Australian Energy Policy – an open letter to the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition
In this post I publish an open letter submitted by seven retired Australian scientists and engineers to the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition in Australia (h/t to Jimbro). It captures quite succinctly many of the burning questions posed on this blog.
The inset image (left) says “Replace Hazlewood, Australia’s Dirtiest Power Station with RENEWABLE energy” and comes from Climate Action Moreland. This is fairly typical of Green propaganda that is being effectively promoted by growing numbers of activist groups. The question is why governments the world over are listening to this scientifically illiterate advice?
Begins
We are a group of retired scientists and engineers in Queensland, and we are alarmed at the direction our country is being taken through your respective policies, which are virtually identical, on renewable energy. Our names are listed here. We have studied this issue for years now, and we have here outlined the serious defects in your energy policy, and asked some questions which have thus far remained unanswered.
Energy Policy. By far the greatest risk to Australia’s electricity supply is the false belief that renewables (wind and solar) can be a like-for-like replacement for dispatchable fossil fuelled generators. They are not, and can never be. A One- MW wind or solar plant does not replace a One- MW coal plant. Not even close. Solar plants will produce electricity on average at 20% of their installed capacity. They produce power for little more than eight hours per day and none at all at night or on rainy days. Wind plants can be expected to produce electricity on average 25% to 30% of installed capacity, but output can be as little as 2% or as much as 70% with little warning.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
