Renewable Energy
All posts tagged Renewable Energy
Net Zero and a rush into unreliable renewables is what got Australia into this mess. Next winter ought to be fun with these people running the show!!
‘Labor Cabinet ministers have slammed the gas companies for focusing on “maximising their profits” and halting major supply contracts following the government’s landmark response to soaring power prices.
The September Heads of Agreement deal which saw the gas companies commit to diverting all additional uncontracted LNG to the domestic market could be under threat.
In a shock response to the government’s $12/gigajoule cap on gas prices, Shell has paused its deal to sell 50 petajoules of LNG to energy providers as it “assesses the impact” of the proposed reforms.
The massive gas giant’s Queensland arm, QGC, was in the middle of an extensive tender process to contract the LNG for 2023/24.
“Pausing the EOI process was not an option we wanted to take, however, QGC needs to consider whether the design of the current EOI will meet the new regulatory requirements, including the 2023 price cap and the proposed mandatory Code,” a Shell spokesperson said.
Shell has paused its tender process to sell 50 petajoules of LNG to Australian domestic market. Picture: NCA
But the government has unleashed on Shell and other gas companies threatening to withhold supply to the system.
Energy Minister Chris Bowen said while the company was focused on boosting profits, the government would “protect the Australian people”.
“Gas companies want high profits at the expense of industries at the expense of workers and industries,” Mr Bowen said on Tuesday.
“Shell is one of the most profitable companies in Australia and we don’t mind them making profits in their … gas exports, they can make as much profit as they want doing that, but Australians have a right to this gas at a fair price.
“The government will be acting in the national interest not in the interest of Shell, not in the interest of any gas company, in the interest of every Australian.”
The cost of gas has soared since the war in Ukraine, with the spot price hitting as high as $27/gigajoule compared to typical pre-pandemic prices hovering around $6/gigajoule.
Energy Minister Chris Bowen accused the gas companies of receiving high profits at the “expense of workers and industries”. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage
As a result of the more than 140 per cent increase in the gas price year-on-year, industry giants Woodside has seen the share price jump by 57 per cent.
Fellow competitor Origin Energy has also seen its share price soar by more than 44 per cent this year and was another signatory to the September Heads of Agreement through its part ownership Queensland-based gas company APLNG.
Industry Minister Ed Husic warned the gas companies against pulling out of the landmark supply agreement as he questioned their claims over project sustainability.
“A lot of these players have made extraordinary profits, so, when these firms are making claims about the viability of projects, this is about them trying to maintain their profits in extraordinary times,” Mr Husic told ABC Radio National.
“For (energy companies) to claim this is a shock, or to threaten the nation, effectively, by saying they’ll walk away from a heads of agreement they walked into, I think they will need to consider their steps very carefully.”
Oil and gas company Woodside Energy joined Shell in warning the government its new caps on fossil fuels would create an “environment of uncertainty” which will see investment rapidly drop.
Industry Minister Ed Husic said the gas companies needed to “consider their steps very carefully” if the continued to threaten supply. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman
In a statement on Tuesday, Chief Executive Meg O’Neill said the industry’s ongoing investment was “crucial” to support the government’s renewable drive and added the government’s proposal failed to address falling supply.
“We need to unlock gas supply now. For example, Woodside has been looking at options to increase supply, including through new LNG import terminals, exploration spending and further development on the east coast,” Ms O’Neill said.
“Unfortunately, the proposed market intervention will make it very difficult for industry to economically invest to increase supply.
“No one wants to see energy shortages and gas rationing. We must develop a comprehensive, longer-term solution that addresses gas supply and reliability.”
The Albanese Government’s proposal to cap gas price, provide indirect energy bill relief and strengthen the consumer watchdog’s price monitoring capabilities will hit an emergency session of Parliament on Thursday.
In addition, Labor will also legislate a mandatory code of conduct for the gas industry which will strengthen the existing bargaining system between producers and buyers and establish a “reasonable pricing framework”.’https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/politics/industry-minister-ed-husic-accuses-gas-companies-of-threatening-the-nation-as-energy-minister-chris-bowen-slams-shell-for-pushing-huge-profits-at-australias-expense/news-story/559284e80da3cc4924125304bc284f17?net_sub_id=282058248&type=curated&position=1&overallPos=4
Every year I purchase a new Diary calendar for my desk. Last year I was able to purchase the type I personally like at one of the stores here in town. This year not so. So, online I went looking for the type of calendar that I like. I found one and ordered it. It arrived the other day and after unwrapping it the first thing I noticed was where it was made.
Now, I am saying all this because the politicians are heading Australia and the West into slavery. They are consumed with CLIMATE CHANGE and RENEWABLES that there is very little made in our own countries. Walk through any hardware store and see where most of the products are made!
One doesn’t have to be a Climate scientist or a scientist at all to know that this climate change mantra is a religion. Just as evolution is a fact for most so climate change is becoming a fact as well! Neither is true but the masses who are too busy working or whatever else they can do to forget what is truly happening go right along with the LIES!
The truth is that God the Creator is in control and told those who would read and believe that While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease Genesis 8:22. Just as Cain couldn’t physically do harm to God he took out his hatred on his own brother Abel. That’s what these anti-God politicians and corporate woksters are doing with this climate scam. They have installed themselves as GOD! They can make laws that will change the climate.
Well, someday there will be a REAL CLIMATE CHANGE!
Revelation 6:12-17 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; 13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
My advice to these political despots and the corporate wokesters is to respond by faith to what we are told in John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
Genesis 8:22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Titus 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
Since Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden mankind has been in a war against God. Our parents followed that one of whom Jesus said in John 8:44 ..He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Now, I want to get some issues off my chest in this article which is aimed at politicians and others promoting the World Economic Forum’s agenda.
CLIMATE CHANGE:
The climate changers have swallowed the LIE of the same one Jesus spoke of in John 8:44. The climate change mantra is a scam and multitudes are going to pay the price for that LIE! The West is digging its own grave by closing their coal fired power stations and therefore closing electricity hungry manufacturing. Therefore, China now manufactures almost all of the goods we in the West purchase. Go into almost any Bunning hardware store here in Australia and see where the items are made. Sadly, the West is busy about buying more and more solar panels and wind turbines from China to save the planet rather than making their own nations prosperous! Our Western nations do not make much of anything because heavy manufacturing needs lots of electricity which solar panels and wind turbines DO NOT PROVIDE 24/7! CHINA however, has not gone down this self destruction road and still uses coal powered electricity rather than solar or wind!
FARMING AND FOOD PRODUCTION:
The West is also driving itself into a food shortage due to its fascination with solar and wind. Acre after acre is being used for solar farms and wind turbines. What are the goals of these climate change zealots? One result will be a shortage of food. Oh, that cannot be; you say? Why then does the New South Wales government provide a web site telling us “Food Smart is a free online program to help NSW households reduce food waste. Participants will receive fun and easy food-saving tips, activities and recipes via email to help them save food, time and money.” https://www.lovefoodhatewaste.nsw.gov.au/at-home/food-smart
Most people do not seek to waste money or food! However, the more land that is taken for these solar panels and wind turbines the more people will need to be frugal when it comes to food! There will be a shortage of food if this foolishness continues!
The following video is of a solar farm not far from where I live taking up acres and acres of land. Only a fool would believe that solar panels which only work when the sun is shining can provide the energy we need. Oh yes, the Australian Federal Climate Change minister did foolishly say “the sun was always shining somewhere” but at the same time it’s NOT shining somewhere! Give me a break!!
Mush more could be said but I will close by saying that this push by politicians for renewables and their hate for coal and gas is also a hate for the Creator God. These politicians are following their father Satan down this road to save the planet. God said in Genesis 8:22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. They MUST therefore be calling God a liar!
Satan wants as many people to die without knowing personally the Lord Jesus as their Saviour. How can he do this? One, by getting them to believe a LIE or LIES! Evolution and climate change are just two of the BIG LIES of Satan today! Evolution is a LIE saying everything came from a lifeless nothing which exploded into life. I have a bridge to sell you if you believe that!
Now, climate change is made up of two lies! One is that (1) there is a climate crisis and (2) that humans can change it!!! WE BECOME OUR OWN GOD!!! Paul said this of these people in Romans 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.
Now, I have a suggestion for anyone who reads this and has swallowed the evolution and climate change lie! Read the book of Revelation from Chapter One to Chapter Twenty Two and see who truly controls the weather and this earth upon which we live? Revelation 4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
As electricity prices continue to sky rocket the Australian Federal government is determined to continue down the road to disaster https://theconversation.com/albanese-just-laid-out-a-radical-new-vision-for-australia-in-the-region-clean-energy-exporter-and-green-manufacturer-186815
Renewables and BIG batteries will not do the job at least for now https://fb.watch/e75ndursFv/
‘There are two types of billionaire mining magnates in Australia.
First, there are those who stand up for everyday Australians in heavy industry, mining and agriculture; and then there are those who’d rather hobnob with globalist elites while virtue-signalling about their pathetic, profit-driven green activism.
Meet Gina Rinehart and Andrew Forrest.
Speaking at the fifth annual National Agriculture and Related Industries day, Gina Rinehart asked:
How on earth after so many bad years depleting farmers resources, can those in agriculture be expected to dish out for:
- Electric vehicles – approximately double the cost of fossil fuelled vehicles
- Solar panels – be that for high cost power installations or even [the] lesser costs for isolated lights
- Solar panels on accommodation, to enable hot water when the sun shines
- Greater costs added to the transport industries of new non-fossil trucks and locos – affecting all supplies farmers need
- The costs of having to shift stock, for markets and otherwise
- Raised costs for suppliers affected by net zero expenditures
- All the other many costs involved in meeting net zero
Unlike our neighbour and agriculture competitor New Zealand, [which] carved out agriculture from its emissions and didn’t waste taxpayers money going to the Glasgow experience (which in itself, added to emissions more than our belching cows), if one truly added up all the emissions around the world – not limited to the jets toing and froing across the world, including [those] far away from Australia – but including all accommodation, heating, washing, cleaning, lighting, meals [and] ground transport, not limiting to EVs, conferences and more.
I know the miles of solar panels will need wiping to be effective; and the millions of dead bats and birds – lives claimed by wind power infrastructure – will need collecting and burying; and [an] industry [will need to be] created to deal with old solar panels – maybe burying. If economical ways can’t be found, without government handouts, to deal with the millions of solar panels – panels which will need changing every eight to 10 years, to maintain effectiveness.
Meanwhile Gina’s competitor, Twiggy Forrest was trying to make it more difficult for Australians to do business.
This week Forrest has been lobbying the government to phase out the multibillion-dollar diesel fuel subsidy that helps small mining and agricultural players develop their assets without the heavy burden of double taxation.
Even worse, he wants to use the money saved to support development of a green energy industry that he will of course have a significant stake in.
Really, mate?
Unsurprisingly, Forrest hasn’t garnered much support, given Australians are now used to his unbelievable arrogance and self-absorption.
Minerals Council of Australia chief executive Tania Constable told The Australian that the “ridiculous proposal … would cost 1000s of jobs across numerous industries”.
More jobs sent offshore to the Chinese, hey Twiggy?
The National Farmers Federation ridiculed Forrest’s plan with chief executive Tony Mahar saying the removal of the rebate was a “bad policy that would damage livelihoods in country areas. Fuel tax credits exist to fix a serious distortion in the tax system. Taxing farmers every time they start their tractor, pump or generator makes no sense. We’d have serious concerns if any director was found to have lobbied to increase taxes payable by their company and worsen the competitiveness of Australian miners versus overseas rivals,” he said.
Remember: Twiggy has a clear incentive to make it harder for smaller miners to become competitive and start encroaching on his market share.
Resources Minister Keith Pitt ruled out changes to the diesel fuel rebate.
“We won’t be changing the diesel fuel rebate,” Mr Pitt said.
“Mr Forrest is entitled to his view and if he wants to take action, he can just stop claiming it to his companies right now. He doesn’t need any change in policy from the federal government.”
We strongly advise against holding your breath on this, Keith. Twiggy is all talk, no action. The bloke makes millions of dollars every day from selling iron ore to Chinese blast furnaces fuelled by coal-fired power stations, for goodness sake!
And Deputy Nationals leader David Littleproud didn’t hold back saying, “Twiggy Forrest is giving plenty of gratuitous advice from the sidelines. He’s been running around the world cashing a lot of Fortescue cheques on hydrogen.”
Well, ADVANCE suspects good old Twiggy’s cheques may begin bouncing soon once the sun inevitably sets on all the hydrogen hype that’s come out of Glasgow and the public relations departments of the world’s largest corporations and banks.
Perhaps for Forrest and co, it may be Anaconda Nickel round two…
Now, more than ‘Two weeks ago, Energy Minister Angus Taylor announced he’ll subsidise our coal-fired power plants to offset the unreliability of our already subsidised wind turbines and solar panels – a policy “worthy of a Yes Minister show or Monty Python skit” as described by the National Civic Council.
Now, Minister Taylor has knocked back an Australian nuclear energy industry in favour of hydrogen fuel because “hydrogen can do things that nuclear could never do anyway. It’s not only a source of energy, it’s a feedstock”.
Really, Angus?
We’ll listen to the experts on this one, mate.
As one of Australia’s most renowned geologists Professor Ian Plimer said a few months ago:
“Here they come again for your money. Firstly, it was wind, then it was solar. Now they’ve put the two together and it’s hydrogen. And what they’re trying to do is to skin us alive forever.
“Let me say a few things for an illiterate politician. You need electricity to make hydrogen and you have losses when you do that. And then with the hydrogen, you need to make electricity, again you have losses. And so, you get about 30% of the energy by that process, the rest gets dispersed. Unless legislation can change the laws of thermodynamics, you are in a loss, loss, loss situation. Loss because we taxpayers get skinned alive, loss because we redistribute energy and loss because we cannot replace that energy.
“This madness was tried a hundred years ago. It didn’t work then, and it won’t work now. Now, if we look at planet earth from space, we can see a number of really interesting things. Firstly, if you squint and look very hard, you actually can’t see that the planet’s got a gender. Yet we call the planet a female. Her. The second thing is when you look and you’ve got spectroscopic eyes, you’ll actually see hydrogen is leaking out of the planet. You cannot hold hydrogen, it leaks from the core of the earth through the mantle, through the crust and into space. You cannot hold hydrogen in pipelines or in steel containers.”
“So, if you were to make hydrogen, you will lose a huge amount of energy doing it. Then you’ve got to compress it to only 700 times atmospheric pressure, and that requires a huge amount of energy. Then you’ve got to liquefy it down to minus 283 degrees Celsius. That requires a huge amount of energy. And then you’ve got to transport this hydrogen in a truck or a pipeline, and that is a mobile bomb. That hydrogen will leak out through the steel in pipelines or in a truck, just the same as it leaks out from the earth. That hydrogen weakens the steel and so what have you got? You have got a bomb waiting to go off. Hydrogen is well-known to be extremely explosive. And when it explodes, it puts the most powerful greenhouse gas back into the atmosphere. And that gas is water vapour.
“Yes, you can store hydrogen in fuel cells, incredibly expensive and incredibly dangerous. We have extremely good technology now where we can convert fossilised sunlight into energy. And that fossilised sunlight is called coal. We have extremely good technology to convert compressed energy in a big atom, like uranium into steam, which then goes into electricity. That’s been around for a long time. We’ve had hydrogen around for a long time, it still hasn’t worked. So, if you have massive subsidies and you have people that live in cities, then hydrogen is used by woke people. I’d much rather be living next door to a nuclear reactor than a hydrogen refuelling station. It’s far safer.
“The spruikers (of hydrogen) can see something that’s going to make them a lot of money. Firstly, it’s subsidised. Secondly, they’ve signed really long contracts, which they did for wind and solar. And thirdly, they know that politicians are absolutely totally scientifically illiterate. They know the bureaucrats are generally green and that they’ve barrows to push and are unelected and sending us broke and don’t have to worry about losing a job because they’ve got one forever. So they can see a big fish…This has got nothing to do with green energy. This has got nothing to do with the environment, it’s to do with the spruikers skinning us alive. They’ve done it with wind, they’ve done it with solar, and now they’re doing it again. And my view on this is: beware of people trying to sell us what they call new technology and saying ‘all of the old technology is hopeless.’”
“If we were to throw out old technology, we wouldn’t use the wheel. The best technology we’ve got for generating energy is where we use compressed energy in coal or in a heavy atom like uranium and convert that into steam, which then drives turbines, which then gives us electricity. That for more than a 100 years has been the most efficient form of energy, it still is. If we had no subsidies, we would be still running on coal, uranium and in peak times gas.
“Well, it’s even worse than that. We have our wind turbines made in China. We have our solar panels made in China. And by us having wind and solar electricity is sending us broke. So China doesn’t even need to invade us, we’re doing it to ourselves. Then if we have hydrogen, we do it again to ourselves. And by not using this concentrated energy in black coal and in uranium, we are again sending ourselves broke. We cannot, in a country where wages are high, where our industrial legislation makes it very difficult to do anything, where we have huge amounts of concentrated energy which we export.
“We cannot ignore using that energy. We are the only G20 country that doesn’t generate nuclear electricity. We could control the world’s uranium. The same as Saudi used to control oil. And that is: mine it. Make the yellow cake, make fuel rods, which we lease out, bring them back, clean them up, lease them out again, bring them back, clean them up.
“And then, we set up a high specialty industry whereby we employ engineers, scientists and very skilled tradespeople to run this industry. We don’t, therefore, try to compete with manufacturing industries in Asia, where people get paid $2 a day. We have a highly specialised industry. We are poised to do it. All it requires is regulatory and legislative changes; governments to sit back, get out of the way, get rid of the red tape and the green tape and just let business do what it’s good at. And that is helping build employment, helping build industry without government subsidies.
“That 20 megawatt reactor at Lucas Heights saves lives. Now, anyone who’s ever had cancer would have radionuclides generated from that reactor. You cannot object to nuclear energy if you’ve had cancer treatment, it’s just not possible to do it. That reactor was built in the bush. Now there’s a suburbia around it. It had to be built close to an airport so we can get these medical isotopes to nearby countries and to Western Australia and elsewhere in Australia.
“That reactor is extraordinarily safe. We already have the people and the technology to run reactors. So, if you want to object to nuclear energy, you have to say: “I am never, ever, ever going to accept treatment in a hospital for my cancer.” If you want green power, then if you are on a life support machine, that machine should be turned off when there’s green power coming down the line. And if there’s coal coming down the line, turn it back on again. That is the hypocrisy that we see from these Greens sitting in cities, trying to finger-wag at us and tell us how to live our lives, or how much meat to eat or what gender our pet budgerigar should be.”‘https://www.advanceaustralia.org.au/first_it_was_wind_then_it_was_solar
‘It is this simple: skyrocketing world electricity prices stem from renewables policies. Notwithstanding the avalanche of propaganda we are seeing throughout the country, no wind or solar gets built anywhere in the world without subsidies paid by taxpayers and customers. In Australia’s case these costs are $10 billion a year in grants and network spending.
The genesis of the current malaise has been closures of generating plants which have been demonised by the politically correct. In Europe this is mainly involves coal. Those countries that have been particularly severely hit by the present crisis are the UK and Spain, both of which have closed 80 per cent of their coal capacity – and Germany, which has closed about one third of its coal. Germany also suffers from having closed down most of its nuclear power plant. Japan also followed this policy.
Those countries which have fared well include Korea, where they have been building both coal and nuclear, and the US and Canada, which have gone through energy transformations based on gas from the same fracking process that has been falsely stigmatised in Australia and the UK. The US, however, is now becoming a clone of Europe, with the Biden administration blocking gas and oil developments while doubling up on renewables subsidies.
Around the world we also have seen other contributory factors which have brought on the current crisis, some involved supply constraints especially from Russia. Importantly, there was also a wind drought in Europe – a common occurrence that always leaves wind-dependent systems vulnerable. This coincided with high gas prices, so stocks were run down and prices of gas escalated.
In the UK this was further aggravated by disruption of the nuclear electricity from France. UK and German forward electricity prices are now 2-3 times Australia’s, and because UK prices are inflexible a number of electricity retailers have gone belly up. Germany is importing a great deal of electricity, as well as turning coal back on, and praying that it will receive extra supplies of Russian gas by Christmas. All this has meant a bonanza for Australian gas and coal exports. Ironically, these were interred by the Business Council of Australia report a couple of days ago. (The BCA’s full report can be downloaded here.)
The agitprop financed by woke alarmists and vested interests, as presented with qualification in the mainstream media, is seeking to accelerate Australia’s shift to phase out coal. In an indication that actually running a specific business requires more applied intelligence than making broad and illogical generalisations about the sector’s future, the Business Council actually claims we can flourish by reducing the present 75 per cent coal-and-gas share of electricity supply to 15 per cent by 2030 and virtually zero shortly thereafter. Kerry Schott, the departing chair of the Energy Security Board, one of the nation’s four regulatory authorities, is making similar remarks.
Joining the chorus is Malcolm Turnbull’s former top bureaucrat, Martin Parkinson, who says, with a straight face no less, that “We can very rapidly decarbonise the electricity market at zero cost to 70 per cent, and at mild cost to 90 per cent.”
Chalked up to replace Australia’s coal and gas are renewables with their proven record of high cost and low reliability. Due to subsidies these already comprise a lost fifth of supply. Energy Minister Angus Taylor, aware of the political dynamite from a transparent carbon tax, seeks to placate the greenhouse gods with subsidies for extracting hydrogen from water. At least this has the benefit of novelty, as Jonathan Swift reserved the notion of harvesting sunbeams from cucumbers some time ago. Hydrogen will no doubt continue to be promoted as the latest green miracle — there are billions of dollars in grants and subsidies to be snaffled, as the ABC reports:
Premier Dominic Perrottet says a hydrogen strategy unveiled by the NSW government that aims to help the state hit net zero emissions by 2050 is “world-leading”.
The strategy provides up to $3 billion in incentives for green hydrogen production, including tax exemptions, and includes plans for a “hydrogen refuelling highway” between Melbourne and Brisbane.
The truth is that hydrogen cannot be transported through the gas pipeline network and, as even the US Department of Energy acknowledges, there are a host of other technical obstacles and imponderables. If history is any guide, hydrogen is now being blessed with the same unquestioning optimism formerly bestowed on “carbon capture and storage” which, after 15 years of trials, is yet to see commercial relevance anywhere in the world.
The government is offering blandishments to the Nationals in the form of hand-outs for the bush. By all accounts all but a handful of Coalition MPs, led by Matt Canavan, have been seduced by such reprehensible deals.
The zero emission agenda will eventually collapse because the non-OECD world will not accept it. In the meantime, if Scott Morrison goes to Glasgow and signs up, great economic harm will follow.’https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2021/10/much-pain-for-net-zero-gain/
whatyareckon 