Essay by Eric Worrall
Aussie Energy & Climate Minister: “I don’t see we can put all the pressure on Renewables for Stability and Reliability”, blames Climate Change for Hot Summers.
Chris Bowen on renewables providing reliable energy:
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CHRIS BOWEN: One of the biggest challenges to stability is frankly coal-fired power station outages that were unexpected. I mean we saw a big impact when the Callide Power Station in Queensland went offline a few years ago and is still not yet back online.
I don’t think we can just put all the pressure on renewables for stability and reliability. We have 3.4 gigawatts more going into this summer than we had last summer of generation, that’s a good thing. Yes, we need more storage. We have policies in place to get that through our Capacity Investment Scheme, which we’ve already begun rolling out. This is an ongoing task for governments and will continue to be.
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Full transcript: https://minister.dcceew.gov.au/bowen/transcripts/interview-sabra-lane-abc-am-3
Bowen is the minister who in February this year vehemently rejected suggestions his renewable heavy policies might lead to blackouts.
What a shame Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen is so anti-nuclear. In June last year Bowen explained people who think nuclear is better than renewable are “dangerously ignorant”.
Modern zero carbon nuclear plants generally run like clockwork, delivering predictable, dispatchable electricity 24×7, 365 days per year.
3.4GW of reliable nuclear capacity would have contributed significantly to Australia’s grid stability this summer, and barring a transmission line failure, would likely have all but eliminated the risk of a summer blackout. Instead we have 3.4GW of additional useless renewables, which even the minister responsible admits can’t be relied upon to improve grid stability.
The following is Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen in 2022, explaining to the audience that we don’t have to worry about renewable intermittency, because we can store electricity like water.
Chris Bowen is sounding a lot less confident now he’s had his nose rubbed in a few energy market realities, but he still hasn’t got the balls to publicly admit he has taken Australian energy policy in the wrong direction.
When the proverbial hits the fan, Bowen will not be able to claim he wasn’t warned. Australia’s official energy grid body has been sounding the alarm for years on Australia’s increasingly precarious energy grid, and the risks posed by a lack of dispatchable capacity, since well before Bowen took office.
I accept Bowen inherited a mess from the previous net zero infatuated faux conservative administration, but Bowen’s ignorant and reckless energy policies have made the mess a whole lot worse.
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