<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/duttons-nuclear-plan-a-con-job-and-a-recipe-for-blackouts-says-bowen/>
"Federal energy and climate minister Chris Bowen has lambasted the federal
Coalition’s nuclear power plans, describing them as a recipe for blackouts and
a “con job”, and has expressed astonishment at Peter Dutton’s assumption of a
grid that will use 40 per cent less power than forecast.
Dutton’s nuclear costings – revealed last Friday – and some of its major
assumptions have been widely dismissed, even mocked, by the energy industry,
although the proposal has garnered support from some with strong connections to
the fossil fuel industry.
The reason for that is the Coalition’s focus on extending the life of the
country’s ageing coal fired power generators, increasing the dependence on gas,
and the implications for renewables, which will largely be stopped in their
tracks, and climate targets, which will be ripped up and ignored.
The Coalition says it can get the first nuclear power plant running by the mid
2030s – a target most in the industry find laughable. But its own modelling
confirms that most of the planned 14 GW will not be delivered until the mid
2040s, which means it must run ageing coal generators for another two decades.
“This is a recipe for blackouts and unreliability,” Bowen says in the latest
episode of
Renew Economy’s weekly
Energy Insiders podcast. “Sweating the
coal assets for longer, I mean, these coal fired power stations are not getting
younger. None of us are.
“Just this week, we’ve had 3.4 gigawatts of coal out in the NEM (National
Electricity Market, the main grid) and three gigawatts of that was unplanned,
ie breakdowns, unexpected breakdowns, three gigawatts out this week.
“Now, the grid’s coped okay, even though it’s been very hot, but you’d still
rather not have three gigawatts out, and that’s only going to get worse the
longer you rely on coal.”"
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
