Essays by Eric Worrall
h/t Rick Will; Last winter, in a deep freezing low wind, Aussie East Cost lost power and lack of energy. This year they will face the same thing – with a capacity less than 1200MW.
Labor’s electric storm: Liddell shuts down a ‘serious’ challenge
A perfect storm of delayed energy projects and the closure of the country’s oldest plant for 18 days have created a “huge” future supply problem that even the Energy Secretary cannot afford. The new state agency also said she was concerned.
The closure of the Hunter Valley Liddell coal-fired power plant on April 28 will remove 1200MW of electricity from the grid, with Energy Secretary Penny Sharpe declaring “NSW is facing serious energy challenges volume in the coming years”.
Ms Sharpe said that “trying to keep prices as low as possible” was a priority for the new Minns government and that she would “consider all options when it comes to keeping the lights on, including keeping the base load running to meet demand”.
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Read more (with wall fee): Daily telegram
I doubt that the minister will order Liddell to stay open, but there is a real possibility that ordering the factory to remain open will not achieve much. Liddell has fallen to the ground, it could have serious mechanical problems at any time. It may not even work before the official end date of April 28.
The fact that the Labor government ordered workers to commit themselves to a suicide mission, to continue operating such a factory could also be seen as a grave betrayal of the working class constituency. action they represent. When such trees die, they often die spectacularly, with large explosions and fires. Continuing to operate such a damaged plant could put workers’ lives in danger.
But not operating the plant can also have disastrous consequences. The early signs are that this winter can be very cold. Snow has covered the Australian Alps this year since February, usually our hottest summer month. As extreme cold winter weather systems push up from the Antarctic Ocean, temperatures plummet and even Australia’s subtropical coastal regions can experience sub-freezing nighttime temperatures.
All I can say is thank god we have a lot of wind and solar power they would really help us if we had another case prolonged overcast wind drought, like last winter.
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