Essay by Eric Worrall
Establishment energy players are struggling with their own flawed green energy narratives.
Your electricity bills are going up, according to one energy boss. Here’s why
By National Regional Affairs Correspondent Jane Norman
You came here to find the truth and talk frankly, so this is a bummer.”
Standing on stage at the National Press Club – broadcast live into offices and living rooms across the country – one of Australia’s leading energy bosses is preparing to say something that few people will say. openly acknowledged in the industry.
Jeff Dimery – CEO of Alinta Energy – looked up from his notes at the podium and made a promise to the audience.
“Australians will have to pay more for energy in the future,” he said.
“We need to be honest about that.“
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Yes, renewable energy is the “lowest cost, new generation form”.
But building wind and solar farms at the scale needed to replace coal, along with the batteries needed to store the energy and new transmission line networks to distribute that energy reaching consumers will require investments worth tens of billions of dollars.
The Australian Energy Market Operator’s own figures show the transition will worth about 383 billion USD from now to 2050.
When asked who paid, Dimery replied: “it all comes from consumers, whether directly through invoices or through the tax base.“
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Read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-12/power-prices-to-rise-in-clean-energy-transition/103696450
This is a major change from previous statements that renewable energy would drop in price in the short term.
Electricity prices are expected to decrease due to increased renewable energy supply and reduced gas prices
Posted Monday, December 21, 2020 at 5:32 am
Main attractions:
- Electricity prices are expected to decrease by 9% in the next 3 years
- More renewable energy production is responsible for the decline
- Electricity prices in Canberra are expected to buck the trend
Household electricity bills are expected to drop 9% over the next three years as more renewable energy generation joins the grid.
A new report from the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) predicts all states in the National Electricity Market – NSW, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania – There will be lower energy prices by 2023
The 2020 Residential Electricity Price Trends Report, published today by the consultancy, predicts the ACT will see slight increases in electricity prices over the next three years.
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The report said The main reasons for this decline are lower gas prices and the advent of new energy sources such as solar and wind power.
It also said network costs and environmental costs are also falling, although they contribute less to the overall decline.
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It’s not just ABC. AEMO, the industry body tasked with regulating Australia’s East Coast energy grid, also regularly adds confusion about the true cost of renewable energy;
Renewable energy pushes NEM electricity prices to historic levels
October 23, 2023
Latest from AEMO Quarterly energy dynamics report showed wholesale electricity prices averaging $63 per megawatt hour (MWh) in the September quarter, down 41% from the June quarter ($108/MWh) and 71% ($216/MWh) from the third quarter of 2022.
By region, South Australia recorded the highest average quarterly price at $92/MWh, followed by New South Wales ($81/MWh), Queensland ($65/MWh), Victoria ($49/MWh) and Tasmania ($29/MWh).
Total electricity supply by fuel type shows that renewables (wind, grid-scale and rooftop solar, hydro and other sources) contributed 38.9% of total supply, an increase of 4 .6%, while black coal’s market share decreased by 3.4%, mainly due to the closure of Liddell power plant, and gasoline prices decreased by 2.3%. Brown coal’s market share increased 1%, mainly due to fewer unplanned outages.
AEMO Reform Delivery Chief Executive Officer Violette Mouchaileh said that the growing influence of renewables in the NEM was evident in the warmer September quarter as prices returned to historic levels.
“Record renewable generation output has helped push average wholesale electricity prices down by more than two-thirdsdouble the rate of occurrence of zero or negative wholesale prices (19%) and reduce total emissions by 11% quarter-on-quarter in September,” Ms. Mouchaileh said.
“Renewables also provided a record 70% of the total energy used in a half-hour period, with rooftop solar contributing 39%, again highlighting the benefits that can be had from Combining rooftop solar panels and home batteries.
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There is no reason for this confusing message about pricing. Renewable energy is always expensive. The industry watchdog has a responsibility to keep everyone informed. Skipping a bit on the cost of renewable energy seems like a reasonable effort to keep people informed.
Based on AEMO page “Who we are”, “…AEMO provides detailed, independent planning, forecasting and modeling information and advice to drive strategic and effective decision-making, regulatory change and investment. …”. Articles like the one above somehow fail to mention that the reduction in renewable costs is only temporary, that someone has to pay for all the green infrastructure, Does any of this sound like AEMO is fulfilling its obligation to provide independent advice?
$383 billion is just under $15,000 for every man, woman and child in Australia, or $39,000 per person working in Australia, just to pay for the initial construction. All those additional transmission lines and renewable systems would have to be maintained at a cost of billions of dollars each year in addition to the cost of maintaining existing infrastructure.
Australia’s peak demand is 31GW in 2023-24, served with a capacity of 55GW. Based on WikipediaThe capital cost of building new coal capacity is 4,074 USD/Kw to about 1,201 USD/Kw for gas.
Doesn’t climate change create superstorms and extreme weather? If said that a large hail storm came and destroyed a large area of solar panels, as happened last year in Nebraskathat will also have to be paid.
What are the alternatives to renewable energy?
A lack of investment in Australia’s energy infrastructure has left much of it in a state of disrepair. Let’s pretend for a moment we had to replace them all.
55GW x 1000000 (converted to Kw) x 4074 USD = 224 billion USD to completely replace all of Australia’s coal capacity with coal. Multiply by 1.54 to get Australian dollars and you have $345 billion – well below the $383 billion Energy CEO Jeff Dimery estimates for renewables. If coal plants used brown coal, which has no value except as fuel to feed into adjacent generators, it would save $38 billion in capital costs, + the system would not be subject to insurance costs. Maintenance of transmission lines is higher and costs more each time. We save at least $38 billion, and because coal can be shipped, we won’t have to panic every time the wind dies down.
And of course there is a very real risk that the $383 billion cost is an underestimate. A lot of rather arbitrary assumptions go into calculating such numbers, such as the battery capacity needed to meet intermittent renewable demand. Extreme excursions from normal weather conditions such as Wind drought prolongs the season across large geographic areas occurs frequently enough to be a problem.
Even if power is not completely lost, an economically damaging spike in electricity prices can wreak financial havoc on energy-intensive businesses. No business that uses a lot of energy can afford it $5000/MWh regularly.
Who still thinks renewable energy sounds cheap? How many people voted for this The shipwreck of the left-wing green government love them Questionable claim that renewable energy will lower prices? How many voters know the true cost of green energy before they vote?
Green energy is a bottomless pit of money, always has been and always will be. It’s time for politicians to be honest with voters and put an end to this colossal waste of taxpayer resources, before they burn more money for no benefit.
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