As underwater gas pipes explode, ponder that a third of UK gas comes from an underwater pipe

The UK is pretty much one wayward submarine away from losing a third of its gas supply. Even if the pipe stays intact, it’s already a national security crisis. It’s a vulnerability that will affect the UK’s ability to bargain with confidence or battle right now.

German authorities are saying that the pipelines will be rendered unusable if salt-water has entered the pipes. Corrosion will make them unrepairable.

UK Norway Pipeline Gas.And lets not forget there are a lot of other underwater cables which nations with unreliable energy are now utterly dependent on. Here in Australia, an interconnector trip led to the Statewide blackout in South Australia, and the Bass Strait cable break (not even an act of war) left Tasmania on the verge of one for five months. In both cases they lost hundreds of millions of dollars, but it would be so much worse if that happened today during a global energy crisis when there’s is already a bun fight for spare parts and spare fossil fuels.

The UK imports 11% of its power from Europe, half from France, and two years ago President Macron was threatening to block an interconnector in a battle over post-Brexit fisheries.  In a unsettled world, countries which don’t have energy security don’t have any security at all…

The EU may unravel when push comes to shove and nations with energy don’t want to share.

NetZeroWatch: It’s an energy emergency

As war on gas pipelines escalates, Britain faces national security crisis

In a letter to the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, Net Zero Watch director Dr Benny Peiser has warned that the sabotage of three Nord Stream gas pipelines in the last 24 hours has brutally revealed how Britain’s energy system and its entire economic and societal stability is exposed to grave external threats.

Dr Peiser writes:

There is now a serious and growing risk to Britain’s national security due to the extreme vulnerability of the gas pipeline from Norway which provides a third of UK gas supplies.

It is vital that you understand that a similar attack on the Norwegian gas pipeline would, on its own, completely cripple the UK economy. This extreme vulnerability must be fixed as a matter of national priority, and must take precedence over all other considerations.

NetZeroWatch has eminently sensible suggestions.

Emergency agenda

All obstacles to the development of unconventional fossil fuel resources in the UK must be removed. In particular:

  • Replace the current traffic light system, based on seismicity, with BS5228-2, the ground-acceleration standard applied to other industries.
  • Fossil fuel extraction to be categorised as Nationally Significant Infrastructure under the terms of the Planning Act. This should include projects in Scotland.
  • Planning applications for shale wells must cover drilling pads rather than individual wells.
  • Get coalbed methane and coal seam gasification projects going again, overruling Holyrood if necessary

Other

  • Suspend the Climate Change Act
  • Suspend pollution controls on thermal power, thus allowing dual-fuel use of gas-fired plant and the development of ultrasupercritical coal-fired power stations.
  • Several coal and nuclear stations to close in next few years. Critical risk that these are not maintained in the meantime. Give them long-term agreements to ensure they remain on the grid and are maintained.

Map: Wikipedia

9.4 out of 10 based on 92 ratings

179 comments to As underwater gas pipes explode, ponder that a third of UK gas comes from an underwater pipe

  • #

    Yes and not just undersea pipelines but also undersea cables for communications and the internet all around the World. The are ALL at risk.

    551

    • #
      Ted1.

      Yairs.

      At last somebody noticed.

      Now to make sure the necessary measures are carried through without delay.

      Do not fail to understand that this is war.

      351

      • #
        yarpos

        Ive been pondering the necessary measures to protect 1000s of kilometres of pipeline / cable to the extent you could stop a professional military operation against them. I doubt those measures exist.

        280

        • #

          The uk will be able to offer you a contract to cover security on the 2500 mile cable that will connect north Devon with a vast solar array in morocco. What can possibly go wrong once Yarpos security systems is on the job?

          195

    • #
      PeterW

      Which is a threat that someone without these vulnerabilities – like, say, Vlad Putin – would like us to fear.

      He’s already shown us that gas is more important to him as a weapon, than as a source of revenue.

      1514

      • #
        Graham Richards

        Actually the media, the EU & it’s supporters believe Donald Trump is responsible for this.
        After all, “ orange man bad “. 😂😂😂😂😂
        He has to prove that his warnings of energy infrastructure in Europe was true!

        290

      • #
        PeterW

        Europeans are pointing out that if GAZPROM has contracted to provide gas. If it does not do so, there are financial penalties for breach of contract.

        No doubt I will get more hate for mentioning this, from those who insist that Biden is the only bad-guy in the world.

        32

      • #
        Erny72

        Peter, are you seriously buying into that ‘Putin is weaponizing gas’ narrative from your single source of truth are you?
        Maybe in amongst all the yelling from the fake news you didn’t notice that Russia continued to honour its contracts for gas deliveries, even to countries who are openly aiding and abetting the clowns in Kiev. The disruptions to gas deliveries are because the muppets in Brussels insisted on sanctioning themselves from their most dependable supplier of gas and then between themselves and their Canadian ‘partners’ they couldn’t figure out how to repair a clapped out turbine without breaching their own sanctions. That latter case of s**** in one’s nest has of course been exacerbated by Gazprom suddenly becoming quite officious about compliance and commissioning paperwork, but then Russia has demonstrated a growing ability for trolling the ineptocrats of the Peninsula over the last six months and moreover, what did those ineptocrats imagine would happen after getting into bed with the clowns of Kiev? Have none of them read the force majeure clauses in their supply contracts? Never mind though, according to Ursula van der Lyin’, the Russian economy is ‘in tetters’ and they’re stealing microchips from dishwashers to keep the Kalibrs and Khinzals flying.

        [Let’s try not to turn every thread into Russia v The West at #1. Thanks! — Jo]

        00

    • #
      Geoff+Croker

      Simply import all UK citizens to Australia and make England a wild life sanctuary for Gaia worshipers. A new Gaia mecca.

      173

  • #
    David Maddison

    All the warmists, promoters of “net zero” and other advocates of the destruction of the energy supply and Western Civilisation in general should assist by immediately reducing their energy consumption such as stopping their use of private cars, stop flying, stop heating their homes, go on a vegan or insect diet etc.. Or better yet, take a once-only one way plane trip to Africa and start living as a nomadic hunter-gatherer.

    682

    • #
      Eng_Ian

      But what if you have a holiday to Fiji planned, can you still go? Do you need your mother to go on the offensive for your defence?

      No wonder the kids go on strike, it’s all so confusing. Strangely, they never strike be giving things up themselves, it’s always somebody else who has to do the heavy lifting.

      371

    • #
      Terry

      We cannot in good conscience inflict these people on aspirational Africans.
      They, like all good people, desire to raise themselves from poverty through the judicious deployment of fossil-based energy.
      And all power to them. We should be assisting however we can, not necessarily through charity, but at least by getting out of their way.

      No, The Leftist Misanthropes are toxic by-products of our society – our problem.
      We should be safely storing them in places like Antarctica (nice and balmy after all that AGW), or better still, at the north pole in summer.

      271

    • #
      Graham Richards

      We, in Australia are so lucky not to be anywhere near the Russians & the CCP of China, being the fine upstanding philanthropists that they are would never think of interfering with our tottering energy infrastructure. Chris Bowen can vouch for them.
      😱😱😱😱

      192

    • #

      how about stopping exhaling that noxious planet destroying pollutant carbon dioxide, you know that evil plant food if you are a veggan/sarc

      00

    • #
      Erny72

      Ah but David, you know how these things are among those who demand everyone else change our ways to suit their ‘my way or the highway’ dogma; “rules for thee but not for me”

      00

  • #
    TdeF

    More windmills! Faster! And cover the place with solar panels! It’s a Climate Emergency. We’re going to freeze from Global Warming!

    561

  • #
    David Maddison

    Once Great Britain also has a lot of offshore wind subsidy farms that occasionally produce power at random if the wind is blowing.

    These are all highly vulnerable to having their cables cut as well.

    Here is a list.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_offshore_wind_farms_in_the_United_Kingdom?wprov=sfla1

    181

  • #
    R.B.

    Step 6 : put your head between your legs and kiss your …

    Are we relying on Putin to have the cool head in this situation?

    151

    • #
      Terry

      ‘Are we relying on Putin to have the cool head in this situation?’

      Not at all. Plenty of Europeans with cool heads this winter.
      None of them amongst the authoritarian masters though.

      261

    • #
      yarpos

      name one leader in that whole mess who has a cooler head

      111

    • #
      PeterW

      Only if it takes a “cool head” to realise that starting a shooting war with the West will ruin Russia.

      Bit then, this is the man who uses carpet-artillery on civilians who won’t give in to his demands

      02

      • #

        Russia has more nukes than any other country on Earth. How is that “shooting war” a cool head play…

        60

        • #
          John+PAK

          Imagine how much better off the peoples of Russia, America and China would be if they halved military expenditure and stopped being so paranoid about each other.

          21

          • #
            Terry

            ‘Imagine how much better off…’

            If we just disarmed everyone completely.
            If we could just perfect human nature.
            I wonder why no one has already tried that…oh wait.

            30

  • #
    TdeF

    On the bright side, the UK is heading for nett zero. Everything. Energy, manufacturing, heating, transport, food and just in time for winter. And the planet will be saved, at least that little patch known as the UK. The planet has to be saved, country by country.

    Except for poor struggling third world China which generates 2.5x as much CO2 per person than the rest of the world and is soaking up all the world’s resources and is never, ever mentioned by the UN or Greta or the WEF or the EU. They are exempt. Besides activism only works in democratic countries. You vanish in the others.

    Even in the US you get 30-40 armed FBI agents to arrest or intimidate anyone who displeases the government. Even an ex President. And there is nothing like six machine guns pointed at your head at close range in your home at breakfast time and in front of your family to suggest you might change your opinion on abortion.

    In democratic countries from Daniel Andrew’s Victoria, Trudeau’s Canada and Biden’s America, armed police are being used to threaten everyone. In China you just vanish. All to save the planet.

    641

    • #
      PeterW

      In China you just vanish

      …. and in KGB-Vlad’s Russia, you are jailed for “corruption”, or blown up by “terrorists”.

      87

      • #

        In Russia people fall from hospital windows.

        It happens so often that Google offers an autoprompt “Russia fall from hospital window”

        82

        • #
          Old Goat

          Jo,
          The big question for me is how many are caused by the KGB and how many are the work of the CIA and other “intelligence” services (weapons grade oxymoron there). As you are flying the flag for the “rebel alliance ” please be careful . If you lived in the USA you would probably be getting a visit from the FBI by now .

          40

          • #
            Chris

            That’s true!

            20

          • #
            PeterW

            Ok…. so how many Republican politicians have been accidentally shot by the FBI.

            Biden is septic, no doubt. But people trying to pretend that Biden is the Great Satan and the cause of every bad thing that happens in the world, is bloody ridiculous.

            Do try to recall that Vlad Putin is an open admirer of Joseph Stalin, one of the worst and most bloody dictators that ever lived. IN HIS OWN WORDS, Putin has declared that the fall of the Soviet Empire was the world’s “greatest geopolitical disaster” and that his ambition is to recreate the Russian Empire.

            How on earth do people convince themselves that the CIA. would need to do bad things to make him look bad?

            20

    • #
    • #
      Terry

      the UK is heading for nett zero

      And by ‘Nett Zero’, we mean ‘Year Zero’ / ‘The Great Reset’.
      The same Misanthropes putting up the same psychotic ideology with a different brand name.
      It seems our culture still has not been able to muster a suitable defence against these lunatics.

      251

      • #
        Adellad

        The “Culture” to which you refer is largely determined by opinion leaders in the various elite categories – academia, arts, big business, politics, media and the bureaucracy. The prevailing culture in all of them is the same stifling New World Order anti-ordinary western people woke ideology. Our culture is that of the lunatics, there is no other culture. We serfs have zero influence.

        23

        • #

          “We serfs have zero influence.”

          That’s what they want you to think…

          130

          • #
            Leon L

            We need to stop using their terms such as “Net zero.”
            Simplify it to just plain Zero.
            Zero power. Zero fuel. Zero transportation. Zero food. Zero civilisation.
            There is no net to it at all. It is just about less for all.

            80

        • #
          Terry

          ‘We serfs have zero influence.’

          You have influence over yourself. It starts with the individual.
          Do not let them have power over your mind.
          Laugh at them. Ridicule them. Treat them with the disdain they deserve.
          It is what they fear most. A mirror to their own inadequacies.
          Their self-anointed “elite” status is a confidence trick; one entirely dependent on your belief in it.
          That is not the end, but it is where their demise starts.

          30

  • #
    David Maddison

    Beyond physical cutting of pipelines or cables, a far greater vulnerability is malicious parties attacking control infrastructure via the Internet or other forms of connection.

    The Chicomms are particularly desirous of doing this and are able to do so. That’s why various governments including Australia and the US banned the connection of certain brands of Chicommm telco equipment to telco and other infrastructure – the fear was that these devices could be used as platforms to launch cyber attacks.

    In Vicdanistan, Australia, I saw one of these prohibited brands being connected to state government infrastructure and reported it but no one cared.

    I assume under the socialist regimes of Biden in the US and Alba-sleazy in Australia that restrictions have been or will be relaxed as will surveillance for intrusions into critical infrastructure, simply because these regimes do not care about the destruction of their respective countries.

    Reference: see, for example https://www.smh.com.au/national/huawei-no-way-why-australia-banned-the-world-s-biggest-telecoms-firm-20210503-p57oc9.html

    333

  • #
    DD

    Here in Australia, an interconnector trip led to the Statewide blackout in South Australia, and the Bass Strait cable break (not even an act of war) left Tasmania on the verge of one for five months.

    Not to worry, both SA and TAS have diesel backup:
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-01/tasmania-dam-levels-tas-hydro-low-after-dry-months/101288158
    https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/diesel-generators-deliver-windfall-in-green-state-20190619-p51z37

    150

    • #
      David Maddison

      It’s pathetic that a supposedly First World country such as Australia has to rely on diesel generation for backup because there is insufficient reliable energy generation.

      Diesel generation is usually used for remote small outback communities in Australia or for Third World countries that don’t have adequate large scale generation infrastructure like proper coal power stations.

      For the amount of energy contained, diesel fuel is hugely more expensive than coal and should be reserved for the valuable transport fuel it is.

      411

      • #
        Terry

        ‘…a supposedly First World country such as Australia…’

        Surely the last three years have finally disabused us of this quaint delusion; just like “the clever country”.
        We’re now viewed (correctly) as a very stupid, authoritarian, anti-freedom, compliant, socialist backwater – and thoroughly deserved too.

        Australia has everything it needs to be an economic superpower, except the “smarts”.

        391

        • #
          David Maddison

          Bob Hawke invented the term “the clever country”.

          It was never a reality.

          Australia has made, and continues to make some very stupid decisions.

          As Donald Horne wrote:

          Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second rate people who share its luck. It lives on other people’s ideas, and, although its ordinary people are adaptable, most of its leaders (in all fields) so lack curiosity about the events that surround them that they are often taken by surprise.

          221

          • #
            PeterW

            I have long taken issue with Horne, because I grew up knowing people who did the kind of work and fighting that was needed to make us lucky

            It’s typical academic nonsense, but unfortunately we now live with generations who think that it was “luck”, which means that they don’t have to do anything to make it continue.

            40

          • #
            Adellad

            Horne was a Marxist who hated ordinary Australians. Between say 1800 and 1960 this was indeed a country created by hard working first rate people – a country that is now being ruined by genuine second raters.

            80

          • #
            Richard+Jenkins

            Bob Hawke argued that if handing out how to vote cards was banned Labor would never get in.
            Even the media jumped on his statement was suggesting that ‘stupid people’ vote labor.
            The response was for him to frequently use the ‘clever’ reference.

            00

          • #
            Ted1.

            Donald Horne was a pinko, and so too was Bob Hawke.

            Before Hawke became the leader of the ACTU in 1969 Australia was an incredibly clever country.

            Under his leadership the ACTU spent the whole of the 1970s and early 80s busting any firms that tried to innovate. Their demand was that all the benefits of innovation be delivered up front to the workers.

            That’s not how innovation gets done. First you have to create the benefits, then you can distribute them.

            It was then particularly galling to hear Hawke later saying we had to become a clever country. Before hit the scene we were a very clever country.

            50

            • #
              Richard+Jenkins

              Bourke Appliances and ACTU Solo showed how clever Hawke was.
              How did the employees of those companies wages and conditions compare with Myer and oil companies?

              00

    • #
      Graeme No.3

      DD:
      South Australia’s grid relies on gas to cover most renewable failures, but the diesel is an extra boost. Also they have diesels to ‘run the desalination plant’ which get a few hours a year doing that (no need for extra water since Flannery panicked the government into buying it).
      There are claims that some of the ‘peaking plants’ (OCGTs) were burning diesel earlier this year. I haven’t checked that, but they might be dual fuel types (after all they basically a jet engine so could run on kerosene).

      200

  • #

    Do the criminal Greens have the capacity to blow up those gas lines?
    They have way more than enough money and the willingness to do so.

    251

    • #
      David Maddison

      The Left are becoming far more aggressive, violent and sophisticated, encouraged by regimes such as Albanese in Australia (and especially Andrews in Victoria) and Biden in the US who typically don’t punish them when they break the law.

      I fully expect more, and more sophisticated, Green/Left terrorism. They have already shown their willingness to kill people and burn and otherwise destroy public and private property in the US.

      Factions of them, suxh as ANTIFA, dress and act like National Socialist thugs.

      And they have plenty of funding, either from the Chicomms and/or the rent seekers who harvest money from the poor using windmills, solar and Big Batteries or funding from people who simply want to destroy Western Civilisation.

      282

      • #
        Steve of Cornubia

        Ah but, for those millions of people who rely on the mainstream media for their information, the Biden, Andrews and Trudeau governments (for instance), along with the Greens, are sensible mainstream parties, while Trump and the newly-elected conservative leader in Italy are “far right fascists”.

        171

        • #
          Evo of Gong

          I guess that if you are of the ‘far left’, anyone to the center is far right of you – it’s all relative.

          111

      • #
        John in Oz

        In all of the ‘analyses’ I have seen on the sabotage of the pipe line they only speak of either the Russians or the US as being the culprit. Much is being made of the pros and cons for both countries with no consideration for the aims of non-country combatants

        There are many leftist organisations that would be willing and able to perform this destruction, as you point out, but why is there no mention of this possibility (probability?) in the MSM?

        60

      • #
        Hasbeen

        This could not be a small scale operation. Unless it was done by explosives sent down inside the pipe, or by submarine, any such operation would have required more than an innocent looking sail boat or outboard powered runabout.

        With all the satellite monitoring equipment buzzing around over head today any such activity would have been seen & recorded.

        The more you think about it, this looks like a military scale operation, by either a nation, or a very rich group with access to military equipment.

        30

      • #

        Keep that nonsense for the locals.

        00

    • #
      OldOzzie

      ANALYSIS: Nord Stream Pipelines Sabotaged, and Only One Country Benefits

      By Jim Hoft – Published September 28,

      Means, Motive, and Opportunity

      That leaves the United States. So what are its motives?

      First, the US became the number one exporter of liquified natural gas to Europe once Russia cut off the flow. German dependence on US LNG is a carrot to keep German in the sanction alliance. With winter approaching and German unrest on the rise, the State Department would have been concerned the Germans would go wobbly, reduce sanctions, cut off arms to Ukraine, and beg Putin for energy. The loss of the Nord Stream pipelines eliminates that path to renewed gas imports to Germany.

      Second, the Biden family has long been tangled up in natural gas and Ukraine. Hunter Biden was on the board of Ukraine’s largest natural gas company—a position that provided Ukrainian oligarchs with access to Joe Biden. Hunter, who has no experience in energy, made millions from the deal, and Ukraine got a bought-and-paid-for President of the United States.

      Third, the Democrat Biden needs to stanch the popularity bleeding that threatens to kill Democrat control of Congress come November.

      So, only the United States has a compelling reason to destroy Europe’s energy lifeline from Russia. Only the United States has both the means and the motive.

      But what about opportunity?

      Operation BALTOPS 22: June 2022

      In other words, the Navy had the opportunity to plant explosives on the pipes in June for remote detonation at the time of the President’s choosing.

      And the world’s largest amphibious ship, the USS Kearsarge, was recently in the area:

      And only the United States had this opportunity.

      Also in June, as Operation BALTOPS 22 was underway, the CIA, allegedly, warned Germany that sabotage to the pipelines was imminent:

      What’s more, Biden and other administration officials have signaled a willingness to use the pipelines as a means of war. Joe Biden threatened to end Nord Stream if Russia invaded.

      That Leaves One

      Only the United States had all three elements of a crime: means, motive, and opportunity.

      But possessing all three elements of a crime does not make one guilty. In addition to means, motive, and opportunity, the guilty party must also have the moral degeneracy to perpetrate the crime.

      So we must ask: does this United States administration have the impulse control to resist using its massive military capabilities? Or is the administration full of people who would shoot someone over mere irritation?

      To answer that, think about the FBI storming the home of a pro-life minister, robbing safe deposit boxes after lying to a judge to obtain a warrant, raiding the home of the current president’s primary opponent in the next election, or threatening pro-life pregnancy counselors in Minnesota

      Is the United States capable of committing a high crime on the Baltic Sea?

      Of course it is.

      The United States under Joe Biden has no moral compass. It is a rudderless and deranged vessel sailing toward base pleasure using power and violence as its only justification for actions.

      While we don’t know for sure whether the United States blew up the pipeline, we do know for sure the United States has the means, motive, opportunity, and moral deficit necessary to drive the world to the edge of armageddon in pursuit of power for its elites.

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    • #
      Chris

      General Holt explains why it can only be the US, Russia or China

      https://youtu.be/YagQmHABBP8

      01

  • #
    Robber

    Do any pollies now understand that Net Zero means shutting down more and more industry and relying on imports?
    It’s no longer a feel good “green” save the planet strategy, but national survival.

    191

    • #
      Terry

      ‘It’s no longer a feel good “green” save the planet strategy’

      It never was. It is anti-human, not pro-planet.

      241

  • #
    Eng_Ian

    You don’t need to own a submarine to do significant damage.

    A ‘friend’ told me that the electricity towers, which are completely unguarded across the country side, can be made to fail quite easily. All you have to do is rattle the bolts loose on one leg, leave one pair in place to stop immediate collapse, throw the rest away and then wait for the wind. Alternatively, since they are made of high strength steel and are formed by casting the base of the leg into concrete, all you have to do to ruin them is stack about 100kg of hardwood scrap against any one leg and light a fire. The fire won’t melt the steel but it will weaken it requiring the complete replacement of that leg, (and the concrete that is in the ground which holds on to it). That is well within the range of the common idiot.

    Now a quick note for everyone here, this IS NOT an instruction manual for civil disruption. You shall NOT do any of the above. I was just pointing out the bleeding obvious that our backbones to an industrial lifestyle is fragile too.

    Thankfully no green idiots read these pages.

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    • #
      Terry

      Great! We should build a highly dispersed grid with many more points of potential failure…

      51

    • #
      Bruce

      Exactly: The “System” was not “hardened” quite deliberately

      “Budgetary constraints”? More like “long-term planning.

      Water and Sewage?

      Last serious drought here in SR Qld, we were in ferocious water restrictions. That the polloie muppets had blocked ALL new dam projects for decades was a core part of this.

      The good citizens of the state went at “water conservation” with a vengeance:

      Flushing toilets only when it became unbearable, dumping all “grey” water on parched gardens and lawns, showering with a “friend”, etc..

      THREE “unintended”? consequences:

      RATS. Literally. the sewer pipes and tunnels became so dry that the “water-traps” that restricted the movement of rats ceased to be barriers. The local government Terrier teams were seriously overworked.

      Sewer pump failures. Many of the big pumps that moved the effluent to the treatment plants were / are not “self-priming”. Running them”dry” leads to very expensive noises.

      The “experts” would not let water out of the “dual-purpose” Wivenhoe dam even after the rain started tumbling down in the catchment.

      This is NOT a good practice when your major “flood mitigation” dam wall is basically a big, long pile of rocks with a clay core. Some “risk-taker” eventually started releasing water before the whole thing went downstream. As one would expect, there was some flooding downstream. Nothing as spectacular as the 1974 and 1893 floods, but the amount of damage caused to residential and commercial properties was “impressive”, none the less. Earlier and less enthusiastic releases would have generated a much smaller level rise spread over a longer time-frame.

      BTW, that same dam received an interesting “extra” some years back: A pipeline UPHILL to the Darling downs and a BIG, modern power station. Said power station sits adjacent to a LOT of coal and “Big Pond”. However, the prospect of a serious drought meant that a DUAL pipeline was built up the mountains and cross country to deliver water from the “dual-purpose” dam. A fair amount of electricity drives a series of big pumps to shove that water uphill. At least it is there; probably could not be done today. The politics of water and other “utilities” are “murky”, to say the least.

      As they say in the classics:

      “Mechanical engineers build weapons, Electrical engineers build guidance systems, Civil engineers build TARGETS!”

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      • #
        RickWill

        An additional point on this is that Brisbane’s water recycling plants needed design modifications to cope due to low water content in the sewage. The sewage water content changed from specification to commissioning due to the water conservation efforts.

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    • #
      David Maddison

      Thankfully no green idiots read these pages.

      Actually some do. A few of the smarter or braver ones post here because they presumably enjoy being humiliated on a regular basis (or may even come here to learn).

      We (Jo) lets them stay because conservatives and fellow rational thinkers are not terrified of alternative opinions like the Left. (We can’t post on “their” sites for that reason.)

      And the more stupid ones just give “thumbs” down with no comment because they are not smart enough to author a response.

      In any case, Green terrorists don’t need to read instructions here. They have some very evil but very smart people telling them what to think and do.

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      • #
        b.nice

        “because they are not smart enough to author a response”

        Those who do post occasionally…. they also are “not smart enough to author a [rational] response”

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    • #

      And I was always led to believe that the NSW Poles and Wires had been ‘Gold Plated’ when everything was privatised……….lol

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    • #
      yarpos

      Much of modern life depends on people doing the right thing and also just leaving stuff alone. A lone person wandering about with a heavy calibre rifle could disable a hell of a lot of stuff quite easily and from a distance.

      Decades ago I live in suburban Sydney and we we having frequent local blackouts. They eventually found it was a mentally disabled young man who had figured out that if you slung a length of chain into a substation it produced really great fireworks.

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      • #
        David Maddison

        Much of modern life depends on people doing the right thing and also just leaving stuff alone. 

        Back in the day, people understood what was the right and proper thing to do. And they would leave things alone that they had no connection with. In Australia, it used to be common not to lock houses, for example.

        The Left changed all that when they formulated the view that everything had to be banned or controlled and anything not banned or controlled was OK. Then people would be only constrained by what was legal or not, not what was the right and morally proper thing to do.

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      • #
        RickWill

        Just claim that climate change caused your insanity after you shoot out the insulators on the HV towers at the power station.

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          David Maddison

          And they would find plenty of support for the proposition that “climate change” causes mental disorders.

          https://psychiatry.org/patients-families/climate-change-and-mental-health-connections

          The mental health consequences of events linked to a changing global climate include mild stress and distress, high-risk coping behavior such as increased alcohol use and, occasionally, mental disorders such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress.

          Climate change-related impacts can also lead to job loss, force people to move, or lead to a loss of social support and community resources—all of which have mental health consequences. In addition, anticipation of extreme weather events and concern about the phenomenon of climate change can be stressful.

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      • #
        Ross

        Years ago the town of Swan Hill in Victoria was blacked out in the middle of winter. The culprit was a possum who had decided to curl up in the warmth of generated heat from an electricity substation. Instant fried possum, which shorted out the whole substation and the town lost power for about 6 hours. The whole grid is just one disaster away from a major interruption. The “old” engineers knew this and like all good engineers built extra capacity into the system, to compensate for disaster but to also recover after that disaster. The “new” grid wont have any of that luxury.

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        • #
          Ronin

          Used to work at a large industrial facility and we were taken out many times by possums, carpet snakes, even pelicans.

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        • #
          John+PAK

          The UK boasts 39% wind power occasionally but they have spinning reserves to make up any temporary shortfalls or the 50Hz grid would regularly “fall over”.
          NSW does not have spinning reserves on a hot day when we all have our AC units cranked up. We are heading into a period of instability where an ageing coal unit will break down and the grid will trip off to protect itself.
          In S. Africa they have routine regional power outages (load shedding) to keep the grid stable. It is inevitable that NSW will become like S.Africa.

          20

      • #
        Eng_Ian

        A lone person with a decent rifle could take out a windmill with one shot. Apparently the electrical control gear is located at the back of the nacelle, directly opposite the blade attachment point. Since the nacelle is made of light weight fibreglass and the back of the cabinet is light steel, the internals are effectively unprotected.

        In theory, one round, aimed into the cabinet from below would likely hit something important on the first attempt.

        Again, not suggesting anyone try this. It should be obvious that this is not be within the realms of approved ventures in the nanny state, (Vicdanistan). I was just repeating what a friend told me.

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        • #
          Hasbeen

          I would think a high powered rifle would do enough damage to a blade to cause enough unbalance to destroy a turbine in a very short time.

          00

    • #
      Ted1.

      I would think that just about any professional fisherman could sabotage these pipelines if he wanted to, using a tinnie and a bit of readily available gear.

      The hardest part of the job would be getting 20 kg or less of just about any high explosive without attracting attention. 2 kg might do.

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  • #
    another ian

    FWIW – Some serious reading here IMO –

    “The Death of Germany, and Europe”

    Particularly this bit – from a link there

    “For that matter, the explosives might already have been in place. Back in June, it was reported that the US Navy was conducting underwater operations in the Baltic Sea, off the island of Bornholm – where the explosions took place.”

    https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2022/09/the-death-of-germany-and-europe.html

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    • #
      another ian

      More around that

      “ANALYSIS: NORD STREAM PIPELINES SABOTAGED, AND ONLY ONE COUNTRY BENEFITS”

      https://richardsonpost.com/jim-hoft/28742/nord-stream-could-be-the-biggest-story-of-our-lifetime/

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      • #
        RickWill

        The fourth element on lack of moral compass in the Biden administration is quite apparent.

        The closing line is chilling:

        Stay tuned. Nord Stream could be the biggest story of our lifetime.

        I agree with this opinion.

        It would be hard to imagine that the culprit is not found out. If it proves to be the USA then that will take some spinning – saving Europe from themselves!

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        • #
          RobB

          It is hard to imagine that any “investigation” (by the west) will find any culprit other than Putin, if any is found at all.

          30

          • #
            PeterW

            Just like some on here can’t see any culprit that Biden, despite Russia having olenty to gain and the US much to lose.

            02

    • #
      Ross

      Then in that video yesterday of Biden ( taken back in Feb) when he expressed his views on the future of the Nord stream pipeline- there was that terrible smirk on his face at the end.

      60

      • #
        John+PAK

        Does the man really know what he’s up to? I’ve seen people in a low-grade psych hospital smirking at completely inappropriate matters. Clearly, others behind the scenes run the show and he merely reads tele-prompts. On one occasion he accidentally read out a part in brackets which read “(repeat the first line)” Oops ! Another iteration of the man had curious features that suggested an artificial face-covering in his image but I’m starting to sound like a conspiracy nutter now.

        10

  • #
    Steve of Cornubia

    The only logical conclusion to be derived from all of this is that certain people want the western democracies to become totally reliant on Russia and China, both of whom share ill intent. Why? Well they assume that, if/when Russia and China hold all the cards, they will assert themselves aggressively, thus kicking off a world war. This in turn will destroy putatively capitalist economies and enable the socialist reset.

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    • #
      el+gordo

      Putin and Xi are fascists, not socialists. They embrace the capitalist system, but intend to reset how business is conducted.

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      • #
        KP

        … like all Western countries too. You can pretend you own the business, but Govt will jail you unless you run it exactly as they say.

        21

      • #
        PeterW

        Fascists and Socialists are only different on a superficial level.
        They may let you “own” your farm or business, but if you do not produce what, when and how they order you….. you go up against the wall or off to the Gulag.

        The inventor of Fascism was a Socialist who did away with the fiction that the “people” should be in control….

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  • #
    Ross

    Queensland will need to build an interconnector to China for their power supplies. Our lovely Annastasia P is going to save Queensland! She’s going to shut down coal fired electricity and replace it with, tada!!!!, pumped hydro!!. Pumped hydro projects which haven’t even been built yet, not even approved. 80% renewables, that’s what she’s aiming for. Why muck about AP, why not just declare 100% renewables supplied by hydrogen or maybe that flux capacitor from the “Back to the Future” movie? I think that was powered by a banana peel- and we know Qld have lots of those.

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    • #
      Terry

      Why all the need for so many Solar abominations and Wind monstrosities when all that was really needed were a few perpetual motion machines.

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    • #
      Ken

      Like most of the technically illiterate politicians AP does not understand that pumped hydro does not generate any additional energy to the network.
      It is not a generator in any form.
      It simply uses already generated energy from some other source to pump water uphill to a holding dam.
      Then, when the water feeds back down through the turbines it generates about 80% of the energy that it took to pump the water up in the first place.
      As such it is a net loss to the system and an utterly useless part of any efficient generating network.
      Snowy 2 is also pumped hydro and suffers the same inefficiency. A waste of $billions of taxpayers money again. Thanks Malcolm!

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      Philip

      I remember laughing the first time I heard of building pump hyrdo dams all over the place. There is some study identifying thousands of potential sites. It seems the greens are now pro dam pro concrete, and restricting water runoff, interrupting the hydrology is no problem now.

      Id be happy to see Wollomombi Gorge damned, a wonderful dam site, steep deep and narrow. So some good might come out of it. We might even get the Bradfield scheme and some water into the top of the Darling catchment if they’re all cool on moving water around now.

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  • #
    Neville

    Never forget that we’re trying to wreck our electricity grids from a time TESTED BASE-load era when everything works so well and yet we want to change to the unreliable, POLLUTING, TOXIC S&W lunacy?
    Any lay person can understand the data yet so called scientists insist they’re correct and we must follow their directives ASAP to save the Human race.
    AGAIN I’m sure the Russian and Chinese presidents couldn’t care less about these idiot’s so called climate emergency and will use military force against the vulnerable OECD countries at the first opportunity.
    We should ditch their NET ZERO fairy tales and only build RELIABLE BASE-LOAD power stns immediately.

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  • #
    Ted1.

    As always, telephone exchanges and electricity substations are prime targets.

    Then this.

    A couple of years ago an exceptional windstorm blacked our town out for several hours. This took down our landline telephones and internet which depend on that power.

    A short time later the Telstra mobile phone service went out as well, leaving us with no communications. This should not have happened.

    I expressed concern about this. I saw it as a very serious matter.

    I was told that the backup generator for the mobile service had failed because it had no water in its radiator.

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    • #
      yarpos

      Token back up is no back up really. It needs to be maintained and tested regularly whether its standby power, back up equipment, back up data and changeover processes and systems. IT is littered with stories of elaborate and expensive back up systems that failed to deliver.

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    TdeF

    The Germans put an embargo on the Nordstream gas pipe just two days before the war in Ukraine started. All they had to do at any time was remove it and fill their tanks. That possibility is now gone. The service done the international community is to display how
    vulnerable everyone is to energy blackmail. And that is entirely 100% due to the Green parties.

    Everyone has enough energy with the discovery of fracking, but the insistence that clean electricity is the ONLY source of energy, not gas, oil, petrol, diesel, wood, coal, peat, shale makes the natural gas suppliers king. But the Greens hate them too! And everyone knows Russia will be blamed, as they are blamed for everything, never China. And now either Russia has blown up its own pipelines or Anti Russia people have blown up both pipelines, destroying them forever. Wouldn’t it by ironic if the damage was done by Greenpeace?

    And no gas means no fertilizer, no CO2 for beer and preservation, meat and more and endless by products and processes dependent on cheap CO2. If anything was going to bring down the Green insanity, it is cold wind which will blow through the cities and streets and houses of the world this Christmas.

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      Tel

      Beer is one of the few places where CO2 has nothing to do with the fossil fuel industry … when naturally brewed the CO2 comes from yeast, and if you want a sure bet in the survival game, put your money on yeast.

      Beer does require a working grain industry, which in turn requires fertilizer, transport, irrigation, combine harvesters, and so forth. It doesn’t require the best quality grain … pretty much anything can be turned into malt and fermented.

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      • #
        TdeF

        Theoretically and on a small scale, yes, I understand the process, it’s CO2 from metabolism of yeast cells. However major beer companies lack time and use huge quantities of industrial CO2. And the cheap CO2 comes from fertilizer production as a massive byproduct. Pulling it out of the air at 0.04% is very expensive. And customers love fizzy beer.

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        • #
          TdeF

          Even craft beers..

          “At Harpoon Brewery, a craft operation making beer in Boston since 1986, the brewer goes through as much as 1,000 tons of liquid CO2 each year, or the equivalent of roughly 16 to 20 tons a week.”

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        • #
          Philip

          I didn’t know that. How very efficient of us.

          What does composting do? It would release co2 would it?

          That’s probably an embarrassing question on a science site.

          00

    • #
      Kalm Keith

      Guinness stout is invigorated by the use of Nitrogen, maybe other manufacturers can follow.

      30

    • #
      PeterW

      How many articles describing the Gazprom shutdown of Nordstream1 do you need to realise that it is not simply a matter of German embargoes.

      https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/sep/02/nord-stream-1-gazprom-announces-indefinite-shutdown-of-pipeline
      You should like the Guardian.

      German analysts are stating that Gazprom’s claim of “maintenance issues” are almost certainly dishonest, and that Gazprom’s further refusal to pump gas places them in breach of contract, which carries financial penalties.
      The sabotage allows Gazprom to escape those penalty clauses without reintroducing supply.

      10

  • #
    RickWill

    Why be concerned about sabotage when poor eduction will guarantee the same outcome.

    Look how easily poorly trained and incompetent climate modellers have managed to spook entire populations to the point where they elect thoroughly incompetent representatives to squander wealth on useless suff being manufactured in China using valuable resources – a virtuous cycle of incompetence.

    The developed world has one shot at learning a lesson on religious fanaticism so it needs to be significant with utmost impact. Maybe the bleak northern winter of 2022/23.

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      David Maddison

      Good point Rick.

      The destruction of the education system, started soon after Rudi Dutschke pronounced his 1967 plan of der lange Marsch durch die Institutionen, is the ultimate sabotage.

      I had personal experience of this last night when involved in discussions about the future direction of a certain company. A randomly selected group of stake holders nearly universally believed the company should get involved in woke virtual signaling nonsense including “renewables” etc..

      They were all for it until I pointed out that it all came at a substantial cost and that they as stake holders would then get less profit from the company. After I pointed thst out they weren’t so keen any more.

      The ignorance of the general public is simply staggering. I don’t think most thinking people, as represented on this site, realise how ignorant and uninformed regular people are.

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    • #
      Terry

      ‘Why be concerned about sabotage when poor eduction will guarantee the same outcome.’

      There’s really no need to execute the enemy when you can just “encourage” them to do it themselves, for a good cause.

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    • #
      John in Oz

      There are many Youtube videos of street interviewers asking seemingly basic questions that the (US) youth cannot answer.

      ‘How many moons does the Earth have?’
      ‘What is 3 x 3 x 3?’
      ‘Which country did the US gain independence from?’

      Many cannot read the time from a clock face

      Although they do not show all persons questioned, there are sufficient examples to show how bad the (US) education system is.

      I suspect Australian youth are possibly slightly better but wouldn’t bet the house on it.

      Is it worth saving the world for these people (and the grand-children, of course)?

      31

      • #

        I saw that video. “what country is the panama canal in”.

        The moons question was a trick though. Plural implies “two”! 😉 Yes. Scary indeed. But I once heard an Australian radio announcer here who thought we could not see the moon in daylight hours. I also recall a US president who said he’d been to 57 states, but no one talks about that.

        Did the youtuber interview 500 people or 30 people? These people vote, so imagine how susceptible they would be to media suggestion…

        RickWill is right that poor education will destroy a nation. Poor energy does it faster though.

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  • #
    OldOzzie

    Meanwhile in Europe and the Netherlands

    Lights out, ovens off: Europe preps for winter energy crisis

    FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — As Europe heads into winter in the throes of an energy crisis, offices are getting chillier. Statues and historic buildings are going dark. Bakers who can’t afford to heat their ovens are talking about giving up, while fruit and vegetable growers face letting greenhouses stand idle.

    In poorer eastern Europe, people are stocking up on firewood, while in wealthier Germany, the wait for an energy-saving heat pump can take half a year. And businesses don’t know how much more they can cut back.

    “We can’t turn off the lights and make our guests sit in the dark,” said Richard Kovacs, business development manager for Hungarian burger chain Zing Burger. The restaurants already run the grills no more than necessary and use motion detectors to turn off lights in storage, with some stores facing a 750% increase in electricity bills since the beginning of the year.

    It’s a decision also facing fruit and vegetable growers in the Netherlands who are key to Europe’s winter food supply:

    shutter greenhouses or take a loss after costs skyrocketed for gas heating and electric light.

    Bosch Growers, which grows green peppers and blackberries, has put up extra insulation, idled one greenhouse and experimented with lower temperatures. The cost? Smaller yields, blackberries taking longer to ripen, and potentially operating in the red to maintain customer relationships even at lower volumes.

    “We want to stay on the market, not to ruin the reputation that we have developed over the years,” said Wouter van den Bosch, the sixth generation of his family to help run the business. “We are in survival mode.”

    Kovacs, grower van den Bosch and bakers like Andreas Schmitt in Frankfurt, Germany, are facing the hard reality that conservation only goes so far.

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    Geoffrey Williams

    So what is the conclusion, does this possible act of sabotage mean that all undersea infrastructure is now at potential risk? Until now the concept of ‘MAD’ has prevented Nations from destrying each others undersea pipelines and cables etc.
    Could there now be retaliation from Russia?

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    • #
      el+gordo

      Mutually Assured Destruction only relates to a nuclear exchange between states, so destroying commercial infrastructure in international waters is okay.

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      • #
        John+PAK

        An old video of Mr Putin visiting a school (translated obviously) showed a child asking about the dangers of nuclear war and he replied in comforting tones that they had far more exotic weapons these days and nuclear war was unlikely.

        00

    • #
      PeterW

      Only if you think that Russia didn’t blow it up themselves…

      The point is that the innocent KNOW that they are innocent, so if Russia tries to escalate, they may well meet very little reluctance to make them hurt . …

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  • #
    Geoffrey Williams

    On a lighter note; I once used to think that the Russians were ‘masters’ at international politics because they were also the masters of chess. I am no longer sure that this is so. Now with the advent of computer chess engines like ‘fishstock’ and ‘komodo’ one has to wonder who will win. I can just imagine Putin locked away in his vast office saying to his computer ‘now ‘Strelka’ what is my next best move’.
    The game goes on . .

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  • #
    Furiously+Curious

    Re Palishe’s pumped hydro. She seems to have forgotten that it is never going to rain again.
    Here’s the example, China’s wet season didn’t happen, and they have a few problems! Forget pumped hydro, they have the world’s biggest ordinary hydro system by a mile, and it has collapsed.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWnWE-wJIjc&t=797s

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  • #
    Kim

    Not just gas, Internet and electricity also.

    40

  • #
    Neville

    Have we really gone barking mad in Australia today?
    Here a young activist has her case dismissed because she may have mental problems.
    Just incredible that ignorant , gullible young extremists can be released because of a so called illness that is regularly promoted, endorsed and encouraged by the MSM, Labor and the Greens etc.

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/09/27/blockade-australia-charges-dismissed-because-of-climate-insanity/

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    • #
      Ronin

      The few Lismorons I have met show some troubling tendencies, think there might have been some brother sister interactions on a few cold nights.

      20

    • #
      Steve of Cornubia

      So believing the government’s assertion that we’re facing a climate emergency means she’s mentally ill?

      Interesting …

      30

  • #
    J Burns

    I wouldn’t expect the vainglorious buffoons who supposedly govern the UK to give more than a second’s thought to this. The political classes live in an impenetrable bubble.

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  • #
    Ronin

    When you think of the all the vulnerabilities of any other method of generation than coal, our 30+ year old coal plants have given sterling service.

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  • #
    Neville

    An EU energy expert tries to explain the difficulty in restarting electricity grids after a blackout.
    Trying to start up the power supply can cause havoc and could damage up to 30% of computers and online systems.
    Meanwhile millions of EU citizens have purchased new electrical home heaters, because they fear that gas will not be available this winter.
    Of course this new demand will further stress the grid and lead to an even higher risk of blackouts.
    How have very wealthy OECD countries reached this dangerous situation and at a cost of trillions of $ over the last few decades? And for what?

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/09/28/grid-experts-dire-warning-all-of-europes-power-supply-at-risk-30-of-computers-could-be-destroyed/

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    • #
      OldOzzie

      Page 110 – Chapter 6

      Restoring Grid Function After a Major Disruption

      National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2017. Enhancing the Resilience of the Nation’s Electricity System. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/24836.

      INTRODUCTION

      This chapter discusses the post-event system restoration and the learning phases of the resilience model laid out in Figure 1.2. The committee first introduces a general model for electricity system restoration after a large-area, long-duration outage and then discusses restoration for several classes of disruptions based on the type of damage caused. This organization is based on the recognition that restoration activities proceed differently based on different types of outages—following some events, utility operators will have no situational awareness to guide their deployments; whereas other events may leave monitoring systems intact but overwhelm stockpiled resources. The chapter includes recommendations for improving the restoration process and for improving post-incident investigation to better learn from each experience to improve future performance.

      Plus

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_start

      A black start is the process of restoring an electric power station or a part of an electric grid to operation without relying on the external electric power transmission network to recover from a total or partial shutdown

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    • #
      John+PAK

      In my knowledge of the NSW coal based system we should be okay if we keep a few coal units spinning but not connected to the grid. One fully operational unit can then be used to start up the coal blowers and other equipment in the near-by unit and so on, until all units are up and running again. Then we could start opening up the sub-stations in a gradual progression. We serfs would have to be educated to turn off our mains switches during this reboot process.

      A completely “black start” is another matter altogether and in NSW could take over a week.

      I’d be building a few combined cycle power stations built around old RB211 jet engines from moth-balled Boeing 747s. They are small but quick to reboot and in unison can provide the megawatts required to commence the 72 hour start-up routine of a big unit like Mt Piper NSW.

      The glaring issue I see is that we have created one giant grid. Would a series of smaller islanded grids not be better?

      I’m creating my own domestic micro-grid with an Edison battery to run only my fridges and freezer 24/7/365. Nickle-Iron batteries are old tech but robust, reliable and last decades and could even be charged directly off solar panels without a fancy MMPT voltage reg.

      So sad to see a once functional nation becoming technically illiterate and so heavily influenced by emotive policy directions.

      10

  • #
    David Maddison

    I will soon acquire a radio amateur license.

    One advantage will be that when the grid and Internet go down, I’ll still be able to communicate locally and internationally. However, one restriction is that encrypted modes are prohibited for voice and data. Nevertheless, I’ll still be able to stay in touch.

    In any case, it will be satisfying to have independent, off grid, point to point comms. The transmitter can easily be run from a solar panel and battery along with any connected computer.

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    • #
      Old Goat

      David,
      I imagine you are “prepping” way more than that . The most likely issues we will face in the immediate future are power outages and the other problems that go with it . In a power outage there will be no fuel , no money , no refrigeration , no lights , and as you pointed out no communications (when backup power runs out). Load shedding will be constant as overseas experience has showed . Good luck…

      50

    • #
      PeterW

      Been thinking the same thing.

      10

  • #
    Richard+Jenkins

    Studies showed that Ukraine was extremely corrupt. Russia is possibly worse. A meglamaniac president, to protect his authority, had the Russians destroy his people’s buildings, infrastructure, homes, lives and much more.
    How does this selfishness make him a hero? He has destroyed Ukraine rather than let the Russians govern and give his people some influence in Russia.
    I don’t like Puttin but hate the Western media.
    “Be prepared for nuclear war” is not a threat in any way. It is advising your people that the West may use nuclear weapons on Russia so be prepared. If the West use nukes we have them
    Nukes used in the Ukrane would subject Russia to radiation and Puttin knows that.
    Taiwan is another distraction. CCP have great relations with Taiwan and their trade is interdependant.
    CCP take countries over without destroying infrastructure. They use cyber, energy control and Western stupidity to gain influence. CCP troops and obvious weapons are displayed and divert attention from the agenda they know works.
    The West says and does crazy things. The control the West used over Russia has made Russia more powerful, destroyed Ukraine, Europe and with great help from the current Presidents of the USA, whoevr they are, the USA. When USA lost its energy independence the whole world became involved. Australia has to buy at prices that cause us to inflate prices. Even our once viable manufacturing, that was largely supported by cheap, reliable, electricity has been destroyed by stupidity.

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      Kalm Keith

      Right on target Richard.

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      KP

      “How does this selfishness make him a hero? ”

      Because those in power in America said so, and apart from a few hidden voices saying the Emperor has no clothes, everyone goes along with it. 95% of the people I know accept it, they know its all fake, as global warming is all fake, but so long as they can go about their daily lives they don’t want to question what they have been told to believe.

      The West is being destroyed before our eyes by either immense political stupidity or by design. I can see the former come about by using a Socialist democracy where the stupid out-breed the intelligent due to the welfare State & then vote for the stupid politicians they resonate with, but the latter reason is more likely.

      Maybe both are true…

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    • #
      PeterW

      If Ukraine is “corrupt”, ask yourself where that culture came from.

      We’ve had millennia to work out that the Rule of Law and a disinterested judiciary pay off. Ukraine is less than one generation from being ruled by a very, very corrupt and murderous oligarchy,…. of which Putin is a part.

      Analysis of the Russian military suggests that between 10-30% of the military budget has been syphoned off by politicians, senior bureaucrats and senior officers. The state of Russian equipment and the morale of Russian troops suggests that they have no reason to trust their superiors.
      The Ukrainians, on the other hand, are fighting like they value their country and government.

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        Richard+Jenkins

        Ukraine citizens have no say and just get bombed,killed, lose infrastructure and quality of life.
        Russia does not care how long this goes on and their corrupt goverrnment is gaining money and power.
        Russia is more corrupt than Ukraine. It is better to be controlled by Russia than dead, homeless, hungry, sick with rubble everywhere and some dead Russians. Somtimes a bit of land is reclaimed and that does not restore life or bring fleeing citizens home. The only benefit is a President’s ego. He has caused the damage as much as Putin. Russia would benefit with control of Ukraine. Ukraine’s people could also benefit from servicing Russia. Ports, markets and transport.
        Now all they get is an egomaniac President and bombs.
        Hunter Biden surely loved Ukraine as did his father.
        I have read that the bribe money for the Ukraine military and law enforcement chiefs was stolen and that explains some mysterious deaths in England. The mysterius deaths are facts. The opinions as to why gain logical credibility.
        Perhaps the victims just knew too much or maybe they got money. Why did they die from a rare poison?

        10

      • #
        Richard+Jenkins

        Ukraine has centuries of corrupt tribal cheating and was possibly more stable as part of Russia until 1990.
        It is true that the Baltic states found live better under Hitler as the Nazi got the Russians out.
        I think the suggestion that after controlling Ukraine Putin will tackle the Baltic states is Western propaganda.
        The motives for returning Ukraine to Russia are pragmatic. The claims of restoring the USSR are propaganda.

        10

    • #
      Philip

      I don’t care who rules Ukraine. It’s a Slavic problem and let them fix it.

      Russia’s annexing of Crimea was a huge event. It was permitted and prosperity followed everywhere. Give them those eastern provinces, there is obviously trouble there anyway – and prosperity should follow, like it did last time.

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    Neville

    AGAIN look up the co2 data since DEC 2015 or the Paris yap session.
    Level in DEC 2015 400 ppm and today 417 ppm after another 7 completed years.
    So that’s 2.4 ppm a year so obviously no slow down at all. THINK?
    So how will it pay us to waste TRILLIONS $ for another GUARANTEED ZERO return? But we will DEFINITELY stuff up our electricity grids.

    https://gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends/global.html

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    Peter Fitzroy

    3 Nordstream pipelines? Mistakes like that guarantee any letter goes straight to the ‘nutty’ file

    In a letter to the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, Net Zero Watch director Dr Benny Peiser has warned that the sabotage of three Nord Stream gas pipelines in the last 24 hours

    3 breaks yes, 3 piplines no

    05

  • #
    Gbees

    All planned by the WEF perps no doubt …

    40

  • #

    We need to also look at the situation we have allowed to occur where an ever increasing amt of our fuel comes from overseas. A few warships from an unfriendly nation could stop that dead. Even one action could stop all fuel.

    We need to look to refining far more of our own fuel here, and be ensuring that our local oil supplies are adequate via more exploration and harnessing of local energy.

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      KP

      Not a chance! Refineries are dirty, polluting, hydrocarbon factories that nearly all Western nations have got rid of, passing that job over to the developing world who don’t have CO2 targets.

      I reckon you wouldn’t be allowed to start a new one up in any country with a Green Party.

      So, yes we should, but we won’t, until we get over this global warming/CO2 phase.

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        Philip

        Refineries are also very expensive to run in this country. Employees get excellent money, heavily unionised. Cheaper to make it in Asia now. I think Singapore is the big refinery now?

        Same with that snowy 2 nonsense. I heard of a boilermaker or something like that who went to work on it and the brag about the insane money. The guys on the roads, they all get good money with overtime done.

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    OldOzzie

    ENERGY SECURITY BOARD

    Health of the National Electricity Market 2022 – 32 Page PDF

    We have identified three overarching themes for the most pressing risks.

    Energy affordability is a major concern for consumers

    There are currently more upward than downward pressures on energy prices in an environment
    where consumers already face higher costs of living. Consumers identify this as their greatest concern
    relating to energy. In addition, if the pressures in the market translate to reduced retail competition,
    this could also affect consumers’ ability to manage costs.

    An orderly energy transition remains the best way to improve energy affordability in the long-term.
    However, this will take time and the required investments will add to cost-pressures, although they
    will be lower than the costs of a disorderly transition.

    Some consumers have access to consumer energy resources (CER), such as solar PV or energy
    efficiency devices, which assist in managing these short-term pressures. There is much work underway
    to integrate CER into the NEM, and this is crucial to maximise the value of these resources.

    Importantly, some consumers are likely to remain more exposed to the risks and costs inherent to the
    energy transition. Working to recognise, engage with and provide support to consumers in periods of
    vulnerability will be essential to deliver a sustainable transition that benefits all consumers.

    – Energy markets are tightly interconnected

    – We need urgent and cost-effective investments in transmission, renewable
    energy and flexible capacity

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      OldOzzie

      Here’s California Flooring It to the ‘Clean’ Energy Future … With Its Transmission Slipping Badly

      Do electric cars pollute? They do if state power grids stay mostly “dirty” by failing to solve renewable-energy transmission problems. California is a prime case in point.

      By Steve Miller, RealClearInvestigations – August 25, 2022

      California’s precariously out-of-date hybrid power grid can’t handle the state’s growing amounts of solar and wind energy coming online, with system managers already forcing repeated cutbacks in renewables and a continued reliance on conventional energy to keep the grid stable, according to state data.

      The shortcomings of the transmission grid, which energy consultants in this bellwether state have warned about for years, raise the prospect that marquee products of the growing battery economy such as electric vehicles – “emission free” on the road – will be recharged mainly from traditional electricity-generating power plants: energy from fossil fuels, some of it from out of state.

      Writ large, the transmission problem threatens the zero-carbon future envisioned by green advocates nationwide. “We’re headed toward duplicate systems whose only benefit is to permit the occasional use of ‘clean power,’” said Grant Ellis, an independent electrical engineering consultant in Texas.

      California, along with the rest of the desert Southwest, is adding solar and wind installations at a rapid pace. The state is projected to add four gigawatts of utility-scale solar energy this year alone, enough to power 2.8 million homes. The question is whether that’s going to be enough.

      So-called “curtailments” of renewable power have become much more frequent for the state’s blackout-prone power grid because the state hasn’t constructed enough transmission lines, transformers, poles, and other infrastructure to keep up. The amount of renewable energy curtailed in California tripled between 2018 and 2021, according to operator statistics.

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    RoHa

    We’re doomed.

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    Serge Wright

    All of these negative outcomes are either direct or indict consequences of climate change actions, including Net Zero, which have removed the policies of energy independence and created a complex dependency which is heavily reliant on imported FF from political adversaries. If you re-mandate energy independence, including on all RE infrastructure (ie: no imported solar, wind, batteries) then problem solved.

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    R.b.

    A few years ago

    The US air force has released a video showing fighter jets carpet-bombing an island it said was “infested” with Isis fighters.

    The footage shows the small, tree-covered Qanus Island, in Iraq’s Saladin province, peppered with a series of huge explosions in quick succession.

    A spokesperson for the US-led coalition to defeat Isis said the strikes on Tuesday were aimed at destroying a “major transit hub” for Isis forces moving between the Jazeera desert into the Mosul region. It was followed by a ground operation by Iraqi forces.

    of course, no civilians were hurt.

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      KP

      Of course not, although there may have been some collateral damage.. A ‘spotter’ F16 went by at 25000ft doing Mach 1.6 and visually confirmed 658 terrorists died.

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    • #
      R.B.

      Meant as reply to a comment above. Carpet bombing is only a crime when someone else does it.

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    Philip

    I always thought I’d die before all their ideological driven policies would put the world in the brink of disaster. But here we are, and I’m still kicking.

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    Joao Martins

    My only criticism is that the “other” three points of the NetZeroWatch agenda are actually the most important, not the “other”: they should have priority and be put at the top of the list.

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    Lowell+from+Seattle

    From Biden’s own words the US is either directly involved or involved thru their criminal silence. Its obvious the US knows who did this.

    So the next question is how and when will the Russians retaliate? They will probably wait until they deal with Ukraine. But that is not a given. The Russians have a lot of targets from undersea telecom cables to pipelines to LNG tankers.

    Will the Germans realize they have been massively bullied. If they do will they pull out of NATO?

    00