There are three key points to take away from the recent power debacle in Australia.
First, take a look at this graph of indexed electricity prices in Aussie from 1955 to 2017. After decades of steady reduction the rise in price has been steep and unrelenting since the start of the age of unreliable power in the mid-2000’s.
Remember this every time some Green tells you that Wind and Solar are cheaper than traditional base load, utility-scale power sources; “cost” is about more than just the Capex of the equipment. It’s about the cost of power shortages, limited growth, potential grid collapses, shorter plant lifetimes (25 years), and the cost of maintaining reliable backup power sources.
Second, note that the Liberal-National’s have been in government during much of this time, including the last nine years just ended. So when Labor and the Left hold them responsible for much of this nonsense they will be correct.
Third, hidden by such truth is the fact that Labor and the Greens wanted to go harder and faster on all this, which may have been a better idea since the crash would have come harder and faster, with appropriate lessons learned. They got quite a shock upon entering government this year, Aussie Power Prices Rising Out of Control, causing them to beg the owners of coal-fired stations to run them at 100%:
Average prices for the quarter were $264 per megawatt hour. That’s more than triple the $85 per megawatt hour reported during the same period in 2021.
This on top of that first graph showing the rise that had already occurred up to 2018.
Best of all it should be noted that this is all a complete waste of time and money.
The primary lesson for National here in NZ on renewable unreliable power and climate change is this: Labour and the Left want you in on this so that when the hungry, cold crowds with the pitchforks and burning torches turn up they can point fingers at you and say:
“But they did it too”
And they’ll be right.
P.S. For those National supporters frightened of the power of Climate Change as an issue, “especially with the youth”, here’s something to stiffen your spines.
No Minister 
Its always worth taking a look at this site every now ant then:
https://www.transpower.co.nz/power-system-live-data
I see geothermal always runs balls out and hydro always 3000MW give or take. Gas seems a consistent 500-600MW too. Coal usage (I assume burnt at the original Huntly) seems to depend on how much wind is blowing.
You need to look at it at the peaks and troughs. Say 6pm and 4am. Hydro, gas and coal may have a 3 to 1 difference in generation then. The low point is about 3500MW now. The peak about 6500MW. That is a lot of daily heavy ramping work those generators have to do.
But yes, gas and coal have to generate when the wind isn’t there.
National needs to take a lesson from the Fibre to the Door roll out. Scoffed as an indulgence to gamers and couch potatoes, the network came into it’s own in April 2020 keeping the economy limping along and revealed just how revolutionary the idea was. Today my internet is faster and cheaper than my mate in London.
The same approach needs to be taken with energy.
Take all the ETS taxes and build a nuclear power plant on the north Island, with capacity to power us at least 30 years into the future.
Provide flat rate electricity plans which will eliminate energy poverty. Enable warm dry homes across the country rain or shine, whether the wind blows or not.
….and do it all in the name of climate change.
I agree but we’re going to have wait at least another 20, perhaps 30 years for the “anti-nuke” generation to die off. Even then, for the argument to be won, we’re probably going to have to endure one or two winter power crisis plus billions pissed away on more wind farms before people grind their teeth and accept reality.
Truth be told I can’t help thinking that even with environmentalists like Michael Shellenberger and a few other prominent voices like him making the arguments for nuclear, our local Greens would prefer it if we just lost population and rolled back to 1980’s 3 million or so and that having power crisis and resulting economic problems is therefore a positive, not a negative.
We’d likely have plenty of surplus power then, though the impact in other areas of society would be ugly, given that it would be young, talented STEM people who’d be leaving.
Reblogged this on Utopia, you are standing in it!.