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The Forum > Article Comments > Tilting at windmills > Comments

Tilting at windmills : Comments

By Don Aitkin, published 28/7/2015

The Abbott Government has cause a mild stir within the passionate alternative energy community by asking the Clean Energy Finance Corporation not to put any more money into wind-power.

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This message will sell better if it wasn't bundled with climate change denial. The point remains though that wind power is already generously subsidised to the tune of $52 a Mwh via the LGC payment. That is added to generating costs in retail bills while coal power is generally under $40 all up on a wholesale basis. Now wind power interests want soft loans from CEFC as well as the generous subsidy.

From of the point of view of emissions reduction wind power is not that great. At 15% penetration studies suggest it is only 60% effective at reducing emissions from the backup source due to the inefficiencies of stop-start operation. Wind power also lets us down at times of need such as heat waves associated with blocking highs. In my opinion it's not worth one subsidy let alone two.
Posted by Taswegian, Tuesday, 28 July 2015 9:06:07 AM
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Don, can you please name one or two large scale coal fired power stations built in Australia that did not receive government support?
Posted by Cobber the hound, Tuesday, 28 July 2015 9:35:19 AM
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Cobber the Hound - where does this nonsense come from? Its the other way around. Can you name any conventional power station that receives support, part from a tax break or two, which does not count? Where did you get the idea that the government subsidised power stations? You want to make an effort to catch up with the history of power networks in Australia and the very recent change from state owned grids returning dividends to state governments, to the semi-privatised system where they bid to supply power. Then look at the Australian Energy Regulator's benchmarking reports comparing Vic (privatised) and NSW (still government owed) grids..
Posted by Curmudgeon, Tuesday, 28 July 2015 10:50:56 AM
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Once in a while we can actually agree on something Don!

Wind power is far too unreliable unless used to store power when it is being generated or when the turbines are placed in a narrow band where the wind blows all the time,i.e., the roaring forties?

All of which makes the so called alternatives the dearest electricity on earth.

With the "GREEN" philosophy being, send a price signal and behavior will change! i.e.,our impoverished grannies will refuse to put on the air conditioners and die of heat stroke, with the very next heat wave.

Not a bad outcome eh?

We get the required behavior change and we reduce the welfare budget in one fowl swoop; plus we send all our manufacturing and their pollution offshore!

Albeit, given we live on a single globe, still share it with the rest of the world. We just don't see it!

You can see by the intended result, the permanently errant Greens have really thought this through!?

We just don't need the "renewables" to reduce carbon.

What will far better suffice is walk out the door carbon neutral or carbon free power!

And the very best examples will allow us to cut the power bill in at least half! And in so doing, resuscitate our own manufacturing base!

Cheaper than coal thorium connected to micro grids will do just that; and turning our biological waste into methane then using that via ceramic fuel cells to power our homes as well as provide endless free hot water, will halve the power bill yet again.

Thanks to the 80% energy coefficient of this combination; the best in the world, coal providing at best just a comparable 20%! Or Granny killing power bills 4 times more expensive!

Very broad scale solar thermal power matches the roll out cost of coal fired power stations and matches them as base load power suppliers given very recent technological advances! And the fuel is forever free!

All ofthe above are far better options for proof of concept investment with finite taxpayer's money!

None of which will destroy the economy!
Rhrosty.
Posted by Rhrosty, Tuesday, 28 July 2015 11:49:31 AM
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I don't suppose there's a chance that subsidies paid to rent seekers for windmills will be repaid to taxayers?
Posted by ttbn, Tuesday, 28 July 2015 2:20:30 PM
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Home solar with ever efficient-cheaper home batteries is the best answer.

Batteries may soon allow a significant number of homes to go off the grid - hence not reliant on power station backup.
http://cleantechnica.com/2014/10/13/battery-costs-may-drop-100kwh
Posted by plantagenet, Tuesday, 28 July 2015 4:44:36 PM
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