J Bower well in NSW at least we have known about the gold plated wires, and been a victim of them for years
YOU not me claim exemption for Labor in this matter
I think my view of the impacts did not target one side
However your post seems tainted by you political views not facts
Coal, as AC said above, is one of those things we must be realistic about
That twenty percent vote *for a one Motion candidate* in a coal mining once safe Labor seat, speaks for its self

JBowyer,
>Aiden, one simple question. If renewables are so cheap and coal is so expensive why did prices increase?
Could you be a bit more specific please? To what timeframe and state are you referring?
If, as I suspect, you're referring to Victoria last year, the Hazelwood closure meant there was less electricity from coal coming on to the market, so more reliance on gas. Gas fired power stations have significantly more expensive fuel (at the moment) and more ability to vary their output, so they bid higher than their coal fired competitors. But as more renewables come on to the market, they push down gas use.

>With your system prices will keep going up, this years blackouts will be blamed on coal
Prices will go down as well as up. More renewables and more storage will bring prices down, and more closures of coal fired power stations will bring prices up. Eventually they'll run out of coal fired power stations to close, at which point the prices will keep falling.

And when the breakdown of a coal fired power station results in inadequate supply, doesn't coal deserve the blame?

>When we crash the system and the whole country faces what Victoria faced courtesy
>of John Cain so much debt and not enough electricity I am stumped!
Australia's interest rates were too high for too long, devastating state governments and the private sector alike. But that's never going to happen again, so debt is no longer the problem it used to be. Not enough electricity is a potential problem which the NEG is designed to solve.

And I think you misunderstand what "gold plating" means. It isn't the provision of more infrastructure than we have, or even more infrastructure than we're likely to need. It's the provision of unnecessarily expensive infrastructure. Our toothless regulator allowed electricity transmission companies to make a profit based on the cost of new infrastructure, so there was an incentive to INCREASE the cost.

Aidan I was referring to the fact that electricity prices have more than doubled since renewables. Hazel wood showed what we can expect over the coming years. Solar and wind are not the answer to cheaper power they increase all cost forever. No need to argue, give me a shout when electricity prices start reducing.
I do know what gold plating means and corrupt public servants working with the wires and poles people ensured we were right royally turned over. Your preferred renewables mean a whole new thick layer of cost will be added to all this.
Cain got Victoria into horrendous debt that was the problem, debt that was of no use. You think like the RBA that low interest rates are the answer we’ll see what happens when the savings run out and it’s peoples super being taken for no return and there is another recipe for disaster.
Mate you are useless, cannot add up, know nothing but with a touching faith in crackpot notions like solar and wind. This will all end in tears as it always does!

If there has been so much gold plating of the distribution systems, how come, lots of the towers fell over in South Australia, in no worse conditions than an average Queensland thunder storm?

How come we get outages every year a few times in the thunder storm season?

How come the people of Tamborine mountain can get a number of outages in a mild spring day?

Surely a gold plated system should handle simple average conditions.

We need to stop building windmills & start doing some upgrades & maintenance on those gold plated wires.

Investment is flowing to renewables,
not coal-fired power, says Westpac.

Westpac's Head of Infrastructure and Utilities,
David Scrivener said investors were backing
wind and solar despite the policy settings coming
out of Canberra.

"From a commercial sector, you have to look at the
consistency of building a coal-fired power station
with the Paris climate commitments for Australia and
net zero emissions. It would appear to be incongruous
from that perspective," Mr Scrivener said.

"To my mind if we are to meet the Paris commitments,
it is hard to see coal-fired power as a long term part
of that transition."

Over the past 24 months, Westpac has lent over $800
million to the Australian Renewable Energy Sector,
supporting the construction of 14 renewable energy
projects with an aggregated capital cost of more than
$5 billion.

When complete these projects will have an installed
capacity of over 3 gigawatts and generate sufficient
electricity to power 1.8 million homes.

There's more at the link given below:

http://afr.com/politics/investment-is-flowing-to-renewable-not-coal-fired-power-says-westpac-20190217-h1bcyz

Hasbeen gee thought you would know that
South Australian lines are clearly sub standard, very cheap probable at a high price
Maybe a Labor governments fault, not sure
But as an engineer you should see those toy like thin towers for the failure they are
OK so you do not get the full story about NSW
At my last NSW state Labor conference I joined in a protest that carried a lot of weight, against Labor selling its power
Including some [they wanted all] transmission lines
Nifty Nev, a thief and worse, once partner to Turnbull, was by then aged and frail, but came to fight us, [never know how but he would have made money out of it]
We lost, after the *rats in the ranks * bought us down the Libs sold the rest
Thank both sides and privatization for higher prices not renewable s