. Drought is natural. No one should interfere with nature. However it is the very nature of humans to interfere with nature so we can live. We cannot eat trees. We need water and salt. We need food. Everything we do is unnatural and the Greens are against it. Especially evil dams.

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      • #
        Allen Ford

        Speaking of Greenpeace, they once tried to ban the industrial use of chlorine!

        60

        • #
          David Maddison

          Worse than that, a bunch of morons signed a petition (in US) to ban water!

          https://youtu.be/zfTUklMF9Wg

          61

          • #
            Rereke Whakaaro

            I am not surprised. To most Americans, water comes from a faucet in the kitchen, but it ain’t all water y’all. It’s got all of them other chemicals like the Florine, and the Clorine, and all of that stuff. I tells ‘ya it just can’t be healthy.

            40

      • #
        Dennis

        From personal experience too many of the politicians are naive, green-like mental capacity and gullible.

        50

      • #
        StefanL

        And they yearn for hydrogen-powered cars without thinking about where the hydrogen comes from.

        00

    • #
      Leonard Lane

      thingadonta.
      Perhaps it is time for Australia (especially in SA), and the civilized West, to look at the totality, and especially long-term, motives of the leftists/greens. Is it Socialism/Communism? Is it population decreases by decree? Is it one party rule? Is it to weaken individual countries to bring on world government a la Agenda 21?
      We probably do ourselves a great disservice when we assign ignorance, craziness,ineptitude, and honest but unworkable intentions to them and their actions.

      160

      • #
        Rereke Whakaaro

        It is all driven by the idealogical concepts expressed in Agenda 21.

        But it is all wishful thinking about an intended end-state. But it doesn’t stack up, when you look to the practicality of actually doing something.

        It is like interpreting nature through the works of Beatrice Potter.

        140

        • #
          Manfred

          RW, as I understand it, Agenda 21 has been supplanted by the (Post-2015) Sustainable Development Agenda (with a 2030 date of self-actualisation) and the UN Urban Agenda, Habitat III. Both use the familiar UN vernacular and both, as you pointed out, are consistent with the ideology initially expressed in Agenda 21.

          90

          • #
            Len

            They are both current. Agenda 21 is local e.g. Local Government. Here is Australia their HQs are in Melbourne. Agenda 2030 is a global project. All UN run.

            60

      • #
        thingadonta

        I’ll give another example which illustrates the issues.

        Victoria has currently banned all gas development and exploration onshore, both conventional and unconventional (fracking) despite safe practices for decades, and world wide for over a hundred years. Ostensibly, to ‘protect farmers’. But this isn’t what it is about, it’s more about competition with government.

        The Victorian government recently asked the Federal government for funds to assess the gas in the state after the recent gas debates, yet at the same time they ban private industry from doing exactly the same thing. This tells you what it is about, they don’t like successful industry accessing, and competing with, government funding and for resources; this is also what happens under communism, all the resources are saved for the bureaucracy.

        Imagine if Victoria shut down all banks to ‘protect the people’, and then asked for funds to do some banking for themselves. They would be laughed out of existence, yet that is what is happening with Victorian gas as we speak.

        81

    • #
      James Murphy

      With regards to BP in the Great Australian Bight, BP went into that project knowing that there was going to be significant activist noise and opposition (they made this quite clear in a project summary provided to the company I work for). The wells they wanted to drill were extremely challenging and complex, and, perhaps most importantly, and despite the Greens ignorant ranting about oil spills, may not have actually found anything economic anyway (there is only so much that seismic data, and very shallow, and distant offset wells can tell you, no matter how hard you cross your eyes, squint, apply fudge-factors, and play with inversion techniques) and that was before the oil price really took a nosedive.

      As much as I would love to blame the Greens, and the SA government for BP indefinitely delaying their work, it really came down to financial decisions made by BP HQ.

      20

  • #

    This new reliance on Diesel for power generation in South Australia stems from the choice of fuel for their coal fired power plants.

    Queensland – Bituminous Black Coal

    New South Wales – Bituminous Black Coal

    Victoria – Lignite Brown Coal

    South Australia – Dynamite!!!

    Tony.

    531

  • #
    pat

    no cost is too great when the G20 is coming up and we’re finding out it’s so much worse than the CAGW mob claimed it was yesterday:

    29 Jun: BBC: ‘Very strong’ climate change signal in record June heat
    By Matt McGrath
    The June heat waves that impacted much of the UK and Western Europe were made more intense because of climate change say scientists…
    Britain experienced its warmest June day since the famous heat wave of 1976.
    Human-related warming made record heat 10 times more likely in parts of Europe the researchers say…

    Now, researchers with World Weather Attribution have carried out a multi-method analysis to assess the role of warming connected to human activities in these record temperatures.
    “We simulate what is the possible weather under the current climate and then we simulate what is the possible weather without anthropogenic climate change, and then we compare these two likelihoods which gives us the risk ratio,” Dr Friederike Otto from the University of Oxford, one of the study’s authors, told BBC News.
    “We found a very strong signal.”…

    In Central England, France, Switzerland and the Netherlands the intensity and frequency of such extreme heat was four times as likely because of climate change, the study says.
    “We found clear and strong links between this month’s record warmth and human-caused climate change,” said Geert Jan van Oldenborgh, senior researcher at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI).
    “Local temperature records show a clear warming trend, even faster than in climate models that simulate the effects of burning fossil fuels but also solar variability and land use changes,” van Oldenborgh added…

    “Hot months are no longer rare in our current climate. Today we can expect the kind of extreme heat that we saw in June roughly every 10 to 30 years, depending on the country,” said Robert Vautard, a researcher at the Laboratory of Climate and Environmental Sciences (LSCE), who was also involved in the study.
    “By the middle of the century, this kind of extreme heat in June will become the norm in Western Europe unless we take immediate steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”…

    While, usually, researchers wait to publish research like this in a peer-reviewed journal, the team felt that speed was necessary to inform public debate.
    “When extreme events happen, the question is always asked ‘what’s the role of climate change?’ and often the statement is made by a politician or by someone with a political agenda and not based on scientific evidence,” said Dr Otto.
    “Our aim is to provide that for the role of climate change, to show what you can robustly say within the time frame when people are discussing the event.”
    http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-40449234

    apart from about 3 days of heat, it sure was looking cold at the tennis around England throughout June.

    30 Jun: UK Independent: Ian Johnston: Climate change sceptics suffer blow as satellite data correction shows 140% faster global warming
    New research ‘substantially undermines’ claims that satellite data proved the Earth was not warming as quickly as thought, Dr Zeke Hausfather says
    by Ian Johnston
    Using information from the satellites, the scientists, Dr Carl Mears and Frank Wentz, of Remote Sensing Systems, a California-based research company, developed a new method of correcting for the changes…

    Writing in the Journal of Climate (LINK), the scientists said: “The changes result in global-scale warming … about 30 per cent larger than our previous version of the dataset…
    In an article on the Carbon Brief website (LINK) about the new research, data scientist Dr Zeke Hausfather said it showed an even faster rate of warming since 1998 – at nearly 140 per cent – than previous satellite-based studies…

    “This new correction to the … data substantially undermines that argument. The new data actually shows more warming than has been observed on the surface, though still slightly less than predicted in most climate models.”

    Dr Hausfather explained the problem with interpreting climate data from satellites due to their subtly changing orbit.
    “As these satellites circle the Earth, their orbits slowly decay over time due to drag from the upper atmosphere,” he wrote…
    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/climate-change-sceptics-satellite-data-correction-global-warming-140-per-cent-zeke-hausfather-a7816676.html

    whatever.

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      Roger

      In the UK – as has always been the case with ‘record heat waves’ – it is not localised heating (i.e.. the UK getting hotter of its own accord) it is hot winds blowing up from Africa and thence across Europe and the UK. It is the same thing when we have record cold spells except then it is sub-zero winds from the arctic or siberia.

      But the eco-warrior warmists prefer to ignore those simple facts – they don’t fit the agw narrative.

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    • #
      Allen Ford

      Meanwhile, down here in the Land of Oz, we are experiencing record cold temps for June.

      Sydney has just shivered through its coolest June day in 21 years although the worst of the cold spell is probably over for now.

      Sydney’s maximum temperature for Monday reached just 11.7 degrees making it the coolest day for any month in 20 years, said Brett Dutschke, senior meteorologist with Weatherzone.

      The Ice age cometh!

      20

      • #
        el gordo

        Not quite, that story is so last year.

        Still, its been chilly, but nothing unusual for this time of year. Except for the dryness, lack of winter rains is a result of the intensification of the subtropical ridge. which is apparently a global warming signal.

        10

    • #
      OriginalSteve

      The only way the Cage bubble will burst is if sceptics speak to people to educate them.. .

      10

  • #
    TdeF

    So the expected cost is $114Million? Then like everyone else they will also have to buy LGCs which will cost a further $228Million in overseas payements, taking the cost to $342Million, all to avoid generating CO2 but diesel generators generate more CO2/kw than Hazelwood? You can only think South Australia has GST money to burn, which is why they are also demanding the bank’s money, our money.
    Plus all this RET and Diesel money is heading overseas as we do not make diesel generators and increasingly not even diesel. When will the madness end, this sado masochistic exercise in power by Weatherill.

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  • #
    TdeF

    It is clear Weatherill can see the blackouts coming this summer. The State election is 17th March next year. So he has to keep the place together and blame everyone else. Who cares how much it costs? It’s not his money anyway.

    280

    • #
      TdeF

      The Victorian State election is 24th November next year. Queensland on 15 May 2018. The question is whether even Malcolm can survive as leader of his own party through the winter break. Queensland’s election may be soon too. The electricity disaster is going to be front page every day and Weatherill’s response is to spend more?

      250

      • #
        Graeme No.3

        TdeF:

        There is an election due in Tasmania May 2018 as well, or did you mean them not the first Qld?

        70

    • #
      Robber

      The pollies will make sure there are no blackouts before the SA election, but there will be “brownouts” in selected electorates. And the way industry is leaving SA, their power demand will continue to drop.
      SA peak summer demand a few years ago was up to 3,400 MW, but recently it has been under 3,100 MW. Holden will close its Elizabeth car manufacturing plant on October this year, further reducing demand.
      And they have a plan:
      Other strategies under investigation to reduce demand and infrastructure costs, both nationally and within the state, include:
      – pricing changes – offering electricity customers incentives to reduce their electricity use during peak times
      – giving customers a better understanding of their electricity use – by using technology that gives electricity customers the ability to track their electricity use, customers can have greater control over their appliance use during peak times.
      – direct load control – providing customers with incentives for helping relieve local peak pressures by turning off appliances or reducing their use during peak times
      – encouraging electricity customers to self-generate, eg using solar PV panels or wind turbines, and potentially store energy to use during peak times to relieve local demand pressures.

      It will make for an interesting election campaign. Ads on how to save electricity to save a government.

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      • #

        See where robber mentions these points:

        – pricing changes – offering electricity customers incentives to reduce their electricity use during peak times
        – giving customers a better understanding of their electricity use – by using technology that gives electricity customers the ability to track their electricity use, customers can have greater control over their appliance use during peak times.
        – direct load control – providing customers with incentives for helping relieve local peak pressures by turning off appliances or reducing their use during peak times

        This is in reality a crock.

        For almost a decade now, those in power have been saying virtually the same things, and nothing much has changed, because people actually just go on ….. living their lives.

        Those peak power periods have NEVER changed, and it’s a simple thing to see from any Load Curve of actual power consumption.

        There are two distinct Peak power periods. The Morning Peak starts from (around) 5AM to (around) 9.30AM, and the Afternoon/Evening Peak is from (around) 3.30/4PM and goes until (around) 9/10PM. It’s most visible during the cooler Months Load Curve, and I’ll show you a link later on in this comment. While most visible on that Curve, the same applies for the Summer Months, except it is hidden because power consumption just keeps rising during the now hotter days as those huge buildings consume so much because of the air requirements inside them, and their inside temperature differential compared to the outside air temperature.

        Note carefully the time of those two peaks, and the first is when everyone wakes up in the morning, and does their normal morning routine, washing, showering, breakfast, turning on the heater to warm up. Then, as they all leave the home for school and work, the power consumption drops off.

        That second Peak is when school ends and the children all come home, and fire up their devices etc. Then around five, mums or dads or both all arrive home from work. They do the chores, clothes washing and drying, vacuuming, etc, and they turn on the heater, they cook the main evening meal, the TV goes on, and all the lights go on. The meal ends at around that 8PM mark, but all the lights, the heat, and the TV and devices are still running, power slowly dropping off, and then falling overnight as they all go off to bed.

        Now, why I said all this, then refer back to those bullet points above.

        So, how are you going to make people change their lifestyles, breakfast and evening meal times, school and work start and finish times. It hasn’t happened over the recent years and frankly, it won’t change.

        Even if it does, how many people will actually do something like this, change all those things.

        Consider then that in this same State, South Australia, residential power consumption is only 27% of the total consumption. So, any minor change is only that, a minor change on only 27%, barely anything at all, when that evening peak is barely 2300MW.

        These bullet points are all just mindless platitudes put out by politicians who have no concept of what power consumption really is. The amount of people actually making any of those changes would be so small as to change almost nothing at all.

        Okay then, here’s the link to what that Winter Load Curve looks like, and keep in mind that this is actually for South Australia.

        Link to Load Curve (this is a pdf document and when you arrive at the link, scroll down to the top of page 14, and it’s title is Figure 2)

        See those two distinct Peaks in the AM and PM.

        Now, I’m also willing to bet that some of you wonder about that spike at 11.30PM.

        How many times have you (and more importantly me) heard that the overnight power consumption is just down to off peak water heating. I hear it endlessly, that that of itself is the ONLY major overnight power that needs to be catered for, and would be alleviated if everyone changed that or went to rooftop solar water heating.

        See that spike. Well, that is every off peak hot water system in South Australia turning on, as explained in the text on the page immediately above that Load Curve image.

        That is 150MW or around 10% of overnight power consumption at that time, and it’s the same percentage for every State, so where that overnight power total (the ABSOLUTE Base Load) is 18,000MW, then off peak water heating is around 2,000MW of that, so changing that, then overnight Base Load drops to 16,000MW, still a huge amount of power, considering everyone is sound asleep.

        Those politicians who mention things like this have no real concept of what power consumption really means, and changes like this will never come to pass.

        In the privacy of their own homes, people will always just ….. live their normal lives, by the normal times they are restricted to. Change Breakfast and Dinner, School and work times. It’ll never happen, and any changes will be so minute they will not even alter consumption by any amount of consequence.

        Tony.

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        • #

          Incidentally, from that same Report I linked to, and this was for 2015/16, when they still had their coal fired plant operational, that Interconnector to Victoria showed that Victoria was supplying 15% of South Australia’s total power consumption, and the system losses were 9% the largest in Australia, and umm, I was just wondering which State had the largest amount of wind power.

          This year, (Report due at the end of August) will probably show that Victoria might be supplying even more than that 15%.

          Tony.

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  • #
    Ruairi

    Cheap coal-fired power, no way,
    For Australians who live in S.A.,
    Where the climate-change clots,
    Buying diesel megawatts,
    At twelve times the price is OK.

    380

  • #
    Alan Watt, Climate Denialist Level 7

    You could always invite a US nuclear aircraft carrier into port for the summer — The two A4W reactors on the Nimitz class ships can generate 100 MW of electricity each. I don’t know what it would cost to entertain the 5,000-member crew for several months however …

    80

    • #
      James

      As long as they get paid by the US Government while in Australia, there should not be a problem. However you might want to think about locking up you daughters though!

      70

    • #
      Manfred

      AW, CDL7 #14:

      The SA presstitutes should be able to turn a tidy sum then, practicing their prestidigitation.

      40

    • #
      Kevin Lohse

      Could you build a maternity hospital in 9 months….?

      00

  • #
    Phillip Bratby

    This is nothing compared to the UK, where £billions are being spent on installing diesel generator sets to run for about 100hours per year under what is known as STOR (short term operating reserve). The costs are horrendous, to go along with the pollution and increased CO2 emissions.

    190

  • #
    rich

    I am a citizen of Ontario Canada. Sorry to say it but it makes me chuckle to know governments other than my own can be so utterly insane on electrical generation.
    Just had to say that!

    270

    • #
      Dennis

      We are all blood relations and as my grandmother use to say, infected with leftist blood from Great Britain Communist unionists who fled from their mother country to escape the Royal Family.

      30

  • #
    Harry Passfield

    wWen all the dust – not to mention pollution – settles about diesel, there is only one word that will float to the top of the pile of slime that effects to be saving the planet: corruption! There will be a few politicians with multi-million portfolios when it comes out.

    200

    • #
      el gordo

      Its noble cause corruption but they don’t quite see it the way we do, the politicians really think they are helping to save the planet for our grandchildren.

      They look at us with contempt and derision because of our indifference to the scary scenario presented.

      80

      • #
        Rereke Whakaaro

        I don’t agree. There is quite a lot of money to be made, apres politique, in directorships, or working with investment companies, who just love working the networks.

        20

  • #
    Another Ian

    To add to SA’s nightmares

    “M Simon says:
    30 June 2017 at 11:36 am

    Wind farms vulnerable to hacking.

    https://www.wired.com/story/wind-turbine-hack/

    A Raspberry Pi is used.”

    https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2017/06/01/tips-june-2017/#comment-84651

    80

  • #
    PeterS

    Let the SA government broke, which it will if it continues down the insane road of relying more and more on renewables scaring businesses away leading to a collapse in government revenue. It will serve a valuable and important lesson to the rest of Australia, assuming they have eyes to see and the brains to understand, which I doubt.

    90

    • #
      TdeF

      The $370 million SA bank ‘levy’? Just a grab for cash but as the banks are National, we all have to pay. With 4% of Australia’s population, Weatherill expects 96% of the cost and pain will be borne by people outside South Australia. Like the double GST payments.

      Consider though that the Banks could and might ring fence the cost to South Australia, if only to stop the idea spreading to other states, the idea that the banks are the new rich and bank robbery is in fashion. Say 400,000 households in South Australia. 300,000 mortgages. That’s an extra $1000 per household. So mortgage rates could rise in South Australia as the banks pass on the levy only to South Australians as a government levy. It is no less fair. Then watch Weatherill backtrack.

      There was a time when governments were the people. NOw they are hungry monsters, from council to state to Federal. They care more about Palestine than say the former car cities of Elizabeth or Geelong, more about CO2 than food or jobs and more about sharks than people.

      190

    • #
      Sceptical Sam

      TdF is right. With the possibly unconstitutional SA bank tax, all Australians will pay.

      However, I’m pretty sure that’s why the socialist incompetents in SA went for it.

      Let’s hope that the banks take them on and test the policy in the High Court. Although, with Gonski being Chair of the ANZ and a left wing stooge that might be harder than it should be.

      If State/Territory governments were serious about balancing their books they’d institute a Land Tax on all properties and slowly move away from their destructive payroll taxes and the like, and leave the banks and mining companies alone. See if you can work out why they won’t take that action.

      30

  • #
    TdeF

    It is important to note the chicanery in the current and recent ‘Liberal’ governments. At a Federal level there is a public story that they will penalise the states, specifically Victoria and NSW for banning the exploration and exploitation of gas.

    Firstly that does not affect current gas prices, it is all about the future not the present. Secondly the Victorian legislation could not have passed the Upper house without the cooperation of the Liberals and then the NSW legislation was by a Liberal government. There is a great deal of public misleading here as initiatives like banning dog racing and stopping the trapping of great white sharks are Green policy, implemented by Liberal governments.

    Overall the behaviour of Malcolm’s Liberals across Australia is to implement Green energy policies and environmental policies while pretending to oppose. Even Abbott asked on the dumping of his effective ‘Direct Action’, “when did the Liberals adopt Green policies?”. This can only be coming from the top. Say one thing and quietly do another.

    Then the coalition partner, the Nationals under Joyce are completely silent, say on the plebiscite. While journalists say the Nationals will see a politicians’ vote on the floor as a betrayal, a breaking of an election promise and the certain end of Malcolm, but not a single word from Joyce. It has been obvious from the first day that Joyce is 100% behind Turnbull, also ignoring his conservative base.

    Now consider Turnbull’s Liberals are suddenly paying $70million to the illegals on Manus, a different country and a facility run by private firms plus they are paying $20million to their lawyers without even presenting a case. Easy money. That is a blatant admission of fault by Australia, again a Green view that migration should be uncontrolled, as in Europe.

    Can we please have our real Prime Minister back? The one with Direct Action, the one who stopped the deaths at sea, the one who warned Europe of the dangers of uncontrolled migration, the one who called Climate Change crap.

    This Australian ‘Conservative’ government is throwing away our money and our international reputation with both hands, inviting the sort of disaster which is visiting Italy with 35,000 Africans in one day. Poor, often uneducated, illiterate, unvetted, unsuitable from a war zone, unable and often unwilling to be integrated into a functional Italian society and almost entirely male. We know what happens next.

    Green energy and migration policies are destroying economies, killing countries and dragging us back to medieval conflicts. They are unconscionable and in Australia all by pretend conservative governments. As Green’s Adam Bandt said to me, tell them what they want to hear and when we get power, we do what we like. A similar statement was made by Peter Garrett. These are the new politicians.

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    • #
      David Maddison

      Well said TdeF.

      The twin weapons being used by the Left to destroy Western Civilisation are:

      A) Expensive electricity due to the fr-aud of global warming.

      B) The deliberate importation into civilised Western countries of some of the world’s most uneducated, unassimilable and violent people.

      221

    • #
      el gordo

      The NSW Liberals are locked in a never-ending civil war between its conservative and moderate factions. The pseudo Marxists are taking over the party and we need to decide what to do about it.

      100

      • #
        TdeF

        According to Christopher Pyne, the war is over. They are in the winner’s circle. He even named his co-conspirators, ministers in the Abbott government but especially Attorney General George Brandis.

        I believe this was no druken moment. Christoper knew exactly what he was saying and that it would get out. How could it not?
        I believe he was asked to do it by Turnbull, a timed goad to Abbott and friends to bring on a challenge too early.

        If it doesn’t work, Turnbull has made a practice of sending out his cabinet members as kamikazes to push extreme ideas. If they succeed, he takes credit. If they fail, they are vilified, he scowls and they are finished as potential rivals. Morrison, Bishop, Pyne, Frydenburg. Now if he can only get Peter Dutton to say something outrageous, Malcolm is safer. Christopher Pyne will be lucky to be reelected, but on the salary of Leader of the House, he can retire comfortably.

        100

    • #
      el gordo

      ‘Stripped of the prime ministership, denied ministerial rank, threatened with the loss of his seat, Abbott, understandably, feels he has nothing to lose.

      “He’s a backbencher, an ex-PM, he’s bloody-minded, he has nothing to lose and he’s going for the full frontal assault,” says a cabinet minister.

      “He makes Kevin Rudd look like a wallflower.”

      Peter Hartcher / SMH

      70

      • #
        Dennis

        What I like about the full frontal approach is that it is open and honest.

        As compared to the Black Hand faction method of relentless negativity spread via MSM from anonymous sources who refused to be named.

        60

        • #
          Dennis

          Australians have no time for “wreckers”, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says, in a thinly veiled attack on his predecessor Tony Abbott after a week of infighting and division within the Liberal Party.

          Weekend Australian

          30

      • #
        TdeF

        Rich coming from Turnbull who crossed the floor to vote with Labor on an emission scheme. Rich from a man who with Morrison, Bishop, Brandis and Pyne and Paine were conspiring against their Prime Minister while in cabinet.

        Abbott is a backbencher. He has no particular responsibility except to his electorate and is able to say what he likes. If he says Kazakhstand is ahead of Australia in educational levels, that is only the truth, not opinion. If he says we are paying the world’s highest electricity prices when we are self sufficient in gas and coal which we cannot afford to buy, that is the truth, not opinion.
        He is simply asking if we are headed down the right path and his party should listen. He has no particular loyalty to Malcolm or the Cabinet. They were his ministers and betrayed him without a qualm.

        130

    • #
      Sceptical Sam

      TdeF said, in relation to the Nationals:

      It has been obvious from the first day that Joyce is 100% behind Turnbull, also ignoring his conservative base.

      This is what Barnaby Joyce said on Carbon taxes back in December 2016:

      …providing affordable and reliable power is the priority and taxing emissions would be pointless given Australia is already meeting its targets set out in the Paris climate agreement.

      “I fought against the carbon tax and there is no carbon tax under any government that I’m part of, nor will there ever be,” he said at a media lunch in Brisbane on Wednesday.

      “That is quite emphatically clear.”

      https://thewest.com.au/politics/there-is-no-carbon-tax-policy-joyce-ng-s-1640846

      I can’t see him changing that position. He knows what it means for his constituency, especially in the large regional towns and cities.

      20

      • #
        TdeF

        Yes, except that it is not true. The RET is the world’s biggest carbon tax, except that it does not mention ‘carbon’ and is not a tax. It is far worse, a compulsory payment to overseas interests for nothing at all we do not already own, our own coal and gas power. That is why we have the world’s highest electricity rates. We have the world’s highest carbon tax. $200 a tonne at retail for coal and $400 a tonne for natural gas, which has half the CO2. None of it makes sense but to listen to Joyce, you would think he had fought against carbon taxes and won.

        50

    • #
      el gordo

      Barnaby Joyce quotes presented by Skeptical Science (apologies for that) but gives a fair indication that Barnaby thinks like us.

      https://skepticalscience.com/skepticquotes.php?s=81

      20

  • #
    David Maddison

    According to Wikipedia, for diesel electricity generating capacities beyond 50MW open cycle gas turbines are more efficient.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_generator

    Also, shouldn’t diesel be used for its most efficient use as a transport fuel? It is too expensive as a fuel to use for electricity. I would think that the consumption of this amount of diesel fuel for electricity will distort the market and increase the cost of diesel.

    I thought the only countries that burned oil for electricity generation were oil rich Arab shiekdoms.

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    • #
      Allen Ford

      I would think that the consumption of this amount of diesel fuel for electricity will distort the market and increase the cost of diesel.

      The corn for motor fuel story all over again!

      50

    • #
      Bob Peel

      I often say that re-purposing gas, a portable, ready-to-use fuel likely to be highly valued for future transport, to generate electricity, makes as much sense as running your future car on coal. It only gets dumber carting and wasting all that diesel. Cheers

      40

    • #
      Rod Stuart

      David
      Take note that over the range of the load curve, simple cycle gas turbines lose efficiency quite dramatically at less than full load.
      It is not usually the case that such equipment is expected to operate at one load or not at all.
      Reciprocating engines possess a much flatter load vs efficiency curve, and are not as flat as CCGT.
      So the statement in Wikipedia, while perhaps true at one specific condition, is not true in the pragmatic sense.

      30

  • #
    David Maddison

    In the UK they have diesel subsidy farms to back up wind subsidy farms.

    Just when you thought things couldn’t get any more bizarre.

    https://amp.theguardian.com/environment/2015/may/06/uk-energy-bill-subsidies-driving-boom-in-polluting-diesel-farms

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      TdeF

      There has been a story over twenty years that diesel is less polluting because it has higher energy content per litre and used to be far cheaper as an industrial and primary fuel. Promoted as a Green fuel, now Europe is stacked with diesels and London has introduced a diesel tax partly because of the VW scandal, the much higher NO2 output of high compression combustion. As Nitrogen is 78% of the air, it is unavoidable and like SO2 dissolves to produce acid which eats buildings and lungs. Volkswagen gave people what they demanded, lower nitrous oxides if you did not stress the engine and the tests to prove it. So we are giving up really clean coal for diesel. These same people believe after a century of allegedly man made global warming that the seas will suddenly rise and drown them. Whether man is responsible is secondary to a clearly absurd proposition.

      So no Green voter objects either to backing up windmills with masses of diesels. This is only possible because of Green total ignorance on basic chemistry. Diesel good. Coal bad. Greenpeace even banned Chlorine, an element of the periodic table. A world ban on carbon would seem reasonable.

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        David Maddison

        NOx is only a problem in cities in certain weather conditions where it is not blown away by wind eg LA. NOx emission controls should be GPS controlled so they only operate in problem areas and elsewhere the engines can breathe freely and more efficiently without restrictions. NOx is produced by lightning in nature and like CO2 is a plant fertiliser.

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          TdeF

          We fought against real pollution, acid rain in the 1960s and 1970s and largely forced the removal of Sulphur from petrol, especially Venezuelan petrol. The sulphur was killing our cities, falling as Sulphuric acid, SO2 into H2SO4. It was eating our sandstone architecture, eating our concrete and eating us. The two great triumphs of environmentalism were the end of acid rain and the removal of particular matter. Our coal power stations are amazingly clean.

          However diesels in cities, NO2 dissolved instantly in humidity and clouds and water and rain to become HNO3, nitric acid. All of this might be fine for plants and occurs with lightning but it is not acceptable where humans live and Europe has hundreds of millions of diesel engines. Countries like Italy are the size of Victoria but with twenty times the population. Nitric acid is a disaster. CO2 is harmless. One is pollution. One is not. Carbonic acid is lemonade. Do not drink nitric or sulphuric acid.

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    David Maddison

    According to this USA calculation diesel is 45 times more expensive for a given amount of energy than coal.

    http://www.science-ebooks.com/ematrix7/cost_ratio_diesal_to_coal.htm

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    David Maddison

    I think the cost of electricity in SA is now approaching what it would cost to produce it yourself in your own backyard with a petrol or diesel generator.

    Won’t that be fun having millions of backyard generators going 24/7 and the sound and smells they make.

    Living the Green Dream!

    (Incidentally Green Dream is also the colloquial name of the sodium pentabarbital euthanising solution for animals. It contains fluorescein dye (green) so it’s not mistaken for a non-lethal drug.

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    the sting

    Back in the 1930’s ,in a northern Victorian town,my grandfather and another businessman installed a large diesel generator in the town and supplied electricity to the town and the immediate local area.It appears we are now going back to the 1930’s.

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      el gordo

      Just over the border in Canberra it was -8.7° this morning, the coldest 1st July since 1939.

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        Annie

        -4C here early today. Our two water pumps froze as did thick ice on a bucket of water. Well, it is winter and we’ve had -5/6C in previous years. Hey ho! Three cheers for power and woodstoves!

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    mmxx

    This galling SA government would consider $106M to be an affordable price to pay for its virtue signalling.

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      David Maddison

      Socialists are always good at spending other people’s money. The problem as Maggie Thatcher observed is that sooner or later it runs out.

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    Crakar24

    As an unfortunate resident of SA I am investigating ways to vote multiple times, does anyone have experience in that s area?

    Regards

    Crakar24

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      Len

      Democratic Party members in USA and particularly in California.

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      Dennis

      The Union Labor method, I have heard, is …

      “Vote early, vote often”.

      Most important in marginal electorates.

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      Sceptical Sam

      Cracker, I’ve posted on this before.

      It’s simple and very, very safe. Illegal. But safe. And that’s because the politicians won’t fix the corrupt system.

      This is how it works:

      As you know, you are not required to show any ID when you get your name marked off the Electoral Roll at the polling booth by the clerk who issues the ballot papers. There are multiple polling booths in each electorate. The Electoral Rolls are not linked between polling booths. So nobody but you know whether you’ve voted previously that day. When asked the question “have you voted in this election today” the answer is “No”. You are then given the Ballot Papers, go into a booth and vote as you please.

      What many Labor and Greens voters do is go to a polling both and vote in the name of their neighbours. When the Electoral Rolls are checked for non-voters and duplicates by the Electoral Commission after the voting is done, their neighbours are sent a please explain from the Australian Electoral Commission. The Neighbours say: “nope, not me, I voted once only at XYZ polling booth. So bugger off”.

      There’s no proof to the contrary.

      The trick to this scheme is to only vote in the name of your enemies. That means you need to know who they are. If they’re Labor or Green voters, then all’s the better. You get their votes and they get the AEC’s grief.

      My advice to you is not, repeat NOT, do do it. It’s illegal. But that’s how the unethical and immoral left do it.

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      toorightmate

      Obviously some folk are taking Halal Mal’s instruction to be innovative and nimble!!!

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    pat

    30 Jun: San Jose Mercury News: California in July: It’s time to hit the slopes
    But snowiest winter on record means major delays — or danger — for beloved summer sports like backpacking, mountain biking, trail running, kayaking and rafting
    By Lisa M. Krieger
    While the rest of America has moved on to lawn parties and backyard barbecues, happy skiers are still carving turns through the sweet, sticky pockets of lingering snow in the Sierra Nevada — where weekend lifts are spinning for the ninth straight month, even as temperatures soar to the mid-70s…

    Facing deep drifts of snow, thousands of hikers are re-routing the famed trail, which stretches 2,650 miles from Mexico to Canada. Or just calling it quits.
    For the first time in history, Squaw Valley and Mammoth Mountain haven’t even announced closing dates yet. On Saturday, Boreal will host a “Summer Shred” on its man-made glacier…

    It started snowing in November. And it didn’t stop until June…
    This winter’s snowpack in the Sierra Nevada exceeded that of the combined total from the previous four years. Squaw Valley got 714 inches — nearly 60 feet. That’s as tall as a six-story building…

    Last spring, Squaw shut its lifts on May 31. This year, the north-facing Shirley Lake and east-facing Gold Coast bowls still hold more than 7 feet of snow and may stay open until mid-July, said Squaw spokesman Sam Kieckhefer…
    “It’s fantastic. I’ve skied nine months this year,” said David Van Beek, 56, of Oakland, wearing a Hawaiian T-shirt, jeans and SPF 60 sunscreen. “And if they stay open in August, I’ll ski in August.”…

    Swimming? Brace yourself. The Tuolumne River, fed by snowmelt, is only 50 to 53 degrees. Lake Tahoe, at 58 degrees, is almost as chilly as the Pacific.

    Lake Tahoe is full — a mere two inches below its upper legal limit, demanding major water releases into the Truckee River, said U.S. Water Master Chad Blanchard. Every day this week, 62 different streams dumped an average of 3,000 cubic feet per second of water into the lake.
    “Much more water is coming in than we have room for,” Blanchard said…READ ON
    http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/06/29/california-in-july-its-time-to-hit-the-slopes/

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    Dennis

    Not on;y is it unacceptable, it is disgusting that our representatives, members of parliaments, ignore unnecessarily high cost of living but also undermine business ventures that service the economy and add to national prosperity all based on man-made global warming mythology and deception, taking far more notice of foreigners and UN based agenda.

    How much longer are the politicians prepared to squander our monies, and worse, to borrow to spend?

    Obviously too many of them are working towards international control of our country.

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    Dennis

    I can only receive ABC Television at the moment in FNQ and last night I viewed Stan Grant with a seriously deluded female discussing how bad Coal is and why Australia can manage a transition to renewables and be rid of the climate and health problems Coal is responsible for when burnt.

    I switched off after several minutes of her ratbag nonsense but there was a Coal miner interviewed who had all the right counter arguments, much to her frustration and Stan’s annoyance.

    This propaganda to captive audiences via ABC is unacceptable.

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    David Maddison

    The extreme stupidity of “green” power and the apparent inability for anyone in power or the sheeple to understand is just incomprehensible.

    Therefore it must be the elite Leftists doing this deliberately to destroy Western Civilisation as per my post above.

    Red Thumb troll, stop hiding you useless, uneducated waste of space and oxygen and come out of hiding an argue a point! You won’t because like all Leftists you can’t!

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      David Maddison

      Red Thumb troll, you have Red Thumbed me so come out and argue the point – or are you too stupid and illiterate?

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        TdeF

        Trolls don’t read. Functional illiteracy. Some trolls just go through an red thumb everything without any logic.

        However I note other sites have only like, not dislike. Clapping, not booing. Maybe that would be better? It’s nice to get recognition for a point well made. However I cannot see the value in red thumbing. Red thumb a troll and they enjoy the attention and it encourages them. I think the red thumb achieves nothing. So perhaps it would be better for people who disagree just to argue their case, not red thumb. A green thumb means something. A red thumb without explanation is meaningless. It’s Jo’s blog but I think a constructive idea. Debate is useful. Booing is useless.

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    Dennis

    Dear Voters

    Your South Australian Government is leading all states and territories in the transition to renewable energy, already there is 40 per cent renewables (our engineers told us that was the total capacity) and there will be more in future.

    In between time we are installing Diesel powered generators to secure electricity supplies during the election year 2018.

    Please do not question the logic, enjoy the air conditioning.

    Yours deviously,

    The Premier.

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    Len

    The oil companies are doing very well out of their support of the renewable energy industry. BP and Shell were/are involved in the Climate Research Unit at the East Anglia University. Their war on coal promotes the renewables. Since the renewables are not up to the task of providing the required energy, the diesel powered generators are doing it for them. With a coal based electrical supply there is no need for the diesel generators.

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      TdeF

      What is becoming clear and on topic is that the Green industry has given a Green card to Natural Gas and Diesel. Green energy.
      So they are happy to build gas powered stations and to talk of backing up windmills with gas and even diesel. Amazingly, no complaints from the Greens. Clearly Diesel is good ecologically. Neither petrol nor coal, both evil. What amazing ignorance!

      So the oil companies have joined forces to attack coal, as long as they are not attacked. It sounds so much like Italy joining the Axis powers when Germany was their enemy and devastated Italy in WW1. Similarly with Romania and Bulgaria. However Yugoslavia stood out and fought back, which cost them dearly. In Europe it is possible that Diesel is more popular than petrol and the oil companies have nothing to lose attacking coal.

      What you have pointed out is the unholy alliance of oil money with the University of East Anglia against climate change. It only means they will be the last to be eaten.

      Statistics in transport show that petrol and diesel/gas crossed over in 1998. Now diesel/gas is 2.5 times used as gasoline in Europe. Oil companies can afford to talk about Green diesel. Audi even advertised their diesel cars as Green.

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        Graeme No.3

        Hmm? Greenies as Oil Burners? Gas Bunnies – no, people will think of a different (Greenhouse) gas emission.

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          ROM

          OK! side tracking here a bit on diesel engines.

          Quite a number of years ago when the Chinese were hitting their straps in manufacturing ever more complex products, the executives of one of the major global earth moving and diesel engine manufacturers who paint their equipment yellow, decided to investigate the Chinese as manufacturers of a line of their big high horsepower diesel engines.

          They found a reliable and advanced manufacturer of engines in China who was prepared to produce their engines at a big discount, something like 15% or more compared to the American manufacturing costs of that engine line.
          So a manufacturing contract was signed for a pilot batch which when tested and broken down/dismantled for materials analysis and wear rates matched up in every way to the specs that the American manufacturers operated to.
          And manufacturing contract for some hundreds of engines was then signed.

          Shortly after it was discovered that another line of Chinese engines was appearing that was identical to the American engine design in every way when it was put through the American companies testing system as well as being considerably cheaper than even the engines manufactured by the contracted Chinese manufacturer.

          Some very annoyed and angry American executives fronted their Chinese engine manufacturer and accused him of knocking off the American engine design and flogging it at a much cheaper price.

          He vigorously denied it and pointed out to the Americans that it was his brother down the way in the Industrial Park who was producing those cheaper knock offs of American engine line from his own manufacturing company.
          And that he, the contracted manufacturer, had nothing to do with any price undercutting and out of contract engine production.

          The Americans thought about this for a while and then made their decision.

          They went down the road in the Industrial Park and contracted their next big batch of engines that met all their specs but were much cheaper again by a very considerable amount from the aforesaid brother.
          ———————–
          Told to myself some years ago by a senior executive from that same global earth moving and engine manufacturing company.

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    pat

    read all if u want to see where the other $2m-plus went:

    30 Jun: ClimateChangeNews: Cash begins trickling out of Green Climate Fund
    After a barrage of criticism, the UN’s primary climate fund has released $5.2m to a handful of projects
    By Karl Mathiesen
    On Friday, the Maldives received the first $3m of $23.6m committed to build better water infrastructure in the atoll nation, which is threatened by it lack of natural reservoirs, rising seas and saltwater intrusion.
    Achim Steiner, head of the UN Development Programme, which will manage the project, said: “We are delighted that the Green Climate Fund’s first disbursement to UNDP will help realise this exciting project, which will see almost a third of the population of the Maldives becoming freshwater self-sufficient over the next five years.”…

    But the amount of money remains tiny compared to the size of the fund and the scale of the problem. By 2020, under UN agreements, the Green Climate Fund is supposed to be administering a sizeable portion of a promised $100bn in climate finance every year…

    At the last board meeting, a member from the Democratic Republic of Congo called the fund a “laughing stock” for failing to meet the expectations of the developing world. He later retracted the comment after another delegate objected…

    The White House has called it a “slush fund”, underwritten by American taxpayers…
    http://www.climatechangenews.com/2017/06/30/cash-begins-trickling-green-climate-fund/

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    pat

    great headline, but what on earth is this doing in Nature?

    30 Jun: NatureClimateChange Editorial: Money for climate
    A judicious use of financial instruments today could protect the well-being of future societies but investment and ambition needs to rapidly increase to achieve this outcome…
    There are a variety of sources that can fund climate finance; the public ones include government-allocated funding often derived from carbon taxes and the revenues of carbon markets…
    Climate finance from public funds is projected to increase to US$66.8 billion by 2020, with additional funding expected to come from the private sector…

    Private investment is important to climate finance — in May 2017 the World Bank announced a commitment to increase climate finance to 28% of its portfolio by 2020; another example is the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, a multilateral development bank, with a 2020 target of 40%, up from 25% over the last 5 years…
    Green bonds are one way in which private markets finance environmental initiatives…
    It is heartening to see the shift in public and private commitment to green finance, but is it enough?…

    ***In 2013, the World Economic Forum estimated US$5.7 trillion will be needed annually by 2020 for green infrastructure…

    The (WEF) report suggests that public funds would need to increase to US$130 billion, an increase over the Green Climate Fund target of US$100 billion, to leverage US$570 billion of private capital. Currently the Green Climate Fund has pledges of just over US$10 billion and United States withdrawal may decrease this by US$2 billion, highlighting a gap between what is needed and what is currently happening…
    http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v7/n7/full/nclimate3343.html?WT.ec_id=NCLIMATE-201707&spMailingID=54393869&spUserID=OTM5Nzg3ODc0NjcS1&spJobID=1185141896&spReportId=MTE4NTE0MTg5NgS2

    dream on.

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    TdeF

    You have to laugh at Malcolm Turnbulls’ accusations of wrecker against Abbott. Disloyalty.

    So where was Abbott’s Minister for Communications, his Minister for Foreign Affairs, his Attorney General, his Leader of the House and Minister for Education, his Minister for Defence when their loyalty was needed? It seems they always voted for Turnbull and Turnbull actually crossed the floor? Abbott would only have to cross the floor to bring down Turnbull’s government and he is accused of disloyalty to the party and the policies. What party? Whose party? What energy policy? What defence policy? Which submarines for Christopher Pyne?

    It is high farce in every state. The Liberals stand for nothing under Turnbull and friends, not even loyalty to their own voters. Now hundreds of millions on imported diesel generators. It would be funny if it was not serious. Diesel backup does not even make sense when you are blowing up working power stations.

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      Graeme No.3

      Standby for the opening of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital in early Sept. The old one will be demolished – will they dynamite that?

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    pat

    Aniruddh Mohan believes in CAGW, less coal, more nuclear, but he does face some of the facts about renewables:

    1 Jul: ScrollIndia: The gleam of solar power is blinding India to the challenges of switching to renewable energy
    In a country where power-for-all is still a distant dream, a rapid transformation to green energy is unfeasible.
    by Aniruddh Mohan
    (Aniruddh Mohan is a Humboldt Foundation International Climate Protection Fellow for 2017-’18 and research fellow at Tandem Research)
    The Bloomberg New Energy Finance New Energy Outlook 2017 report released last week estimates that renewables will comprise 49% of India’s power generation by 2040…

    Is it the right goal?
    While there has been a plethora of analysis on whether India will meet the 175 GW goal by 2022 – the overwhelming consensus is that it will not, as the current capacity stands under 60 GW and the country is adding less than 15 GW per annum – few have stopped to ask if such a goal is even desirable.
    The record low renewable energy prices also masks the facts. First, renewable energy continues to be generously subsidised in India, so there is no fair basis for arguing that it is cheaper than coal or other fossil fuel. Second, particularly in the case of solar power, the prices are so low that they are unsustainable…

    The low bids pose significant risks over the lifetime of the project, which are being ignored in the race to gain a foothold in a booming solar industry – in short, this is a bubble…

    Thirdly and most importantly, the metric of Rupees/KWh or Levelised Cost of Electricity, which reflects the full life-cycle costs of a power-generating technology and is used to compare electricity prices, is flawed measure for evaluating intermittent electricity sources such as solar and wind energy, which add significant integration costs to the grid…

    The basic problem of wind and solar generation is that it cannot run all the time as it is dependent on the availability of the energy sources. For instance, in India, the peak power demand is at 6 pm, when solar energy is not available…

    However, in countries like Germany, where renewable energy penetration is relatively high, operators find it difficult to maintain grid reliability despite significant grid interconnectivity within Europe and infrastructure systems that are far ahead of India, where the primary grid-balancing mechanism is load-shedding.

    Germany also has one of the highest prices for electricity in the world, with the renewables revolution paid for by consumers…
    https://scroll.in/article/841899/the-gleam-of-solar-power-is-blinding-india-to-the-challenges-of-switching-to-renewable-energy

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    pat

    A MUST-READ…LENGTHY:

    1 Jul: Townhall: Paul Driessen: Monumental, Unsustainable Environmental Impacts
    Demands that the world replace fossil fuels with wind, solar and biofuel energy – to prevent supposed catastrophes caused by manmade global warming and climate change – ignore three fundamental flaws.

    1) In the Real World outside the realm of computer models, the unprecedented warming and disasters are simply not happening: not with temperatures, rising seas, extreme weather or other alleged problems…READ ALL
    https://townhall.com/columnists/pauldriessen/2017/07/01/untitled-n2349132

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    TdeF

    Also there is a vast difference between spending money on your own energy needs and those of others. LGCs are needed only if you resell electricity, not if you generate your own.

    So Arrium is going to build its own gas power plant. The submarine corporation also is already spending $30Million on its own generators. If you live in South Australia, it would be cheaper to generate your own electricity than to pay an additional double to strangers for the right to buy coal or gas or diesel power.

    So supermarkets, butcher shops, factories, whole streets could band together and get big generators. It would be far cheaper. Maybe Adelaide Airport could have their own big diesel generators. Shopping centres. No more stopped elevators, shut down airports. Hospitals. Thousands of diesel generators across Adelaide churning out millions of tons of CO2 and NO2 and all to prevent the use of clean coal or natural gas by large power stations. Maybe even get a briquette heater? Now that’s Green madness but at least your transmission towers will not blow over and the power turn off when you need it most.

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      TdeF

      Just a thought. Maybe Weatherill really means he will power his own offices, his own areas, taxation, public servants and more using your money? Think of the savings for the government, not having to pay triple, mainly to agents and people overseas? They could avoid the RET. It must be very inconvenient for Weatherill when his office shuts down and his elevators do not work. 200Megawatt should just about keep the essential business of government going when everyone else is stopped. After all, the government is nearly the only employer left.

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    pat

    what to make of this?

    1 Jul: Gold Coast Bulletin: Gold Coast game developer to sue Nine Network Australia for billions
    by Martin Rasini
    Kyle Hodgetts, a pioneer of computer and arcade gaming, is seeking $2.475 billion in defamation damages along with costs.
    In documents lodged with the Supreme Court in Brisbane, he claims the Nine Network’s A Current Affair unfairly besmirched his character in a program aired in 2014.

    Mr Hodgetts some years ago established Mysol Solar to develop and market solar-energy packages, and the program alleged overdue rent, fraudulent tenancy applications, and unsatisfactory product…READ ON
    http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/business/gold-coast-game-developer-to-sue-nine-network-australia-for-billions/news-story/a10c415d1d927c41e87f7ae2ec12b6ff

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    pat

    30 Jun: NYT: Solar Trade Case, With Trump as Arbiter, Could Upend Market
    By DIANE CARDWELL
    But for American manufacturers, those cheap panels — specifically, a glut of low-cost supplies from overseas — have not been a good thing, driving more than a dozen of them to the brink of bankruptcy and beyond.
    Now, manufacturers are fighting back, in an unusual trade case that could put the final decision about government intervention, and any remedy, directly in President Trump’s hands…

    The outcome could have a powerful impact on whether the American solar industry will be able to compete on cost with conventional fuels like natural gas and coal in producing electricity.
    And China, Mr. Trump’s frequent foil on trade issues, has interests on both sides of the fight…

    The petition seeks steep tariffs and minimum price guarantees on certain solar energy equipment made outside the United States. The commission is set to vote on the merits of the case by Sept. 22, and send any recommendations to the president by Nov. 13. But it is already reshaping the market.
    Prices for solar panels have increased as buyers rush to get ahead of potential tariffs. Solar-farm developers have become skittish about long-term commitments to supply power at prices that could become uneconomical if tariffs, which can be applied retroactively, raise their costs.

    “It clearly throws a wrench into what is already a challenged global market,” said Shawn Kravetz, president of Esplanade Capital, a hedge fund based in Boston that is focused on solar energy companies. “There are going to be winners and losers. The list of losers is long.”…READ ON
    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/30/business/energy-environment/solar-energy-trade-china-trump.html

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    pat

    read all…anonymous source…hope it’s true:

    30 Jun: GWPF: E&E News: Emily Holden: EPA To Launch Red Team/Blue Team Program To Evaluate Climate Science
    U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is leading a formal initiative to challenge mainstream climate science using a “back-and-forth critique” by government-recruited experts, according to a senior administration official…

    “The administrator believes that we will be able to recruit the best in the fields which study climate and will organize a specific process in which these individuals … provide back-and-forth critique of specific new reports on climate science,” the source said.
    “We are in fact very excited about this initiative,” the official added. “Climate science, like other fields of science, is constantly changing. A new, fresh and transparent evaluation is something everyone should support doing.”…READ ALL
    https://www.thegwpf.com/epa-to-launch-red-teamblue-team-program-to-evaluate-climate-science/

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    pat

    VIDEO: 20mins22secs: 30 Jun: NoTricksZone: P. Gosselin: Trump: Paris Accord Rejection Matter Of Sovereignty…Announces “New Era Of American Energy Dominance”!
    President Donald Trump gave remarks at the “Unleashing American Energy” event. If there are still any lingering questions as to the president’s commitment to dumping the Paris Accord, they can now be laid to rest for good…READ ALL
    http://notrickszone.com/2017/06/30/trump-paris-accord-rejection-matter-of-sovereignty-announces-new-era-of-american-energy-dominance/#sthash.ctXKUbcU.vgY0CEmj.dpbs

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    Crakar24

    Just went shopping with the missus (my job is to push the trolley) it was the most expensive food shopping in 20 years.

    This is the hidden cost of high power prices, companies either go broke or pass the costs on. The actions of our governments is criminal.

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      Yonniestone

      Slight correction Crakar24, our job is to push the trolley and make stupid suggestions on what to buy.

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      Graeme No.3

      Don’t wworry Crakar24, if Turnbull and the green crew continue down the slippery road to ruin, supermarkets will be adding more to the bill.
      I wonder if your bill in future will be
      Groceries = X
      Govt. tax = X+10% = Y
      stupid Govt. decisions = Y+23% =Z
      cost of emergency generation = Z +15% = final bill

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      Len

      She who is to obeyed?

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    pat

    Victoria would like some Global Warming:

    1 Jul: ABC: Victoria shivers through cold morning with sub-zero temperatures across the state
    By Andie Noonan
    Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Richard Russell said the coldest temperature recorded was at Mount Hotham Airport where it was -7.9 degrees Celsius.
    In the state’s north-east overnight it dropped to -6.9C in Rutherglen, -5.6C in Wangaratta and -6.5C in Omeo.

    In Melbourne, Essendon dropped to -2C this morning, its coldest temperature since August 2003…
    Other parts of Australia also felt the chill, with the temperature plummeting to -8.7C in the ACT overnight…
    Mr Russell said the cold snap was partly due to recent dry conditions in Victoria…ETC
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-01/victoria-shivers-through-sub-zero-temperatures/8669894

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    pat

    1 Jul: ABC: Canberra shivers through -8.7C morning on first day of energy price hike
    By Elise Pianegonda
    The overnight minimum was only 1.3 degrees short of the all-time low of -10C set in July 1971.
    And the mercury is expected to drop again tonight – with a low of -7C predicted.
    But, while Canberrans took to social media to show they had braved the chill, Goulburn’s temperature had dropped a further degree to -9.7C.

    Chilly start to higher energy bills
    To add insult to injury, July 1 also marks the first day of increased energy prices.
    The average Canberra household will be forced to cough up an additional $580 for electricity and gas per year after ActewAGL raised its prices.
    And, if you use a wood heater to stay warm, you are being urged to switch to more sustainable heating methods.

    Wood heaters are considered the largest source of air pollution in the territory and the ACT Government said they were also having harmful health impacts.
    Environment Minister Mick Gentleman encouraged Canberrans to take advantage of a $100 rebate to remove their wood heaters, as the winter nights hang in the negatives.

    “Perhaps using dryer, well-seasoned, untreated wood, opening the air control fully when starting the fire, using smaller logs to maintain a vigorous fire and also not leaving the fire smouldering overnight,” he said.
    But Mr Gentleman said correct burning methods would also help to save money, to offset the rise in power bills.

    ***”We’re getting to our 2020 target of 100 per cent renewable electricity, so we need to look at our other forms of emissions as well,” he said.
    “Using your wood heater correctly will improve our air quality and save you money and keep your home warm this winter.”…
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-01/canberra-shivers-through-minus-8c-morning/8669920

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    pat

    original headline – “How you will be paying more in SA from today” – made no mention of power price hikes.
    the story itself leaves the increased energy prices to the very end of the article and doesn’t give it a big sub-heading as ABC does for GUNS and BANKS:

    1 Jul: ABC: Fines increases and power price hikes from today for South Australians
    By Ruby Jones
    On top of that, South Australians are waking up to increased energy prices — which, ***according to some are now the most expensive in the world.
    AGL, Energy Australia and Origin Energy will all increase their prices, by up to 19.9 per cent, which is expected to add hundreds of dollars to annual household bills.
    Overall, it could be an expensive start to the new financial year.
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-01/how-you-will-be-paying-more-in-sa-from-today/8668942

    ***”according to some” is a nice touch, Ruby.

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      Curious George

      The article is four years old. It is approximately correct – to generate a 50 Hz power, your generator does not have to run at 50 rps, but maybe at a third or a tenth of that speed, in any case, the rotational inertia helps to stabilize the frequency. And it is correct that with expensive design changes the windmills can be used for the purpose. Solar is mercifully omitted.

      It ignores the main problem – wind does not always blow and the sun does not always shine.

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    Egor the One

    Diesel Generators ? How about new coal powered real power generators, and Bulldoze the Prayer Wheels of Toy power and gross forced tax payer funding? How about that? Where is that TurnBull appointed gloBull warmer clown Foinkel on that ??

    What happened to so called environment issues ? From Coal to Diesel?? Brilliant! Another dumb Weatherill initiative!

    Which is worse : Despot Dan of VictoriaStan, or WindMill Weatherill of Lights Out SA.
    Both states have businesses lickity splitin’ for the border and overseas before they get taxed and power priced out of existence.

    No one could be doing this just from stupidity ! There has got to be dollars involved somewhere for the propagators of such state and country wide destructive policies. Rackets that are being masqueraded as do-gooder policy at best and stupidity at worst.
    Akin to calling a theft/robbery as ‘a bad move or mistake but with somehow original good intentions’.

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    Peter C

    Failure of the Bass link cable

    It was a while back now, but I never saw an explanation for the failure of the Basslink cable.

    I did email Basslink and asked them but they did not reply.

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    The choice here seems to have been simple enough. Either spend $8m or lose some electricity generating capacity with no clear alternatives. Having made the wrong decision, South Australia’s Government are now left with short-term contracts from the most flexible source of energy which are diesel engines. Even long-term diesel is expensive, but short term, without proper forward planning is even more so.

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    fobdangerclose

    ditto

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