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https://reneweconomy.com.au/blackouts-bankruptcy-and-bugger-off-bowen-posters-ted-obriens-dystopian-and-error-riddled-energy-vision/>
"Well, he is stubborn, and he’s not afraid of a hostile audience. Those were
two of the immediate and more polite reactions at the Australian Clean Energy
Summit on Wednesday when Opposition energy spokesperson Ted O’Brien laid out
his vision to a room full of 1,000 clean energy investors, ministers,
regulators and market operators, and told them why they are all wrong about the
future of energy.
O’Brien’s appearance – the first by a federal Coalition energy spokesman or
minister at the summit since the days of Josh Frydenberg – was delayed by
traffic snarls in the city, but it wasn’t impeded by any diversion from his
contention that it’s 2050, not 2030, that matters, and that nuclear is a must
in Australia’s energy mix.
He attempted to paint a folksy picture of his concerns for the future, showing
pictures of his children and making multiple references to his previous life as
an economist and a businessman. But the details were just a little bit scary,
and many of the claims plain wrong.
First were the predictions of blackouts, that O’Brien insisted the Australian
Energy Market Operator had made for Australia’s main grid as soon as this
summer. It’s a common refrain in the Coalition and the mainstream media.
Actually, that’s not what AEMO has forecast at all.
Then O’Brien moved to the state of the economy and the increase in
bankruptcies, and the hike in electricity prices that has – according to
competition regulators – been almost entirely due to the leap in fossil fuel
costs across the world.
He then focused on the environmental costs of building the 40 gigawatts of new
wind, solar, storage and transmission needed to meet Labor’s 82 per cent
renewable energy target by 2030. He included a photo of a protester carrying a
“bugger off Bowen” poster.
O’Brien repeated the Coalition’s off-stated contention that Australia is the
only one of the 20 advanced economies not doing nuclear or thinking about it.
That’s still not true – Germany and Italy are two prime examples. Others such
as Spain are moving to close down their last nuclear plants.
O’Brien says no other country has a renewable energy target like Australia’s.
“We are on our own,” he said.
Again, that’s not true. Germany is aiming for 80 per cent renewables by 2030,
Spain targets 74 per cent by 2030, and Denmark 100 per cent net renewables
before 2030. Denmark might even get there before South Australia, which hopes
to reach 100 per cent net renewables by 2027."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
