By Jo Nova
The Victorian state electricity grid is running close to the wire
They’ve run their largest coal plants into the ground — to the point of neglect where an air duct “detached from the boiler end and fell to the floor”. So one 380MW unit will be out of action at Yallourn for two weeks. And it’s just the latest in an ongoing series of failures.
We are the Renewable Crash Test Dummy — this is what the unfree, fixed, forced market produces when the best assets in a system are treated like planet-wrecking trolls.
A Hi-Tech transition, my foot…
An Air duct collapses at Yallourn Power plant. ABC News https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-09/yallourn-power-station-outage-air-duct-collapse/105394406
The Net Zero forced transition is just vandalism of a perfectly good electricity grid.
The whole 1,450 MW plant at Yallourn makes 20% of the state’s electricity, but has been described as “limping” along into retirement –– (a lot like Victorian manufacturing.)
One report on the power station found that at least one of its four generators was out of action for a third of the time last year. Yallourn was supposed to close in 2032, but under siege from heavily subsidized unreliable generators, and a rigged market, that’s been brought forward to 2028.
It doesn’t help that it is owned by EnergyAustralia which is a wholly owned subsidiary of China Light and Power (CLP) Group. Presumably the CCP won’t mind at all if Victoria burns less coal, loses more smelters and can’t compete with it in the race to build data centres?
Things got so hairy last week, Paul McArdle of WattClarity has written nine articles about “June 12th”, when the wind power (marked in green) produced virtually nothing of the state’s electricity. (Graph from Anero.id)
The state used 13% of their annual gas supply to keep the lights on for three days.
Saner heads are pointing out the obvious risks:
The Queensland government told the Victorian government off, saying it couldn’t keep “bailing out Victoria’s bad decisions”.
And CEO’s are calling for more coal and gas to give the system a buffer and warning that it could fall over any time:
Transgrid CEO Brett Redman’s ‘cold showers’ warning as Victoria’s energy grid stripped thin
By Perry Williams, The Australian
The transmission giant delivering the roll-out of renewables infrastructure has advocated for authorities to accelerate the development of gas plants and retain a buffer of coal after warning the power grid has been “stripped thin” of supply.
Transgrid chief executive Brett Redman, a former boss of AGL Energy, said it was time to prioritise putting “more buffer” back into the system.
“We’ve really stripped the system very, very thin. And so the events a couple of years ago where we nearly saw widespread outages and even what’s happening in Victoria in the last couple of weeks, we are in this world now where you cannot predict exactly when it will happen.
Meanwhile China Light and Power (who own EnergyAustralia) effectively said they are committed to “Net Zero” (in other countries):
EnergyAustralia told The Australian it had made a pledge for net-zero emissions by 2050 and “closing Yallourn by 2028 is part of that commitment”.
Why aren’t EnergyAustralia committed to keeping the lights on, keeping electricity prices low, and serving Australians? Hmm?
Does anyone really believe energy companies care about fixing the planetary weather a hundred years from now, or that it is appropriate for them to pursue their storm-stopping-witchcraft with essential public infrastructure?
What kind of lunacy is this? Not that they say it, but that we accept these ridiculous lines?
In warfare, you blow up the enemy’s power stations. Today you buy them and shut them down by neglect. And the answer? More Chinese windmills and solar panels and not fit for purpose transmission lines. And a state incredibly rich in coal is forced into energy and financial bankruptcy.
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It takes two generations to build reliable power but days to bankrupt the entire Victorian state.
People still think that this will all work out somehow. Just dump Net Zero at the last minute.
The truth is Victoria is going to go splat and there is nothing anyone can do to avoid it. We have crossed the red line.
The only relevant question is whether the financial collapse of Victoria is big enough to take down Australia?
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The only relevant question is whether the financial collapse of Victoria is big enough to take down Australia?
Unfortunately Yes with Labor PM Albo, Blackout Bowen & Jim Chalmers with the Unions
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The economic basket case economy resulted in what was called Rust Belt of Victoria 1980s followed by the National recession Labor said we had to have, worst in 60 years for Australia.
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Open ALL the inter-connectors.
Apply locks.
Apply sign. “Not to be removed.”
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TdeF – you forgot Batteries
As part of its own plans to help replace Yallourn, EnergyAustralia is building the 350MW/1,400MWh Wooreen Energy Storage System (WESS) adjacent to its Jeeralang gas power plant in the heart of Victorian coal country.
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Yep, the fools forgot the batteries. Duhh.. Is there a competition for stupidity. I might ring up Crisafulli and tell him to pull the plug on Victoria. They’ll learn the hard way.
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Batteries are power stations according to lefty lunacy theory
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This is the advance ground forces at work.
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Next step for bankrupt Victoria – emergency diesel generators.
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Like SA?
And where will they get the dieseL? Supplies from overseas might be quite dodgy at the current time.
And if the Victorian government persists then the only way out will be to follow Ian Plimer’s suggestion and use brown coal to make some.
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That would be hilarious if Victoriastan had to convert brown coal to diesel to run diesel generators to replace the brown coal power stations that were or are to be destroyed.
It is so ridiculously stupid that they might just do it.
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Don’t give them ideas David, the dummies sure don’t have any of their own.
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Some time ago Perth build a new diesel-powered power station in Kwinana to replace the coal power station in South Fremantle, just in time for the diesel costs to skyrocket. IIRC, it was quickly converted to use coal.
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Maybe they could ring up South Africa and borrow their gear.
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South Africa has had nuclear for decades even though they have lots of coal.
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Just let Victoria carry on regardless. When the lights go off … we’ll tough titties !
Stupid is as stupid does. Experience is a wonderful education & maybe a nasty experience will do the trick!
States, (QLD ) doing their best to act with responsibility in spite of the Albozo clown show, must refuse to provide electricity back up, no matter the price.
A REAL wake up message, hopefully will encourage a flood of common sense from the Victorian electorate. As an aside may I say that original Victorian electorate must be turning in their graves at this new electorates stupidity!
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Many people are unaware that soon after the forced by Labor Vic Government closure of Hazlewood brown coal fired power station, about 25% of generator capacity in that State, and the drought related but not factored in Snowy Mountains Hydro and Tasmania Hydro under capacity and unable to fill the supply gaps, VicGov spent millions of dollars installing diesel generators around the countryside.
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And if June is anything to go by, this will be a very cold winter (except when later reported by the BOM as our warmest winter ever) and those that can afford it will be keeping the heating on. It is currently 6 degrees here in Sydney’s lower north shore and this has been the 7-8 degrees at 8am has been the norm this month.
We may well be heading towards a power supply crisis this winter. And this is in a country that could be drilling for our own oil, and properly using our coal, gas, and uranium. Bowen should be sued for criminal destruction of our environment and wilful neglect of our energy system.
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Oops
… and 7-8 degrees at 8am has been the norm this month.
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I have burnt much more firewood in June to date than last year same period.
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Me too, I’m in Brisbane.
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I would gladly contribute to a class action against the clown. I am not sure government ministers can be sued for their bad decisions. I can see why. The courts would be permanently clogged with class actions.
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No, no! The BoM have already said that it is going to be a mild winter in the east. Already getting sub zero temps here in the Blue Mountains and maximums of 6°C during the day. Looking forward to that warm weather in July and August that they are forecasting.
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You’re lucky. Canberra has been -5 for most of the week.
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My brother was RAAF, working in Dep Air, Canberra. His boss would say: Thommo, there is a post at such and such, want it? and he would knock it back. Got discharged and took a Gov job there. When he retired it was to Toowoomba, coldest city in Qld. He was born and raised in the tropics. Go figure.
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Thanks be to Qld & the umbilical cord of excess power heading south on a daily basis to keep NSW & Victoria’s lights on. Thanks also to Crisafully govt for ‘supposed’ commitment to keep coal fired base load generation running & producing the daily average excess power above demand of approx 1000MW.
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You would think QLD power would be for QLDers! like QLD hospitals.
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Crisafully is not giving that power away, and because the Queenslanders were smart enough to retain ownership of the power system, NSW and Victoristan are helping to Make Queensland Great Again.
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The WA SWIS grid is also govt owned, and so far power prices have been kept low.
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Not for businesses, and not for people without subsidized solar. The storm is coming for WA.
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Apparently the WA budget announcement included a mention of no more state subsidy payments for electricity….
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Being cheap isn’t much good if there isn’t any.
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Queensland also has the youngest of the coal power station fleet and including HELE technology and with about 30 years operating life to go.
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The much hated Premier Joh laid the foundation for our power industry because he wanted power for the drag lines in the Bowen Basin and the aluminium smelters in Gladstone refining ore from Weipa.
I was young and swallowed the hype but now believe he may have been the GOAT.
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Ah, the unlamented Palachook!
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A few days ago AEMO price was $1,000 and we were exporting a gig. Nice work if you can get it. I cannot work out why NSW doesn’t try to meet it’s own demand.
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Why take the time to build something when someone else will give it to you for free.
Sometimes the incentives in “the system” are perverse.
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From the photo it looks more like scrap yard . .
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It looks like there was a lot of scaffolding there.
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Imagine if that flue gas ducting collapsed while the plant was on full load.
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“It looks like there was a lot of scaffolding there.”
Yes, it looks like they were doing maintenance and someone working on the scaffolding unbolted too many supports for that ducting at once, and…
” an air duct “detached from the boiler end and fell to the floor”.
The Union in charge of those workers should be prosecuted by the police for unsafe work endangering others and then sued privately for costing the company its profits. Of course in any Socialist country they won’t touch the Unions and they will prosecute the company instead.
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It also resembles a ‘maintenance event’ which cut power to Northland (the top skinny part of New Zealand) last year when contractors, employed to de-rust & paint pylon-mounts on the one-and-only transmission line up there, undid three of the four bolts securing a pylon and over she went – BANG – cutting power for days, closing businesses and ruining freezer-loads of food…
Hardware stores did a brisk trade in selling generators until they ran out: some businesses are still seeking recompense from the lines company… good luck.
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One would have to be seriously incompetent to either do that or allow it to be done, Chinese Company perhaps.
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Omexom: Achieving the Energy Transition
across 39 countries, NZ boss Mornez Green.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/520400/transpower-reveals-why-pylon-fell-causing-major-northland-outage June 2024
A team of one supervisor and 2 newbie assistants was stood down, on full pay, after 3 of the 4 pylon legs were unbolted: stress & gravity took care of the rest.
Transition & Green – existentially catastrophic!
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“Transition & Green – existentially catastrophic!”
Working hand in hand to achieve………chaos.
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You should have seen it before WHS told them to clean up. lol
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The Left use this neglect as “proof” that coal is “unreliable” when that was never an issue until fake conservative Howard commenced the dismantlment and destruction of our electricity grid, once one of the best, most efficient and cheapest in the world.
The Government and anti-energy lobby keeps telling coal mining and power companies that they have “stranded assets” and will be out of business soon.
Why would or should they keep up any maintenance programs?
In fact, any CEO that kept investing shareholder money in coal power stations after Government and other advice from the anti-energy lobby that they hold a “stranded asset” would be in violation of their fiduciary duty.
The wilfully ignorant Australian people (present company excepted) voted for this madness. They will suffer badly because of it. Unfortunately so will the Thinking Community.
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Yes David. Much of our travail can be laid at Howard’s feet. Many farmers lost productive land to meet Kyoto. As a reminder: if the Commonwealth uses or takes your land they are obliged under the constitution to pay compensation. The same rule does not apply to the states so tricky John asked the states to introduce Native Vegetation laws which effectively locked up millions of acres of otherwise useful land. I went to a protest in Canberra to support Peter Spencer whose farm was ruined by Bob Carr’s laws. Peter was being represented, free of charge, at the High Court by barrister Peter King, who was pushed out of his federal seat of Wentworth by none other than Malcolm Turnbull. Talk about a bevy of socialist scum.
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Yes, it was Turdball , within the Howard government , who initially introduced the glowbull warming / carbon tax legislation ( with the wick turned down ) and so later the ALP just had to turn the wick up to do real harm . It was also Turdball who was behind the very damaging ” Murray Darling basin plan ” that was designed to destroy irrigated farming in NSW & Vic .
Howard’s bragging that the Liberal party was a ” broad church ” was nothing to be proud of ! The Liberal party should be much more careful about who they allow to infiltrate the party .
Matt Keen was another example of someone who should have been filtered out before he could do any harm .
Seems like the ” All black ” situation may be closer that we thought !
As for global warming : After another cool summer , it’s been an early and cold start to winter . Here in southern NSW ( Wagga area ) we have been having July temperatures all June !
As for the BOM and the MSM : of course they will say it was the ” Hottest on record ” .
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I’m in Brisbane and have nearly run out of firewood.
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“Howard’s bragging that the Liberal party was a ” broad church ”
Shorthand for ‘full of LINOs and wannabe laborites’
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Ronin
“Wannabe laborites” who the Labor Party was too smart to accept.
See Turnbull, Malcolm.
After Fraser and Turnbull, the Liberal Party should avoid leaders named Malcolm.
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Yep, both Malcolms should have been in the labor party, but they wouldn’t have them.
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No, carbon tax was Gillard Labor after the 2010 election, repealed by Abbott Coalition after 2013 election.
Turnbull Coalition introduced an emissions levy but confined it to coal fired power stations after Abbott was replaced in 2015, or 2016-2018 period.
Howard’s broad church reference was not including the Trurnbull introduced Liberal In Name Only or LINO left who are left of Labor centre left, as compared to Labor far left including PM Albanese now dominating Labor Government.
Original Menzies Australian Liberal Party had members ranging from centre right to centre left traditionally so broad church reference
30
The Renewable Energy Target of 32% was Rudd-Gillard Labor from 2007-2013 governments, the following Abbott Coalition tried to repeal that legislation around the time that they successfully repealed Labor’s carbon tax legislation but the hostile Senate blocked that legislation.
From May 2022 RET 82% was introduced by Albanese Labor via Minister Bowen.
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What is so depressing is the stupidity driving our destruction!
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It’s difficult to understand how this could happen if moderately competent people were either in charge and/or doing the work.
Could it be deliberate sabotage?
Who profits from the closure of power stations?
Best follow the money trail. It might lead to Big Bad Green.
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We have reached the point where a legal challenge is needed to rectify Victoria’s electricity sabotage by the State.
We need to document an ancient – any incident – where a person or entity has been harmed by a policy, then build a legal case around it.
Overall, I like the observations of TdeF and others that some of the Federal actions of taking certain monies from people to fill the coffers is illegal. That should also be advanced.
There is a limit to how long taxpayers should have to put up with this national financial damage.
Geoff S
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“Who profits from the closure of power stations?
Best follow the money trail. It might lead to Big Bad Green.”
Backed by big bad CCCCCCCCP.
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See archive at JoNova
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Coal plants are not neglected. They are more than adequately maintained. But these plants are now “flexed” up and down to generate less power during the day to deal with the vagaries of renewable. They were NOT designed to do this, and undoubtedly the added stress is causing more problems over time. Added to this is that there are now less coal plants that can take the weight of the system. So required downtime is being minimised to save the grid because of the stresses on it from wind and solar.
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Best we have a total breakdown and widespread blackouts. We need something that the spin doctors cannot brush off. More importantly we need more of those who understand the system and its problems to stand up and make the case for a change. Three S Suzie from the Liberals should be on every TV station every morning telling the audience why their bills are so high and why the grid is on the verge of collapse.
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Three SSS Susie! I have heard nothing from her since she spouted some drivel about “working on the policy” – “going forward”. Going backward, more likely.
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Also there is a shortage of coal supplies and some power station nearby coal mines are short of supply, problem again the politicians restricting mining and drilling.
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You are correct that coal plants run best at 105% all day, every day. Spooling up and down [I think] tells on the boilers mostly and venting steam when the sun shines tells on the budget which shows in maintenance budgets.
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I live just 300m from the Pacific Ocean here on the Sunshine Coast. Last couple of weeks temps lower that 4 deg have been the order of the day. I’m hoping the BOM warnings of high winter temps is correct!
Last night I spoke to a friend in the UK. “It’s been really hot here, like 30 deg” and” we are expecting 30-40 deg this summer”. I hope they survive!
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Don’t you realise that you have to expect the opposite of what they forecast, are they infiltrated by the CCP.
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I’m 1,000 miles north and in my tracky daks. Have been for a week or more.
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I already have a domestic petrol generator but was thinking of buying a diesel as well. At least it can be run on vegetable oil, if available, after the diesel supply runs out. Also, diesel has a long storage life, unlike petrol.
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What about the gensets that run on natural gas? Seems like a good option.
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Watercooled 1500rpm is good but single cylinder 3000rpm is cheaper but sounds terrible.
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I was on exercise once when our diesel went to jelly. It was very cold at Walcha but the diesel was summertime type. In cold weather the wax in it solidifies. To refuel our vehicles I had the men put jerry cans next to a fire to melt the wax. It worked. So David make sure you get the apprropriate type for storage.
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If you are going to be in cold country, you need alpine diesel, it’s not everywhere though.
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FWIW
“To hell with the feds, Saskatchewan is rebuilding its coal fleet”
“BREAKING: Saskatchewan to rebuild its coal fleet, despite federal regulations calling for its demise. In other words, to hell with the feds, we’re keeping the lights on. At 10 on Friday, Minister Jeremy Harrison will be on the Pipeline Online Podcast”
More at
https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2025/06/18/to-hell-with-the-feds-saskatchewan-is-rebuilding-its-coal-fleet/
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A win for commonsense.
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Wonderful news. I am happy for the Canadian prairie people. Crisafulli seems willing to keep his coal burners alight so good luck to the Queenslanders. Here in NSW we have climate warriers who really believe the rubbish spewed by Bowen. The premier could go back to coal. He took a tentative step by keeping Erarring going for a few more years and as far as I can see he had no serious pushback, indeed the opposite. Keep going Chris. Build a new coal plant where Liddell shut down. A new coal plant would do far more for productivity than any number of wind turbines.
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I received my new electricity rates yesterday – 10% increase for all time periods and halving to 2c/kWh for feed-in.
Just in case he was not aware of the increases to the ‘cheapest form of energy’ I sent the price adjustment advice to Blackout Bowen with appropriate snide comments
We will soon be wishing we could raise ourselves to be a 3rd World country
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Perfect mix of government incompetence going on here. Some of the Victorian coal generators are owned by the French (ENGIE) and Energy Australia (Chinese ). French have no interest in coal, when they bought these assets more than 20 years ago they were still high on nuclear energy. The Chinese- well, you know the story there. Then throw in the religion of man made climate change and the power of the Greens politicians in the Victorian upper house. The ALP needed to “negotiate” with them to get legislation bills passed. It’s just a recipe for disaster.
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Perfect storm of Idiocracy.
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One promising sign in the madness:
My little fantasy is that they deliver on the implied threat and withdraw from the NEM, the phony market collapses, the other states wake up to themselves, and that idiot Bowen disappears in a puff of irrelevance.
Well, I did say it was a fantasy.
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I hope QLD is making $$$$$$ out of it.
Currently exporting 1200MW over the border.
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A bit short sighted. Better if they used the electricity themselves to get some productive industry going.
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Tas, the battery of the nation must be dry, they have been leeching lately.
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While waiting for the weak sun to try to penetrate the cloud layer, Perth is currently running on around 94% coal and gas, with a small amount of wind.But home solar is down to only 8%, – normally delivers 50% every day
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And those of us with still working direct solar hot water systems acknowledge that 3 days with essentially no direct sun will require a bit of an electrical heat boost.
Though adding/replacing with a heat pump water heater would still be a lot more $$. Alas the Perth source of the solar system with a copper tank is no more. But that combined with rain water means it will outlast me.
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With Perth water being what it is, I never bothered with a solar HWS on the roof. Originally used gas storage, but now have electric storage. As it’s inside, seems to be ok with very little heat loss.
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My son dropped in a couple of days ago, it was overcast and drizzling so I asked what output his solar farm would be doing and he said prolly about 30%. Just sayin.
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At 09:18, power prices wholesale.
QLD $34.75.
NSW $127.56.
SA $130.
VIC $145.
Tas $150.
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I thought hydro was cheap. Maybe the Taswegians should cut that cable across Bass Strait. It can’t take all that much power to make coffeee and muffins. Handi crafts, their other major industry, can be done in sunlight.
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Every household must have their 4 bar heater on.
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Kareeya is rated at 88 MW. It was built 70 yrs ago, today is prolly remotely operated so might have three staff including the gardener so, Yes, it is cheap.
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What if Dr Lindzen and Dr Happer are correct about this net zero madness?
What if their new June 2025 study is correct as China, India and the NON OECD countries are rushing to install more coal and gas ASAP?
This is from the two scientists and their Co2 Coalition group.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/06/16/physics-demonstrates-that-increasing-greenhouse-gases-cannot-cause-dangerous-warming-extreme-weather-or-any-harm/
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Naivety led me to Energy Australia and I had been thinking about bailing out of them but now I am jumping. I have been researching which of the power companies is Australian owned but don’t trust any of the names put forward.
I now refuse to buy anything made in China and have been paying over the odds for quality. Anyone who watches Clarkson’s Farm will appreciate the point that Jeremy C is making, which is to support the English farmers by looking after the locals as opposed to foreign oligarchs who could not give a stuff about who they screw.
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NNM, I’m sure they were the mob I changed to from Origin, all good for one quarter, next bill was unreal, so I rang Origin and got a quote a bit more than 10% lower, so escaped from EA without paying the $79 get out fee.
Stayed with Origin.
30
Power prices,
10:50, VIC, $228, QLD, -$14.75
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It’s absolutely disgusting how unreliable these coal fired Units really are, I mean, the public really needs to be told just how unreliable they really are. It’s shocking!!
Naah! now you’ve let that sarcasm sink in a little, let’s just look at it, and see just how unreliable they REALLY are.
There’s only 48 of them in the whole AEMO coverage area, just 48 in all, with a Nameplate of 23,000MW.
We’re in the typical Winter phase of operations now, so it’s all hands on deck. The benign three Months Autumn period of lower power consumption are over. During those three months of lower consumption, these ancient, old, and totally unreliable (Tony, stop that right now) clunkers went through routine maintenance, as they always do, and have done now every benign season (both Spring and Autumn) since, well, forever. It’s scheduled very carefully, as one Unit comes back on line, another Unit, somewhere else on the grid goes off line for its maintenance, all routinely planned and carried out so efficiently no one ever knows. (Oh! That’s where the unreliable meme comes from. Offline for maintenance translates to off line, you know, unreliable!)
So, come the start of Winter (and Summer) nearly all Units are in fact operational, well, except for the blown up Callide B2, anyway.
So then ….. unreliable??
On this same day as Joanne writes about, Thursday 12th June 2025, we have 48 coal fired Units.
There were 3 Units off line in Queensland, good old Callide B2, the truly ancient 50 year old Gladstone had one Unit down, and the single Unit at Tarong North was also down.
In NSW, Bayswater Unit 4 was down, the only one in that State off line.
In Victoria, we had Yallourn Unit 3 down, and then Unit 4 went down at half three. Loy Yang Unit 1 was down for most of the day, and came back up at 10.30PM
So at 6PM, you know the evening Peak, same time every day, we had 7 Units off line.
So with a total Nameplate of 23,000MW, that’s 2993MW off line, so that leaves 20,000MW on line from the remaining 41 Units.
Those 41 Units delivered 16,300MW for the evening peak, and in fact almost a straight line 16000MW across most of the day, except for the usual (and in fact every day) winding down 5000MW, slowly down from 8AM, and then back up at 4PM, as they ramp down and up by that amount each and every day. (another misconception out the window eh, that, well, you know, coal power can’t ramp)
At around that same 6PM evening Peak for an hour or two, solar plants and rooftops, well after sundown, so zip there. Wind power, from 13460MW, a grand total of 750MW.
That day, 12Jun was the second highest day for total power consumption since the Summer Peaks back in early February, only exceeded (just) the day after, on that Friday 13Jun.
So, across the whole day of 12Jun, the grid demanded 663GWH of power.
State of the art solar and wind delivered 17.5% of that total requirement. From a Nameplate of around 24,000MW PLUS whatever best guess for rooftop solar nameplate might be, who ever knows?
Ancient Unreliable coal fired power delivered 56% of that requirement. From a Nameplate of (in operation) 20,000MW.
But hey, actual data means nothing these days, what with that ‘unreliable’ meme doing the rounds, eh!
Tony.
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Tony, the same lying sods telling us how they are old and unreliable and causing high power prices, are telling us how cheap W&S is.
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Have we had engineers “forever”? Since Roman time at least so they have had a couple of thousand years to learn that things break so they build in redundancy and recommend maintenance schedules. This isn’t rocket surgery.
BTW I thought Callide is back on line. One gen set certainly has been for months.
00
I can feel your frustration, Tony. The Opposition should have someone on every channel every day putting the facts. At some stage even the dumb journalists will start to listen and, hopefully, start to ask Bowen and Co real questions.
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Back when I started in 2008, when coal fired power delivered 86% of all the generated power, some of those those ancient old clunkers removed from (active) service were still kept on, primarily, (well only in fact) for these times of scheduled maintenance, and they were only needed every so often for a few days, and the ‘duty’ got shared around among those retired Units, so they might only be called on two or three times during those benign seasons.
They were called ‘Rolling Reserve’. It was easy back then. Those times for scheduled maintenance were known long in advance. Those rolling reserve Units just hummed along, waiting for the call. A day or so before the Operational plant was due to go off line, one Unit at one of those rolling reserve plants scrolled up to ‘full whack’, settled down, (you know, keep an eye on it due to its age) and was ready to deliver in the lead up to the Unit preparing to go down for maintenance, so that as that Unit rolled back to zero, all its power was already there at the grid, provided by the reserve Unit.
Then, when the CO2 ‘scare’ began, and the threat of CO2 taxes was mooted, they just shut them down, one after the other.
Now, that’s when maintenance became complicated, turning into a ‘chess game’ really.
They had to then carefully schedule operational plants to operate in accordance with the maintenance schedule, or even utilise gas fired plants, or sometimes even Tumut Three and Murray hydro plants to take up the slack, and they still do use those two hydro plants when there is an unscheduled outage.
Even then, the ONLY reason we now look upon those coal fired Units as ….. ‘unreliable’ is because someone with a green agenda tells us they are ‘supposedly’ unreliable.
Keep in mind here that ordinary scheduled maintenance is looked upon by those with green agendas as ….. ‘unreliability’.
Tony.
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I had one of my Sister-in-Laws down from QLD last week and she was very iffy when I bagged Climate Change/Global Warming, quoting her Daughter who was a supporter
I see the same thing in my own Family, where I am regarded as a Pariah for mocking the stupidity of Net Zero by my kids & grandkids, who have all been brain washed by Education and peer groups
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This website might help you
https://www.thegwpf.org/content/uploads/2022/03/Kelly-Net-Zero-Progress-Report.pdf?mc_cid=3de10e3d7a&mc_eid=4961da7cb1
30
The Western Australian Soviet is right behind the People’s Republic of Victoria in achieving 100% net zero power supply. 🤡💩⚡⚡⚡⚡
Maybe someday we can hook up to those $300,000,000,000 mythical? U.K.? / U.S.? / C.C.P.? “NUCLEAR” powered submarines to turn the lights back on. 🥴💰💰💰
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Repurposing coal fired power stations – SMR Technologies Australia website and US references including;
https://www.smrnuclear.com.au/_files/ugd/c733f6_01e77b12912f43ecb6692e2d9f7df205.pdf
SMR Technologies website
https://www.smrnuclear.com.au
60
Wait for the screams from Roof top solar owners who connect to subsidised batteries and watch them being drained every day
50
Labor’s cunning plan to add reserve power to steal when needed because they are well aware that wind and solar cannot maintain baseload 24/7/365/
01