Shadow,
>Serves you right for laughing at the truth:
No, I'm not laughing, as your attitude is tragic rather than comic.

>Here is a list of coal fired power plants very recently built in Germany.
I didn't say there weren't coal fired power plants built very recently in Germany. Of course there were (though I wouldn't count all of those in the article as VERY recent). But that was fro last year, and events have moved on. Renewables are being installed more quickly now and, as I said, they're planning to complete the phaseout of coal fired power by 2031

>I also remember Merkel promising that nuclear power would be replaced with renewables about a decade ago.
Yes. I've previously described that policy as unwise, but it's what was implemented. And because it was implemented they didn't start phasing out coal soon enough. But now at last they are.

>0% coal in Germany is as likely as federal labor producing a budget surplus.
The budgetary outcome has more to do with the economic conditions in Australia and its trading partners (and competitors) than which party's in power federally. Historically both major parties have produced budget surpluses from time to time.

>As for renewable surviving "And on long term contracts at least, they can"
>This is only true if the contracts include subsidies and guaranteed revenue.
If you look at the context you'll see that tit can't be true if the contracts include subsidies, for that would be a contradiction.

And yes, long term contracts include guaranteed revenue - it wouldn't be in the interest of any power generation company to sign a long term contract that didn't! The cost of renewables is still falling, and they bring the wholesale electricity cost down, so without price certainty there's a lot of commercial risk. Can you think of a better way to incentivise new power generation infrastructure?

And I repeat my final question:
:When Britain has failed to get good value nuclear power, how do you expect Australia to?

individual,
When two things have people controlling the strings, one will usually be cheaper than the other.

When two things have people controlling the strings, one will usually be cheaper than the other.
Aidan,
So, the Chinese must be pulling harder at their strings than the Australian manufacturers ?

Shadow,
Apologies for the above typo. Germany are planning to complete the phaseout of coal fired power by 2038 (as I originally said) not 2031.

phaseout of coal fired power by 2038
Aidan,
Something tells me they won't achieve that unless they go nuclear all the way.
Consider that by then, Germany will be a Muslim State & therefore will be doing one step forward & three back !

Dear Shadow Minister,

Why are you posting old links.

This is the situation in Germany now.

"In the first half of 2019, hard coal generation is 8TWh (24%) lower than a year earlier, while lignite is down 14TWh (21%) – with coal down 22TWh (22%) in total and 44TWh (36%) over five years.

The gap left by coal-fired electricity has been largely filled by renewables, with output from German windfarms up by 11TWh (19%) and solar up by 1TWh (6%) in the first half of 2019, while demand fell by 9TWh (3%) and gas generation only increased by 3TWh (16%). The shift means wind is on track to become the single largest source of electricity in Germany this year, overtaking lignite.

In total, these changes mean that emissions from Germany’s electricity sector were down 20MtCO2 (around 19%) in the first half of the year, compared to the same period in 2018."

http://www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-why-german-coal-power-is-falling-fast-in-2019