Common sense during a genuine emergency.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/dec/23/morrison-government-to-underwrite-two-new-gas-power-stations

"The federal government has announced it will underwrite two new gas-fired power stations, with Scott Morrison saying it may still greenlight coal-fired generation for Queensland and New South Wales."

Even as Australia suffers through a record-breaking heatwave Morrison said the government would continue to explore all power options and would not be deterred by “lots of shouting noises” and instead would listen to “those quiet still voices”.

“You need the whole mix, there is no doubt about that,” Morrison said.

“Firstly, there is a proposal for coal still up in north Queensland which we are accepting a report on very, very soon, there are some others in New South Wales and we will see where that goes.

Dec 22, 2019 at 5:11 PM Mark Hodgson

Thank you! Some interesting truth flexibility.

"It does not need subsidy any more." Any money added to customer bills in the UK to subsidise wind power is theft?

"We're also at the start of a big shift in the industry towards "re-powering". That's the jargon for replacement of older wind turbines" is this because the old ones are failing prematurely (transmissions) and so need to be replaced, bigger monstrosities produce bigger subsidies, and original Planning Permissions were for fixed periods of time that need to be extended?

"The capacity rises from 19 megawatts to 80 MW - yes, that's right, 27% fewer turbines and 320% more power." Isn't this lovely? Sentence starts with the capacity to produce, and ends with more power being produced. Has the UK become more reliably windy, or are claims being made increasingly unreliable?

"They usually have a 25 year lifespan. "

Is that based on extensive, real-world experience, or on manufacturers' claims?

"Dumfries and Galloway wind farm deal worth £104m agreed"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-50868569

"A £104m deal has been agreed to buy two Scottish wind farm projects which have yet to start construction.

Greencoat UK Wind will purchase the Windy Rig and Twentyshilling schemes in Dumfries and Galloway from Statkraft upon completion.

Work is expected to start shortly with target dates in 2021 for the turbines to become operational.

Greencoat chairman Tim Ingram said it was delighted to partner with Statkraft on the project.

"This transaction follows, and is very similar to, our recently announced Glen Kyllachy acquisition from Innogy, with acquisition completion occurring upon the successful commissioning of the wind farms," he said."

[Statkraft - a Norwegian company, hoovering up subsidies, then selling on to no doubt make a profit].

"Windfarms used to appeal only to those who preferred them to the coal-burning alternative. They're now proving attractive to big money.

Two drivers of this: one is an increasing amount of capital, in pension funds for instance, being directed at assets that meet environmental, social or ethical requirements.

The other is the maturing of the industry. It was for the big power companies to take the financial risks, secure the subsidies and to drive the development projects over many years. Smaller companies became niche players in that development work too.

But we are now at the start of an era when onshore wind energy is commercially viable. It does not need subsidy any more. It can be seen to deliver a steady income stream, so asset managers are happy to plough funds into it. As we're finding with this deal, they're paying serious money even for assets that are yet to be built."

[Yeah, right...]

"Big and small energy developers take the cash and deploy it on the next project, including those technologies that are not yet commercially viable. At present, that means a colossal amount of money going into offshore wind.

We're also at the start of a big shift in the industry towards "re-powering". That's the jargon for replacement of older wind turbines. They usually have a 25 year lifespan. And while it may be possible to extend that, the attraction of replacement is that new designs are far more efficient and deliver far more power.

Indeed, some turbines are being retired early. SSE Renewables announced this Friday that it has won consent to re-power a wind farm on Kintyre, 10 km from Campbeltown. The existing 22 turbines have been operating since 2003. SSE wants to replace them with 16 turbines, which will be 20 metres higher, rising from 130m to 150m. The capacity rises from 19 megawatts to 80 MW - yes, that's right, 27% fewer turbines and 320% more power."

[What happens to the old turbines? Very green!]

Dec 22, 2019 at 9:14 AM Mark Hodgson
Probably flown to a tropical beach resort, or centrally heated alpine ski chalet.

All mod cons for the modern con artists.

Nothing new to report this morning at the Guardian or the BBC. Their climate-hysteric journalists must all be on their Christmas holidays.

Mark Hodgson

>"Astonishingly pointless and expensive virtue-signalling from the Dutch judges."

Not quite pointless. Judicial activism is meant to show the proles who has power, to keep them in their place. Democratic notions are just playtime for plebs.

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/12/21/trump-weighs-executive-order-on-scientific-research/

"White House officials are working on an executive order that would boost public access to federally funded research, prompting publishers to panic about the future of their business models, according to people familiar with the plan."

"Some scientific experts, who are generally skeptical of the Trump team, are worried that the initiative parallels what they call the administration’s incessant attack on science and, by extension, provides favors to industry."

(**** Extreme Irony Warning ****)
"What problem are we trying to solve?” asked Andrew Rosenberg, an advocate with the Union of Concerned Scientists."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-50879435
Dec 21, 2019 at 8:33 PM Mark Hodgson
Further down the article:

"The US sanctions have also angered Russia and the European Union, which says it should be able to decide its own energy policies."
When did EU Citizens get to vote on EU Policies to ration power and make it more expensive?

"For years EU member states have been concerned about the bloc's reliance on Russian gas." The EU has ignored Member States, not just the population of the EU.

The EU gets more like the EUSSR every day, and criticises Russian "democracy".