They’re not much use without a lot of cabling. | Image by Norbert Pietsch from Pixabay
Thanks to Oldbrew at Tallblokes Talkshop
Who knew high voltage cables running for kilometers in a deep electrolytic moving body of water would be expensive?
The 245kV Wolfe Island Cable | Photo by Z22
Despite offshore windfarms dealing in a kind of mechanical hell of high speed salt water spray, big waves and volatile wind conditions, surprisingly 85% of the insurance claims are because the underwater cables are failing.* If the subsea cables can’t be insured, it’s another unexpected cost threatening the economics of offshore wind.
The underwater cables needed for offshore wind are apparently so costly to repair, and the losses from lack of generation so steep, they are in danger of becoming uninsurable.
Subsea cable failures pose global threat to offshore wind
Energy News Live
The race to harness offshore wind energy has hit a significant roadblock, with the reliability of subsea cables emerging as a critical concern.
Global Underwater Hub (GUH) has raised alarm bells about the escalating issue of subsea cable failures.
These setbacks not only disrupt power transmission but also incur hefty costs.
Imagine if an entire coal plant was connected to the grid through one long cable buried under the ocean and when the cable failed it took months to find and repair — during which time the plant could not earn a cent…
Subsea cable failure could derail global offshore wind projects
World Oil
GUH chief executive, Neil Gordon, said, “It’s estimated that around 85% of the total value of offshore wind insurance claims relate to subsea cables. Insurers are losing money underwriting cables with the average settlement claim in the region of £9 million. Brokers have warned that the high number of cable claims is affecting capacity and coverage and the cost of repairs typically runs into millions, with warranties rarely covering the high cost of business interruption.
“If these critical components become uninsurable, offshore wind projects around the world will be derailed, making global 2050 net zero targets completely unachievable.”
According to one developer, the cost of insuring a 1.2GW offshore wind farm over its lifetime is in the region of £350 million and insurance brokers estimate that the costs of floating offshore wind will be 30% higher than fixed bottom ones.
Global Power Marine fixes export cables and quotes one happy customer talking about needing “only” 32 days instead of 67 days to repair the cable. But all the while, part or all of the wind plant isn’t earning any income, and so much of any repair depends on getting good weather so a ship can hover and work uninterrupted while the cable is “dangling” and exposed.
Gulski et al estimate the duration of failure can be 1 to 3 or even up to 9 months:
“Last 20 years of experience shows that the power cables are the largest contributor to the failures of power supply from the offshore plants. “
For those who want the details on the challenges of engineering Gulski et al detail some of the problems with subsea cables like the need for armour that isn’t magnetic, sections that are 30-50 kilometers long to avoid “joints” underwater, and why most cables on the sea floor are called “wet structures” which allow water in (at least to the outer layers).
Wind energy might be free, but collecting it costs the Earth.
Late Update — Australia desperately needs to learn these lessons
Prompted by comments from David Maddison and Ross below:
There are no offshore wind plants in Australia but we are rushing to build them, so the tales of woe from the UK and US are especially relevant here now.
The Basslink Cable from Tasmania to mainland Australian has broken not once, but three times here in the last seven years. First in 2016 for 5 or 6 months (I believe Australia didn’t even have the right repair ship, we used the Ile De Re which was based in Jakarta). Then the cable was out again in 2018 for two months. And in 2019 for another month due to a problem on land at the Victorian end.
The Basslink repair in 2016 were delayed for weeks because of bad weather.
After three weeks of delay, the ship was finally able to leave Geelong last night and the repair team hopes calm conditions will last long enough to connect a new section of cable to the existing one. The repair team needs 16 calm days to work on the cable before it can be up and running again.
How could our BOM even predict 16 calm days on the Bass Strait…?
_______________
*Admittedly, this percentage may be high because insurance companies don’t cover most of the other kinds of failures on wind “farms”, as we see with Siemens massive stock loss as they realized the true cost of maintenance.
Premature Electrification reigns supreme failure. Sadly our politicians remain disconnected from facts!
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fascinating. Pollies just keep throwing money at this, like the recently departed Dan of Le Mancha. We are burning through our amazing civilisation grinding gears on the basis of communist subversion. I notice the entire electrical infrastructure is vulnerable. If there were real wars, electricity would be easy to knock out. Similar to fibre optic communications. Instead we have “1984” wars to make our leaders safe in incumbency.
541
The generators are not the weak link as we have been finding; the connectors are. So easy to destroy a transmission tower or underwater cable and so difficult to protect them. Imagine patrolling thousands of kilometers of transmission through forrest areas or open spaces especially now with drones that can be programmed to attack small targets. Worse of course is the fact that much infrastructure only functions for 30% of the time and our capacity to defend ourselves is in jeopardy. Our potential adversaries must rub their eyes in wonder at our stupidity.
372
Yes, Drones – been watching some foreign stations today … BILLIONS to be spent on Defence against drones by Many and non-Euro countries. About as bad as the fear of Covid. With Hindsight, all that non-stories about Drones at Heathrow aroun d Christmas time, a few years ago … was it just pre-programming the public ..
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Saighdear.
the Russia – Ukraine Conflict has highlighted the War use of Drones – It’s unfortunate but true – Drones of all sizes are the Future be they Aerial, Surface or Sybnarine
Look at some of the Videos
https://askeptic.substack.com/p/russia-ukraine-reports-2023-10-05
and
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/sitrep-10423-the-beginning-of-a-long
Is it worth talking about the results on the battlefield next year, when the enemy will build a UAV production plant, produce thousands of new Lancets, and receive new MLRS from the DPRK.
It is not difficult to predict the results of such preparations for Ukraine, especially considering the failures on the international track.
The early results of these increases are already showing on the battlefield. Russia’s drone production is said to be skyrocketing to such levels that each month brings verified new highs of usages that are literally doubling and tripling the previous months:
Here’s a chart showing Russian drone (Lancets and FPVs) and UMPK glidebomb usage before the counteroffensive (blue) and afterwards (red):
Drone attack kills at least 80 at Syrian military college
Damascus has blamed unidentified terrorists for targeting young officers and their families at a graduation ceremony in Homs
Ukraine needs to source new consumer drones that it can retrofit with explosives as China dials back sales to the country
The move came more than a year after DJI, a major Chinese technology company, stopped selling drones to Russia and Ukraine. DJI also cited concerns that the two countries were using their products for military operations.
It was true. They were. For Ukraine, these low-cost, Chinese-made drones have become essential to the war effort. Ukrainians retrofit the consumer drones in all kinds of ways so they can deliver added payloads on Russian forces and territory. Ukraine burns through thousands of them every month.
So the new restrictions have hurt Ukraine’s ability to obtain the tech they need, widening Russia’s advantage as winter approaches. Nearly one month after the export restrictions went into effect, Ukraine is now scrambling to source consumer drones and their parts from anywhere they can.
“At night we do bombing missions, and during the day we think about how to get new drones,” Oles Maliarevych, a Ukrainian officer who helps supply drones for his unit, told The New York Times.
One Ukrainian, the Times reported, brought back a couple from a recent trip to Boston, Mass.
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Long but interesting read from NY Times
OldOzzie
Oct 6, 2023 11:10 AM
How China is reining in Ukraine’s war of drones
The world’s largest manufacturer of the aircraft is making it harder for Ukraine to access the key battlefield tech.
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Ozzie,
Like all new technology its counter measures are also improving . This is what is the reason they are going through so many . We are in the age of digital and electronic warfare and the truth was the first casualty .
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Old Goat,
I have been stunned by the rapidity of deveopment of Drone wafare – ranging from Micro Drones up to Iranian Reaper Drones based on downed US Reaper Drone
Covering now Land/Sea & Air
As you quite righly say electronic counters measures are improving
Search – https://substack.com/search/drone%20jammers?focusedPublicationId=1351274
and
Mystery Russian Systems Are Taking Out Ukrainian Drones
A broad overview of Russia’s current and up-and-coming anti-drone and EW systems.
SIMPLICIUS THE THINKER
plus
How Russia’s Space Forces Disable Starlink Satellites Without Breaking International Law
70
Surely the major weak link is that there is not enough copper left in the world to supply the vast needs of this brave new green world which includes staggering amounts of cabling.
81
It used to be that all communications cables were Copper, but that’s no longer used although there’s still a lot of those old analog phone lines under city streets.
Water pipe used to be mostly steel, but then moved over to Copper which lasts longer. Now at least the cold water is moving to plastic, resulting in a major reduction in Copper demand and also opportunity for recycling.
Taps and various other fittings used to be 100% brass but that’s changed and they are still partly brass but often involve some plastic, Aluminium and other stuff.
At some stage I would guess hot water pipes might also go iver to plastic, and perhaps same thing will happen for gas pipes as well. Many people have named some resource or other and said, “Golly it’s gonna run out” but those people are typically wrong.
30
Tonight we are told that Scottish Power ( based in Perth) has had a lower than expected output from their Wind ( due to extreme weather events, they say), and / but – Yes, and/but, there are MORE Companies waiting to get permission or start( having got permission) to build more windmills in the Sea, and West of Orkney, too. Maybe they don’t read the trade magazines, or?
And then in the next Breath NW Sutherland’s Space port site is expecting to send up 12 rockets next year, or so. Hope nothing goes wrong there, either, or they may end up crashing into and burning al l that PEAT which they’re trying to “save”.
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Remember when the Basslink subsidy-harvesting cable between Van Diemen’s Land and the Mainland failed? It took at least six months to repair. (The cable would have been unnecessary had we continued to use inexpensive, reliable coal power.)
Also, all these underwater cables will be highly susceptible to sabotage by hostile foreign powers, although forcing us to use expensive and unreliable wind power is a form of sabotage in itself. (A vast majority of our politicians are loyal to the UN, Herr Kommandant Schwab and the Chicomms.)
481
I think Basslink is in the nice to have category, rather than necessary.
90
You beat me to it DM. Very often Jo writes these stories or borrows them from UK based Zerowatch and Australia has already seen examples. Waubra wind syndrome, farmer protests, underwater cable breakages, bird kills, etc etc. We know whale disruption will happen, could we at least try to avoid it before it happens? This story should be sent to both Chris Bowen and Lily d’Ambrosio (Vic Energy Minister).
150
That’s the same Lily who wouldn’t allow the construction of new dams because they would never fill. Well, Lily, we have had two years of Eildon effectively overflowing. Now the same is happening in Gippsland. Has anyone heard of Tim Flannery lately?
150
There are no offshore wind plants in Australia but we are rushing to build them, so the tales of woe from the UK and US are especially relevant here now.
The Basslink Cable broke not once, but three times here. First in 2016 for 5 or 6 months (I believe they had to get the ship to repair it in from the Northern Hemisphere, we didn’t even have one). Then it was out again in 2018 for two months. And in 2019 for another month due to a problem on land at the Victorian end.
In my speeches about How to Destroy an Electricity Grid I made hay with the Basslink debacle for years afterwards at every speech, lining up the slides of the dam levels, the half billion dollar cost of the outage, and how they could have bought two gas plants nearly for that instead, and the fact that they cloud seeded in the face of a historic flooding rain in their greed to refill the empty dams.
I feel (perhaps wrongly) that everyone knows that story…
210
Post updated. The repair ship was the Ile De Re, which is homed in Jakarta.
The repairs were delayed for weeks because of bad weather.
How could the BOM even predict 16 days of calm weather on the Bass Strait…
100
Does anyone know what happened to the Basslink cable? I wrote to them but
had no reply.
100
I thought that they fried the cable, trying to push too much power through it. I remember the discussions at the time, and nobody was prepared to say whether the cable had been pushed beyond its specified limits or not.
130
Indeed Graeme#4, you are right:
The report on the Basslink 2016 breakage
100
Coal, nuclear and dams. And who could forget Snowy 2.0?
70
Windmill wading in the sea,
Happy as a windmill can be,
Salt water splashing o’er your long blades
and currents tugging at your cable cords.
A short but merry life for you
And for your subsidy cohort too.
https://www.rechargenews.com/wind/damaged-offshore-wind-cables-to-cost-orsted-almost-half-a-billion-dollars-cfo/2-1-1002964
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There is also the environmental harm caused by the electric fields of the cables interfering with electrosensitive organisms.
Jo has mentioned the effect in previous article(s).
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/11/underwater-cables-renewables-affect-blood-cells-brown-crabs-study
https://stopthesethings.com/2021/12/04/stunned-still-offshore-wind-farm-power-cables-leave-crabs-mesmerised-motionless/
https://www.wur.nl/en/show-longread/electromagnetic-fields-around-wind-farm-power-cables.htm
251
Turbine not spinning while cable fault is repaired + undersized shafts and bearings on turbines = what could go wrong?
301
Brinnelling of bearings.
They will need to have diesel generators in each windmill to keep the blades turning and oil circulating, LoL.
331
And I can’t even begin to imagine how much it would cost to replace a shaft bearing on a monstrous maritime wind turbine.
The subsidy harvesters will probably expect taxpayers to foot the bill.
351
We already foot the bill for any repairs. It’s built into our electricity charges and the subsidies to the sham unreliable operators.
But it’s cheap, cheap, cheap! Yeah right, just like the vax is “safe and effective”.
Our governments of the last 20-30 years should hang their heads in shame. Billions$$$ wasted on a lie that we can power any country using unreliables.
281
That is like running banks of diesel generators to charge EV batteries.
90
PADRE,
I think this has had a bit of publicity recently …
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/10/03/the-irony-of-green-charging-stations-the-harris-ranch-tesla-supercharger-station/
The Irony of “Green” Charging Stations: The Harris Ranch Tesla Supercharger Station
“Largest EV Charging Station In World Powered By Diesel-Powered Generators”
But, just in case, it may repay a quick read [3-4 minutes, perhaps, before you get to the comments].
Auto
20
They use diesel generator packs during the installation and commisioning of offshore windmills. These are probably left in situ …
20
I am curious ?…..
Why do you assume the turbines blades have to stop spinning whilst the cable is repaired ?
And how is using a generator to power the turbine blades any different to letting the wind do it ?
Undersized shafts and bearings .??
A generator may well be needed if there is no wind, but if the wind is available ..??
32
Good question Chad?
The problem is the wind is fickle and you are not powering a generator with consistent force allowing the parts to arrive at some steady state equilibrium.
Engineers are working on the problem of the continually changing loads.
So in answering your query. When the cable is disconnected the rotation of the blades would have to either be stopped or regulated. I do not know how this is controlled, though I remember previous posts where the turbine was kept rotating by diesel standby or access to the power grid to avoid uneven loading on bearings
The problem appears generic and worldwide and I doubt salt water will be good environment to search for a solution.
120
I dont think it is easy to mechanically decouple the blade shaft from the generator .?
To regulate blade speed, I assume they would ectrically decouple the generator from the system and link it to a dump resistor pack, then use the mechanical brake and vane feathering controls to maintain a minimum rotation speed …whilst the wind is blowing.
And with respect to that bearing comment, my understanding of large roller bearing applications is that they should always be designed into an assembly that ensures thay always have a set preload to prevent those exact problems.
And Brinnelling is a different problem altogether.
But what was that comment about undersized shafts and bearings ?…it sounds like a very fundamental design mistake.
50
When I worked on superconducting generator design and development for ratings up to 1300MW I learnt that reliability/availability/maintainabilty were key to the economics. This was in the 1970s-80s for the UK’s CEGB.
The rule-of-thumb was that 4 days outage would result in excess costs (e.g. due to running plant from lower in the merit order) equal to the capital cost of the superconducting generator. In what way have matters changed?
Regards,
John.
361
“In what way have matters changed?”
The main difference is we have politicians wearing engineers hard hats now, a bit like politicians running wars, that always turns out well doesn’t it.
301
Cannon-Brookes has the answer I am sure… He wouldn’t be reaping money from investors for a dud scheme would he now?
280
KP:
Rest afford that with Bowen in his La Mancha suite that it will be the taxpayers who will have to pay.
I mean, what could go wrong with a 2,500 km. cable over an active (very active) tectonic fault? Leaving aside that the losses in the cable would be at least 15% and that the Singaporeans haven’t signed a deal yet (probably still rolling around the floor laughing).
271
Yes, most people just ignore that but the Indonesians experience it almost daily. I’ve often wondered on what geological advice Forrest and Loose-Cannon believe an undersea cable complex is immune to tectonic movements.
181
I note that the company that has taken over the Sun cable project is now saying that they will subcontract the cable out to somebody else, and meanwhile only supply power to Darwin. This is stupid. Darwin doesn’t need that amount of extra unreliable power, and I believe that already there are two solar projects waiting to gain approval to connect to the NT grid.
120
I would believe that too. They will be waiting for some time. Who wold want someone connecting power to your grid in the middle of the day? I understand one large solar farm is waiting for a neighbouring pumped hydro to be built while others are exploring hydrogen storage to make their project viable.
Maybe we should move back to a large lunch in the middle of the day so we can use the power. My vote is of course influenced by the thought of a siesta.
140
Pumped hydro storage in NT? On a flat plain, where water isn’t always available to top it up? Who thought up that bright idea?
120
He should no better KP. After all he’s an engineer!
40
He might identify as an “engineer”, that doesn’t make him one.
Isn’t his degree in computer programming?
He is also an adjunct “professor” at UNSW.
For that matter, former “health” minister Greg Hunt also identifies as a “professor”, as does former PM Julia Gillard.
What, do they hand out professorships in Corn Flakes packets now?
Back in the day, you use to need recognised world leading expertise in a particular area and be a genuine scholar.
231
Don’t make the mistake however of assuming that only people qualified in a specific field are entitled to speak about that field.
Qualifications aren’t everything, as “health experts” have demonstrated for the past 3 years.
The two most brilliant minds ever – Einstein and Tesla – were both dropouts from the education system.
Who would dare deny them an opinion because they didn’t have a paper degree from the rote-learning mill?
160
If a relatively short power cable can’t be made to work, what of the absurd Sun Cable project connecting Darwin to Singapore that is 4200km long?
Cannon-Brookes is trying to resurrect this project.
Let him throw his money at it, as long as NOT ONE CENT OF AUSSIE TAXPAYER MONEY IS SPENT ON IT AND AUSSIES ARE NOT FORCED TO BUY ANY OF THE PRODUCT.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/07/sun-cable-mike-cannon-brookes-takes-charge-of-world-changing-solar-project
331
Have a close look. The Australian reported yesterday that the cable part of the project would be subcontracted out – they are now not planning to pay for the cable themselves.
100
Graeme, I saw that article as well.
I had a look at why that may be.
OK, it is quite hilly up and down on the seabed for approx 1200 km of the link.
This is the crossection of the proposed Sun Cable link. Sea floor levels with surface plan.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41825-020-00032-z/figures/4
The proposed cable is 4200 km long, yet the plan length is 3200 km…. So 1000 km extra is needed to go up and down the steep sub sea hills, with the associated engineering problems.
So Mike C-B is now going to let a contractor deal with that problem… I understand why.. It is an major engineering risk/challenge.. so if it fails, someone else can be the patsy.
It seems that if your qualification is a tech/software engineer…. that’s what you do.
One thing that I have always pondered… Do these companies ever pay back (or are liable) for their gov taxpayer funded subsidies?
60
They are not only paying for the cable they are paying for the sub contractors profit. They have (if they ever find a contractor) transferred the risk, reduced the noise and stopped people talking so much about the elephant in the room.
40
Subcontracting doesn’t transfer the risk just the blame.
10
Offshore wind generators are simply the worst solution to the non problem these leftist idiots have created by demonising CO2. It beggars belief that anyone would think placing electrical generators in sea water is a good idea….just from a maintenance point of view, let alone the fragility of cabling back to the shore. It’s simply nuts. Build a new coal fired power generator next to the recently shutdown Liddell…or place wind turbines in the sea ? Ask any real engineer what the best choice is.
431
Huh, that was already planned out. Everything was done and dusted, the whole thing, approved for either a coal fired USC plant of four by 500MW Units, or similar CCGT ….. back in 2009.
And then canned. Huh! Who would have guessed, eh!
Tony.
330
The Bowen loony has told us they’ll build the offshore wind 20 klms out from the coast, because the voters don’t like to see the horrible things.
So why not save a fortune of endless TRILLIONS of $ and build NEW modern HELE coal plants on the same sites that are already available?
And these will last at least 60 years and of course little damage to the environment because of TOXIC offshore and onshore Wind and their stupid TOXIC Solar farms?
Net Zero Australia has told us the TRILLIONS $ cost of these TOXIC disasters, so when will our clueless pollies WAKE UP?
380
AGAIN here’s the Net Zero Australia quote of 1.2 to 1.5 TRILLION $ by 2030 and 7 to 9 TRILLION $ by 2060.
Indeed it looks like that full replacement cost every 20 years could be very optimistic, when you add in the extra problems with their fragile cables as well.
So when will they tell the voters the truth about these TOXIC TRILLIONS $ disasters?
https://www.unimelb.edu.au/newsroom/news/2023/july/new-report-details-how-australia-can-make-net-zero-happen
190
Far too sensible for the likes of Bowen. Remember this vacant space presided over the disastrous immigration policy of Rudd et al which saw 50000 illegals arrive and a minimum of 1200 drown. He next scuppered Bill Shortens unlosable election as the shadow treasurer. He will also scupper Albanese if he survives the NO vote. The guy is a loon. Strike that. The loon is a wonderful bird but there is nothing wonderful about Bowen unless it is his ability to continue to function without a brain.
230
” He next scuppered Bill Shortens unlosable election as the shadow treasurer”
So we do owe him a small debt of gratitude for that.
80
The total height at blade tips of current large wind turbines can be over 250m at max. reach.
Something at a height of 250m can be seen at about 56.5km away. They have to be far more than 20km away.
Relevant equations for distance to horizon here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizon?wprov=sfla1
Too hard to rewrite in the basic text allowed here.
How did that basic calculation escape the attention of genius Bowen or his numerous overpaid “consultants” and “engineers” and his vast team of public serpents at the CSIRO?
281
Minyang [Chinese] MySE 18.X-28X is reportedly 280 metre rotor diameter.
Likely to be (well?) over 350 metres to top of the blade arc.
Reported at offshoreWind.biz in January 2023.
Auto
10
Most younger engineers, as with most “professionals” these days will be fully dumbed-down and fully woke and thus have no clue.
But there will be a small minority of engineers that were properly educated before the current madness.
Such engineers are being unethical and unprofessional if they don’t speak out against the insanity of wind and solar, even if it means losing their jobs although hopefully they wouldn’t lose jobs.
291
I have a recent experience with an older engineer. I am thinking of sending him a seeing-eye dog as he reported to a Court that not one but two drains did not exist, both historically or as built.
I am tossing up reporting him to his peers as he was actually discrediting the work of his fellow engineers. I call his Court performances ‘Engismearing’. He relies on the fact that a contesting Engineer will not give a 100% certainty to any contrary argument. There is always a possibility after all.
100
We may hear from these baby boom engineers as they reach retirement age, and thus can spill the beans without risking anything.
60
Are the under-sea cables made in China?
Asking for a friend.
220
Woodside’s gas hub has been halted by an activist judge gulled into listening to an aboriginal woman who says she knows what whales are singing about 100 kms out to sea. Bowens off-shore wind sites in NSW sit astride the migration route of 25000 whales that each year go North to calve and South to mate and feed. There must be many aborigints who can hear their distress calls a mere 20 kms away.
281
I doubt whether any traditional Aborigines were even aware of whale song or if they happened to have their heads underwater at the time, whether they were aware what made the sounds or their meaning, if they could hear them at all. (Those portions of song that were in the audible spectrum.)
271
As per my Sky News post the other day, you can forget about offshore development if the Yes vote wins.
The indigenous (at least the non-white indigenous) will ban such things as they will impact turtles swimming 200km offshore or similar nonsense.
YES – Proudly sponsored by das gubermint, the AEC and Pfizer.
That alone should rule them out.
Earthquakes, volcanoes, sharks, extreme pressures, hostile environments, naughty non-government people with explosives – the oceans are dangerous places for innocent cables.
141
..Oh ?… so there are some benifits to a “YES” vote ?
But i dont think i trust anyone enough to vote that way .!
80
So you actually think the voice is about giving a certain number of Australians a voice, you’re so wrong, it’s about removing their voice, controlling their voice.
We all have a voice, what we don’t have is listeners.
70
MP
“We all have a voice, what we don’t have is listeners.”
Yes – feels like that here in the UK, too.
But – the Uxbridge and South Ruislip election gave a little hope.
Rishi saying that the Internal Combustion Engine [ICE] for car ban will be postponed until 2035 [like the EU’s own ban, oddly!] gave a little more hope.
But it’s all just Pollies’ wind.
The requirement for manufacturers to sell [not make, actually sell] 22% of their output as Electric Vehicles [EVs] from 2024 [i.e. in about three months time] is still in force, and it’ll rise [in the UK] to a quota of 80% by 2030 [no, not 2035!].
I haven’t checked the actual legal requirement [failure to meet that quota will be punished by a £15,000 fine for EVERY car over the ICE quota!]. But I think it’ll look something like this:
2024 22%
2025 32%
2026 41%
2027 51%
2028 61%
2029 70%
2030 80%
[I repeat – my guesses only, but they’ll likely be modestly close].
So – in fifteen months, a third of cars sold are to be EVs?
Given the well known problems of EVs – Price; Range; Charging; Software issues; and general flammability with little or no solution – and given the increasing prevalence of fires from lithium batteries – here’s one more today [a phone!] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqq76vv4dzno – and their increasing prominence in the news, I suspect things will not get better for the EV makers.
Auto
50
Sunak just flaps his gums and waves his hands and the believers think the waters will part.
People have learn’t nothing over the past three years of stakeholder partnership, all the tool at the top has to do is wash his hands and the stakeholders will follow through.
This is fascism in every sense of the word.
30
The true cost of this climate lunacy is becoming apparent
15 years for the turbines
how long for the cables? We have some experience with interconnections (UK to Europe and Vic to Tas ) costs and failures must be known.
I have have a suspicion they are doing this on the cheap and lying about it
170
We do have a well developed capacity to ignore previous experience and observable reality. The often used argument about “falling behind” seems to include wanting to make the same mistakes as everyone else. Its progressive apparently.
180
.. and i have a suspicion they are doing this to raise funds and draw attention to themselves (MCB in particular ), ..in a sort of “super ego trip”
60
We had our very own undersea failure just so we won’t feel left out, how long did the cable last and how long until the next one.
30
I very much doubt that offshore wind turbines will last 15 years. Even onshore ones now have to be derated, up to 50%, after a few years. But of course nobody mentions this derating.
110
AGAIN Bloomberg and the SMH tell us we’ll need to WASTE 300 TRILLION $ for the world to reach their NET ZERO fantasy.
But will the world’s voters still accept this TOTAL WASTE of hundreds of TRILLIONS of $ for a guaranteed ZERO return?
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/300-trillion-is-needed-to-stop-global-warming-and-that-s-a-bargain-20230706-p5dm2m.html
120
Here’s another problem with wind turbines.
At night they need flashing red lights to warn aircraft.
Well, the flashing lights are annoying people so the answer is to turn them off.
What could possibly go wrong?
180
Politicians shouldn’t be allowed to make scientific or engineering decisions.
It always ends in disaster.
Just look at our electricity supply, energy supply in general and gross covid mismanagement to name just two examples.
A smart lawyer ought to be able to sue them for acting as engineers or medical professionals without appropriate qualifications.
250
Agree but they use the weasel excuse is that they were advised by their “experts” on the best available science! We all know that these ‘experts’ are the ones that will give them the answer they want. Plausible deniability. But how to combat this is the problem. They will not listen to any advice/fact that contradicts their plans, until, of course, the public eventually catch on, by then the damage is done and they are safe because the “experts” advised them.
160
“Politicians shouldn’t be allowed to make scientific or engineering decisions.”
A case in point is Snowy 2, how much advice did Turnbull listen to before committing the nation to this ongoing blunder.
150
Our loony Labor govt has now agreed to donate to the UN ‘s Green fund and the Wong donkey will make a first WASTEFUL donation by the end of the year.
The Morrison govt pulled out of this corruption and fraud 5 years ago, but Labor will be happy to waste many more millions of $ and I’m sure the usual con merchants and liars will be waiting at the trough.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-05/australia-rejoins-united-nations-climate-fund/102938288
240
The lefty infused UN can always count on a nice contribution from their lefty mates down under.
90
Wow, they’re going to fund some green energy projects in Tonga and Fiji, nations with tiny carbon footprints. What’s this supposed to achieve given the BRICS nations have a free pass on carbon emissions? If you buy into the net zero argument, it makes no sense whatsoever
90
We should go all out to expand offshore wind as far as humanly possible.
The costs, overruns and failures might actually bring the folly of all this “green” nonsense to the attention of the regular people that signed on for the promise of cheap, reliable clean power.
80
This section was particularly interesting:
Not only that profit was the driving force of most of the problems, but that “Technical solutions are constantly under development to target specific problems that occur during installation and operation” is listed as a problem, which hints at even more profit-driven milking of the government teat. What this really reveals is that they are a bunch of amateurs milking the government, not a bunch of professionals working to establish a long-term industry on which we will all depend.
You have to laugh at the first entry “The most common root causes of failure claims range from contractor error to design defects, mechanical failures and weather influences” … so basically everything is the most common cause of cable failures. Hilarious, there is no way these muppets will build a decent industry, not with management teams dedicated to profit and not investment.
150
It is now 2023 A.D.
THE TRUTH.
The truth is that it is absolutely and irrevocably possible for honest, qualified engineers to calculate all costs and engineering parameters related to the design, construction and operation of wind turbines whether land or ocean sited.
From this, a cost per kilowatt hour for delivering fully ready 240V 50 cycles per sec ac to local substations.
THE SETUP
This imposition on society has been a long time in the making and began many years ago when our state government, and I use the term lightly, deconstructed the integrated state power system into more profitable individual units looking after electricity generation, wires and poles and “marketing”. WTF.
THE OUTCOME
Australia now has perhaps the most expensive electricity in the world which makes our lives and futures grim and unpleasant. It is currently almost impossible to operate an office in Australia, let alone manufacturing of any daily use items that now pour in from countries overseas who have sensibly priced electricity.
In hindsight, the collapse of Australia has been 50 years in the making and we have now arrived.
The TRUTH according to our LEADERS;
“Everyone now has a degree and we are the smartest nation in the world.”
We have arrived! The land of Plonk and Worry.
211
“Everyone now has a degree and we are the smartest nation in the world.”
Would you like fries with that. !
100
Glad you appreciate sarchasm which is just sarcasm on a grander scale.
🙂
70
Ahh, maybe this is why the UN believes the oceans will be boiling?
sarc
30
” Last 20 years of experience shows …”
Several things:
– this is not a new problem;
– subsidizes push unproven technology;
– salt water is not your friend unless you are making taffy.
90
Australia is now being run by the green and purple haired freaks that infested Australian “universities” in the 1980’s and studies anti-scholastic fields such as “wimmin’s studies” and Trotskyist Theory.
150
I read earlier today that a letter signed by many university students and lecturers, Victoria from memory, urges voters to support Voice.
Did the Communist Elders recruit them?
80
G’day Dennis,
The ABC has this story. Could it be the the same letter? This talks about “professors” in the headline, but “teachers and professors” in the body:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-06/open-letter-constitutional-law-university-voice-to-parliament/102937352
Cheers
Dave B
50
Of course they would, universities are chock full of leftards.
50
This would be funny, if us mug taxpayers weren’t footing the bill for every madcap globull warming project, dreamt up by ignorant fools.
60
“Wind energy might be free, but collecting it costs the Earth.”
Simply ask any sailboat owner.
70
With a sensible Energy Policy in place, such problems would quite ‘sensibly’ be the responsibility (& cost) of the wind turbine operator (subsidy harvester, Carpetbagger).
They should have every base covered to ensure ongoing power generation in accord with their contracted T’s & C’s (including back-up power generation of their own choosing / cost to ensure ongoing performance for what, after all, is an essential service) & a preparedness to meet substantial financial penalties in the event of any failure to meet their contracted QOS obligations.
Easy… with a sensible Energy Policy in place!
70
“If these critical components become uninsurable, offshore wind projects around the world will be derailed, making global 2050 net zero targets completely unachievable.”
I suppose the punchline is that we already know that Net Zero is completely unachievable.
40
We know that during the Covid fiasco the Vax manufacturers were protected from legal actions, which were borne by governments/taxpayers. If the Green loonies really believe their BS then expect governments/tax payers to pick up the electric insurance costs. We pay for their lunacy.
30
[…] By Jo Nova […]
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[…] truth of inflation, the maintenance cost shocks and cable failures are all exposing the scam. There was also the problem of needing a 100 years of copper, nickel […]
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[…] new projects started. The awful truth of inflation, the maintenance cost shocks and cable failures is all too much. Then there was the problem of needing a 100 years of copper, nickel and […]
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