Green washing- Cost- reality and alternative energy

1990 Shark Bay Denham wind turbine was one of the first wind power grid connections I saw while working in the area. 2021 update "Three of the four turbines have been in use for almost 25 years. One has been in operation for 14 years. Two of the four turbines are still operational, while a third is undergoing maintenance. A fourth is significantly damaged and expected to be permanently decommissioned."

One hundred tonnes of Concrete to be left in Shark Bay. Millions may be left in Victorian farms

Cost Down, Size up or is it? Wind power size increase, page-1 - HotCopper | ASX Share Prices, Stock Market & Share Trading Forum Full yarn[bigwhistle]

The Golden Plains wind farm in Victoria is just months from producing its first electricity, and the developer says it has already started work on expanding the facility. Link "Turbine foundations consisting of concrete gravity or rock anchor foundations with a depth of approximately 3.5 m and a diameter of 20 to 25 m"

The response from the company here did not surprise me! The company kindly responded with

"At this stage, the decommissioning will be addressed as the project nears the end of term. As you likely are already aware, there are a range of options for decommissioning, all of which will be explored with landholders and relevant stakeholders in due course. Apologies I can’t be more specific as yet!"

The news that the cost of decommissioning is not part of the planning documentation is not surprising. After the Ranger Uranium mine rehabilitation debacle this being allowed by regulating Government authorities is a very poor look in my thoughts.

This was interesting. "This comes as enormous wind turbine components – some measuring up to 90m – are unable to access new renewable energy zones in regional NSW."
340 million to fix it? Will your power be cheaper? [bigwhistle]


"Transport for NSW (TfNSW) says it’s currently working with Energy Co NSW (EnergyCo) and the Department of Planning & Environment to understand the scheduling of renewable projects and component delivery, including options to address any constraints to transport movements between the Port of Newcastle and REZ.“Transport for NSW is reviewing options to address constraints and pinch points along the route, such as Denman bridge and the railway underpass,” said a Transport for NSW spokesperson.
“The Muswellbrook bypass is in early planning. At this stage the bypass is going through an expression of interest process for design and construction, however is subject to the Australian Government’s Review of Infrastructure Projects.”" $340m bypass needed to truck giant wind turbines to NSW sites (bigrigs.com.au)

"Section 8" of the Macintyre wind farm is the first one which has decommissioning I have found .

https://proaccionaau.blob.core.windo...a_v3-2-web.pdf

The document linked also states a few bits which are impossible! No impact on the farming (agricultural land )

"As such, the operational phase of the project, it is unlikely that turbines will impact the productivity of the agricultural land on which they are located (Walker & Swift 2015)."
then is says

" 8.3.3 Livelihood related to agriculture – unmitigated....Various construction impacts (such as noise, traffic, vibration, and land use) will likely affect landholders’ ability to use certain areas for agricultural purposes, including potential decreases in productivity and issues with livestock management."[biggrin][biggrin][biggrin]

Current farmers may be happy" regular income from turbine lease payments providing financial security for their businesses"

2.7 Decommissioning
The wind turbines and associated infrastructure is expected to have an operating life of 30+ years with the operation
facilitated by lease agreements between ACCIONA, CleanCo, and individual landowners.
At the end of the lease agreement period the Project could undergo either:
• refurbishment of existing infrastructure to prolong turbine life (subject to agreements and approvals);
• a program to replace turbine infrastructure on an as-needed basis (subject to agreements and approvals); or
• decommissioning and site rehabilitation.
The priority would be to keep the wind farm operating if they are financially viable and in good working order, in
accordance with current industry practices. It is important to note that no wind farm has been decommissioned in
Australian to date.

"However, should the decision be made to withdraw from one or more leases, the site would need to be
decommissioned in accordance with the conditions of approval which would be done in consultation with
landholders. Decommissioning means that the wind turbines, site office and any other ancillary infrastructure is
removed from the site, and roads and foundation pads are covered and revegetated, allowing land to be returned to its former use"

Covering 70 tones of the concrete foundation pads is what I thought will happen!! There are clearly permeant impacts on the water table and profile of all land which is not covered or discussed.

No bond or fund for decommissioning costs which makes this a direct risk for taxpayers to pay for decommissioning.:rulez::rulez::rulez:

The waffle and money thrown at so called Green Hydrogen from Electrolysis by the likes of Fortescue Mr T Forest was in my view backing the wrong horse. It honestly stopped me being on the Fortescue share registry

"“Virtually unanimously everyone seems to conclude the economics are poor on any of the green hydrogen projects unless you get significant state underwriting for projects,” said Milford Asset Management portfolio manager Jason Kururangi, adding Fortescue’s retreat “makes a lot of sense”."

and
huge failures like "Japan’s boldest push into Australian hydrogen has been in Victoria, where a project to turn brown coal into clean hydrogen using carbon capture and storage has been allocated $2.35 billion of support by the country’s green innovation fund."

Have all cost taxpayers hundreds of millions!

The efficiency charts repeatedly show Hydrogen Pyrolysis as significantly more energy efficient with our patented catalyst of cheap and readily available Iron ore making the current failed Forrest /government and poor share holder of Fortescue with mud in their faces and a lot of capex in the bin!

Green hydrogen too ‘expensive and inefficient’ for energy transition: Alan Finkel (copyright link)

Years ago for long time investors we saw Dr Andreas Bode BASF show this clearly despite BASF not being able to achieve clearly showing hydrogen pyrolysis as energy efficient and the best IF it could be scaled up to commercial scale.


This is not a NA Na Na post for now very much poorer taxpayer, Fortescue share holders or to Mr T Forrest himself. It is a lesson in my view of not just following the hype and stick with great science and engineering excellence by great people at Hazer. The AFR article did have the author Dr Alan Finkle say turquoise hydrogen is still on track or some thing similar. I wonder if Dr Finkle is on our share registry? He clearly knows about Methane pyrolysis

I had some hopes for hydrogen. We could make it work but eh. More on the topic of cost vs benefit. Mr Bjorn Lomborg is quite good at these things:

https://youtu.be/HWqv6RH-3WE

this is really happening[bighmmm][bighmmm][bighmmm]

WindRunner | Radia

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/0ios3NhJG50

I haven't delved into this (or the bloke), but even if he's only 50% correct, it would still appear to be pretty ordinary for the areas in question.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzLXWUUYBwU

BHP has possibly the biggest U308 mine in the world. It only a 'by-product' of its Olympic Dam South oz mine :)

For years BHP has been to scared of the politcal side of U308 antis to the point it has barely mentioned uranium in any prior year report[biggrin][biggrin][biggrin]

9 times its in the 2024 report and despite the u308 price being about 300% higher than the usd$20lbs it was getting a few years ago. Its not USD$80lbs or a bit more.

Green washing or fear of anti's reactions to CO2 free nuclear power was BHPs reason from hiding the fact its the 3rd or 4th largest U308 miner in the world [bigrolf]
Todays report include:

"Uranium and silver grades are currently considered to be sub-economic and are therefore not reported as part of the Mineral Resource."

I wonder what price BHP wants before it calls the $$$$ <1/2 a billion its taking from the by product economic? [biggrin]
4. Olympic Dam

2022 production: 2,813 MT
The Olympic Dam polymetallic mine, owned by BHP (ASX:BHP,NYSE:BHP,LSE:BHP), produces copper, along with uranium, gold and silver. Olympic Dam, which has underground and surface operations, plus a fully integrated processing facility, has been in action since 1988, and in 2022 its output accounted for 6 percent of the world's uranium production.
Australia has the largest uranium reserves in the world, and holds about 30 percent of potential global supply. In 2022, the country was the world's fourth largest producer

"The threat of blackouts hitting Australian homes and businesses once the next wave of coal-fired power stations retire has been downgraded significantly as official forecasts now expect enough new renewables, batteries and transmission lines will be available to help keep the lights on.
Over the past 12 months, more wind, solar and storage capacity was added to the eastern seaboard's electricity grid than in any year before, the Australian Energy Market Operator says in an update to be released on Thursday."


That in news today.

In the real news

"Ms York says the numbers are expected to get much higher in the years ahead."We are seeing significant growth and we're forecasting significant growth," she notes.
"Out to 2050, we actually forecast a doubling of electricity consumption, driven largely by decarbonisation of other sectors.""

Just one aspect other than charging my little EV for free is my focus [bigrolf]

Next DC Data Centres - Colocation Solutions - Hybrid Cloud | NEXTDC

The growth rate expected was in my face in "M3 Melbourne Data Centre

Located in West Footscray, 10km west of the Melbourne CBD, M3 Melbourne forms a new critical infrastructure campus and digital gateway region for Enterprise and Government.
150MW

Find yours here Australia Data Centers - 262 Facilities from 151 Operators

Hint- This is really tiny compared to Many huge ones being built in places with more reliable power[biggrin]

He notes AEMO's official forecasts show there will be up to 1.5 gigawatts of new demand by 2035 in an "accelerated data centre scenario".
AI data centres need round-the-clock energy and could be more power-hungry than we think - ABC News


However, Mr Rennie says his firm's own research suggests demand will be far higher.
"Our research shows that that's something like 4.9 gigawatts ? so two, three times what AEMO was forecasting," he says.