Well Erika, you're well on your way to being a great lobby group opinion writer. you have already completely divorced yourself from the need to base your opinions on facts. The use of emotive language in the absence of convincing argument is coming alone as well.

An absolution train wreak of an article its hard to know where to start. but lets she the internal some research work.

1). What government funding did coal fire power stations receive?
(hint: government built and owned).
2). What actually caused the power outage in SA? ( hint: don't read the Australian for research have a read of report of the actual AEMO preliminary report).
3). investigate the protocols of the AEMO and their effectiveness in managing the national Grid. ( Hint you might have to ask an actual expert for help rather the go to the right wing libertarians play book of quotes).
4). try to provide proper reference to your asertion it helps with your credibility, BHP closing down? can you point to reference from the company? ( Hint: Perhaps your thinking of Arrium who was already in receivership.)
5). Do a little bit of research into the subject, What mine closed down, who ran it and why did it close. ( Hint: it wasn't owned by the SA government).
6). What is the base load power requirement for SA and what capacity exist in SA from none renewals? ( Hint: one of these numbers is bigger then the other but not the one you think).

Now if you do the homework set you could be on the path to a valuable contributor to the national debate. Or you could ignore copy paste a few standard replies and keep of the fast track to mindless partisan hackness.

Oh by the way for those playing at home check out this website it puts Australians spending and cost of living into perspective I think, https://www.moneysmart.gov.au/managing-your-money/budgeting/spending/australian-spending-habits

South Australian power has got into trouble due to private interests and incompetence.

Of course alternative energy is doomed to fail. The failure is evident in SA. Just imagine what it will be like when the whole country is blacked out, thanks to RE and climate nutters. And the nutty are getting nuttier. One of the nutters bawled out a few days ago, "Queensland CAN have 50% renewables by 2030!". The nutters think 'deniers' should be dealt with under some law that doesn't exist. The nutters should be certified and confined to keep them out of mischief. Very expensive, virtually sabotaging mischief.

I was going to respond to this, but in all honesty it's such a hodge podge there's nothing solid to comment on.

Never mind, it seems to have found its intended audience, if the hysterical reaction of one miserable old bugger is anything to go by, so I suppose that's some consolation for the author.

I have no disagreements with the article but bear in mind, as far as I know none of the state governments have specific subsidies for wind farms. So why are there so many in SA? I've tried working this out but all I can think of is that there is more empty land in SA and the planning restrictions in other states can be onerous. Can anyone else take that further?

Cobber the Hound's attempt to muddy the waters should be dismissed. The electricity business was state owned for many years in Australia - its now partially privatised - but it was always expected to pay its own way, to the point of returning substantial dividends to the state governments. Renewable energy assets are never expected to do anything but chew up subsidies

Mark, the wind in SA is especially reliable, being at the edge of the Southern Ocean and the great streams of air that swirl around the pole.

The problem is that they are gusty and squally at the best of times, a situation that also obtains across the continent in the Southwest. I did an investigation project at Albany Airport in the late spring some years back.It's an exposed location and my abiding memory is of having to constantly don and doff a thick jacket as the wind rose and fell.

The challenge is to engineer a solution that can average the output over time, so that it doesn't fluctuate excessively. The same can be said of solar PV, although I think some solutions to that are closer than might be widely known.

The green dream of renewable energy is the nightmare we can't wake up from! SIMPLE! Make more expensive and we'll use less of it! Replete with a preferred agrarian subsistence lifestyle! Borrowed from a book and romanticized until no contact with the actual reality!

Which is a dawn to dark gut bust without end! Pigs that get fever and need to be put down! Chickens that go off the lay, come down with something nasty or spread salmonella through remaining eggs!

Then fish won't bite and another enduring drought wipes out the grain harvest! The bank manager arrives with the foreclosure notice and you are forced to endure watching everything you've busted a gut to get, sold under the hammer for a fraction of its worth!

These dream castle dwellers need to wake up and smell the Co2 and understand the only way out is via carbon free power that even the most impoverished nations on earth can afford!

As opposed to just allowing them to starve, and as they do, destroy the natural environment!

As we would if forced down by dint of some of the most obtuse policy paradigms ever invented by the most moribund minds on the planet!

And it's take it or take it!

Dam busters that would allow two thirds of the world poor just starve! Preferred population control measure as they enact/evocate asinine policies that screw economic growth!

Their only answer to enduring Alternatives is just not looking! Or mountains of misinformation!

I've extolled the virtues of SAFE, CLEAN, CHEAP thorium that's less radioactive than a banana, has no weapons spin off or any significant waste, till I'm blue in the face!

But those with power to implement alternate energy policy/capacity to turbocharge growth, are part of the nogo, green labor alliance or have hitched the wagon to the fossil fuel alliance!

Meaning an impassible never ending stalemate even as our once vibrant economy sinks slowly into the sunset!
Go figure?
Alan B.