Dear Hasbeen,

Good to see you are still kicking old cock.

So no evidence, no links and no idea. Pretty standard fare from you.

I reckon stand you in front of the largest windfarm with the hot air you put out and our energy worries will be over.

Anyway what subsidies are you talking about? If you are referring to LGCs then they will be basically worthless by 2020 as new renewable energy projects come on line. Most of the current contracts have zero subsidy expectations in them anyway as many state governments are handing in their LGCs.

For instance the subsidy free windfarms of the ACT government actually returned a dividend to residents in 2017.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/subsidy-free-wind-farms-returned-money-act-consumers-2017/

That is the future mate. Not that you will get on board of course. However how about having a crack and attempt one link to support your normal bombast for your next post.

I think the point that GY was trying to make is that with wind generation efficiency and cost the world is beginning to approach the limits where any further advances will yield diminishing improvements. Their life span hasn't improved much past 20yrs either.

What hasn't changed is the reliance on the wind and sun for renewable power generation which are both notoriously unreliable.

Shadow,
Of course that's the point GY's trying to make. But it's a point based on flawed comparisons and ill thought out suppositions rather than on facts and logic.

Are folks supposed to ignore the fact that solar and wind only generate electricity cheaply when the sun shines or the wind blows enough? Vast times in between costs and emissions are created from burning backup fossil-fuels or there is the immense cost (and emissions in production) of sufficient storage to make renewables fully dispatchable.

Do renewablistas really expect the rest of us to suspend our disbelief while they make outlandish claims? Sadly, they're getting through to our youth via bending science education towards ideology and making the likelihood of reaching any sense on energy matters in Oz a generational problem.

Solar is increasingly becoming successful due to:

- plunging wholesale and retail costs of solar cells and Batteries

- Batteries in the home (contributing between sunlight hours)

- large City central computer coordinated batteries pooling the power of many homes with solar And home batteries.

Also of increasing benefit are massed Batteries at large Windpower and solar collection facilities 10s kms from cities and towns.

Particularly look at advances in Adelaide and broader South Australia.

As banks won't lend for new coal fired power stations, government run taxpayer money funded coal power construction will waste like the NBN.

Aidan,

Being an engineer, GY's suppositions and comparisons are very valid. Perhaps you would care to back up your sweeping statements.