The chickens have come home to roost...

[chieftain]

The Green imbeciles in this country were for a very long time pushing for the scrapping of the coal and gas fired power stations, selling the other morons on the lie that renewables (wind, solar) would more than make up for the loss of baseload generating capacity. Guess what, not only have they not maintained capacity, there is a significant shortfall as the renewables have failed MISERABLY.

This isn't a recent development, the idiots at the helm of the power companies began decommissioning coal and gas plants in 2010. Instead of undergoing upgrades and ongoing maintenance, the utilities ran these plants into the ground and were at the point where they were beyond salvage.

The actions of these people is criminal, the AEMO (Australian Energy Market Operator) basically stopped short of calling the behaviour of the utilities criminal

Power companies accused of ‘unconscionable conduct’ as they withdraw from grid

A massive amount of capacity has been withdrawn from the electricity grid in recent days, triggering compensation payments to power plants to get it back.

www.theage.com.au

https://www.news.com.au/finance/mon...s/news-story/45646915f06d631b8e14c630af0e6b78

 

[chieftain]

For some (Victorian) context, the electricity supply (generation and distribution) was the purview of the SECV (State Electric Commission of Victoria). The organisation was by no means perfect, especially considering it was a government owned outfit. However the SECV was light years ahead of what the system has become since privatisation in the 1990's. This is despite my disdain for government involvement in pretty much anything. This can be attributed solely to the fact that the people that were at the levers were civic minded and had the interests of the people of Victoria as first priority.

This jewpedia article is pretty much on the money about its history and demise.

State Electricity Commission of Victoria - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The corporatists that were handed the fragments that were once the SECV (and the govco at the time) sold the privatisation to the masses by saying that market forces will lower prices and ensure a far better service. Guess who isn't surprised that the corporatists were full of shit.

And today, the AEMO has suspended market operations to ensure continuity of supply.

Energy market suspended after chaos made it ‘impossible to operate’

The market operator has moved to regain control of a volatile situation and reduce the risk of electricity blackouts.

www.theage.com.au

 

[Thecrensh]

The only reason they are pushing this agenda is because they're postured to stand to make a lot of money in the transition and control the associated economy afterward.

 

[chieftain]

A bullshit "explainer" from the MSM

Where did all the power go? What caused the east coast energy crisis

A combination of forces has sent energy prices soaring. And now there’s talk of blackouts too. How did it come to this?

www.smh.com.au

 

[chieftain]

The only reason they are pushing this agenda is because they're postured to stand to make a lot of money in the transition and control the associated economy afterward.

That's just it, the corporates have lost control and are bleeding money because they put all their eggs in the renewables basket.

 

[hammerhead]

That's just it, the corporates have lost control and are bleeding money because they put all their eggs in the renewables basket.

Will they get bailed out by govco?

 

[chieftain]

Will they get bailed out by govco?

Sort of, there's a weird compensation scheme where the generators get paid if they are directed to put more power into the grid. As for direct bailouts for their insanity in ditching baseload, hell no.

 

[chieftain]

An op-ed piece.

Energy market is a crash everyone saw coming, but did nothing to stop

The market suspension is about more than cold weather and power station maintenance - it is about a disgraceful failure in Australian politics.

www.smh.com.au

 

[glockngold]

Energy is becoming like the weather.
Everybody talks about it, but no one does anything to fix it.

 

[the_shootist]

All this pain and suffering is being manufactured and inflicted by a relatively small number of people onto us. It only takes enough people to push against them to stop it.

Now, if the Q balls are right and the US military is in on the Q debacle, then we have nothing to worry about and the push back should be epic and successful.
^^^I'm not holding my breath in anticipation for that to happen anytime soon^^^

 

[jimswift]

US military is in on the

According to DC, DC has the military, and it is to be used against the 'US Citizen' with an AR-15.

 

[chieftain]

This episode has highlighted to everyone how much of a failure renewables have been, yet you have the head of some thinktank saying the country needs MORE renewables at the expense of new coal and gas plants:

Energy crisis boosts case for renewables, top policy adviser says

The pressure on the electricity grid highlights the need for a long-term shift away from fossil fuels, the chair of the Energy Security Board says.

www.theage.com.au

 

[Usury]

This episode has highlighted to everyone how much of a failure renewables have been, yet you have the head of some thinktank saying the country needs MORE renewables at the expense of new coal and gas plants:

Energy crisis boosts case for renewables, top policy adviser says

The pressure on the electricity grid highlights the need for a long-term shift away from fossil fuels, the chair of the Energy Security Board says.

www.theage.com.au

These point don’t understand logic reason and math…..just feelings.

 

[chieftain]

Another op-ed/discussion piece about the issue, this one though raises a few valid points:

Our spectacular energy failure: governments hobbled the market and now they must rescue it

The days of conjuring tricks are over. Governments have to step in to drive new investment.

www.theage.com.au

I wouldn't have posted this if it wasn't for the two comments I've quoted below:

Why has this happened? ... I saw a lot of valid reasons from the author, but absolutely no mention of the fact that renewables today cannot power a modern economy without significant dispatchable power from gas/coal or nuclear. And gas/coal has been demonised to the extent that the supplies go overseas for more profit, whilst local generators fall into disrepair, making the problem worse.

We really need a serious debate with more engineers and economists, and fewer activists and students who whilst well intentioned, simply do not understand the science and economics behind electricity generation and distribution, and will see Australia's grid become unreliable and hyper expensive.

This article is correct in one aspect - this is a spectacular failure, but not of government, not of politicians, nor bureaucrats, but of economists.
Prior to adoption of economic rationalism (or Thatcherism), electricity was managed quite competently thank you by public servants. Oh but not the shiny bums economists think typify all public servants, but by experienced and dedicated engineers and scientists who spent their entire career perfecting their skills and building on the knowledge and expertise of generations of predecessors.
But today, thanks to economists of the '80's and '90's the essential control, planning and forecasting of demand and supply are handled by (drum roll please) - the "Market".

Economists advised, nay encouraged, multiple governments to pass these essential management function to the great god Market Forces, which is one of the greatest mistakes of last century.
Now anyone can make a mistake, as economists have done here, but they seem to be totally unaware of having made a mistake. Unlike other professions they cannot see their mistakes and so cannot learn from them.
Electricity management (put a mis in front of that if you like) is only one of many areas that they are screwing up comprehensively. Perhaps someone can explain why when we supposedly have only 450,000 unemployed people do we have 600,000 on the dole? Surely if you are on the dole you are unemployed? So the actual unemployment rate should be well north of 6% not less than 4. But statistics is only one of a huge number of areas where we should question every thing economist say.
If they are incapable of developing continuous improvement in their understanding of economics, then we will have to scrutinise their work and force them to re-do when they get it wrong. Of course if we have to do it ourselves to get it done right, you'll be asking why do we have them? Good question.

The commentator above makes a mistake of his own. Those responsible for the clusterfuck that began with the privatisation of the SECV knew full well what they were unleashing.