spare a thought for us Aussies. despite all that’s going on in EU and elsewhere as far as the “energy crisis” is concerned, our own suicide notes were written today.
and, after the FakeNewsMSM spent years saying “renewable energy” is the cheapest, they are all suddenly singing a different song!
29 Sept: Australian Financial Review: AGL signals the end of coal. Now the hard work really begins
by Mark Ludlow, Queensland bureau chief
It’s official. The end of the line for coal-fired power in Australia is 2035.
Now the really hard work begins.
While even the most ardent supporter of fossil fuels knew the end was coming for coal as Australia started the slow march to net zero by 2050, this week’s announcements from AGL Energy (closing Loy Yang A early, in 2035) and the Queensland government (shutting down its fleet of coal plants within 13 years) brought the reality home...
It shapes as a monumental task for Australia – whose vast deposits of coal have been one of its competitive advantages – to transform its economy away from fossil fuels to a low-emissions economy.
At 3pm on Thursday, coal still accounted for 60 per cent of Australia’s power generation...
AGL has vowed to commit $20 billion to build 12 gigawatts of new firming capacity, while the Palaszczuk government now needs to commit $62 billion (half from the state’s taxpayers) to build 22 gigawatts of clean energy projects to fill the hole from the five state-owned coal-fired power plants being mothballed.
“The biggest challenge now is getting all this stuff built,” Wood told The Australian Financial Review.
“We are already well behind. We really need to get a wriggle on.”...
The latest reports from the Energy Security Board and the Australian Energy Regulator confirmed the costs of new wind, solar, batteries and transmission projects will ultimately be passed onto consumers who have already been hit with record high power prices this year...
Higher power prices are here to stay, for at least the next few years, even if renewable energy may drive down prices in the longer term...
Hold on for the ride.
https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/agl-signals-the-end-of-coal-now-the-hard-work-really-begins-20220929-p5blyr
P.S. Queensland, last I heard, was currently using 78% coal.
P.P.S. of course, Australia will continue to sell tens of millions of tonnes of coal to China, Japan, etc etc etc for use in their present and soon-to-be-constructed coal-fired power plants.
Mothballing producing power plants when you’ve got little in place to replace them is insanity.
Like in California.
I missed an opportunity to buttonhole one of our PSC Commissioners at a Herschel Walker event a few weeks ago. I need to start writing those guys.
I think most of our coal plants are burning natural gas. I hope they can still burn coal if need be.