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The Australian Financial Review, confirmed the worst fears of the renewable energy industry in a front-page story this morning, reporting that the panel charged with reviewing the Renewable Energy Target had been “instructed” by Prime Minister Tony Abbott to look at ways to shut down the scheme.
Renewable Energy Target under threat from Abbott government | Crikey
Unfortunately, it's not about the facts, it's all about ideology and looking after your financial supporters.
have you guys read the full ROAM report?
Have you seen the subsidies the wind farm operators get in their supply agreement. I don't think these will go now as existing agreements are locked in but they range up from AFAIR $89c a MWh to $110 per MWh .
For those who say there are no subsidies the report actually says towards the back that the ACT subsidises renewable energy in a different way to general subsidies.
The report also discounts large scale solar, and doesn't mention hot rocks at all.
The conclusions of the report that prices will go down relies on the subsidies required to reduce to $10 a MWh after 2020 but I couldn't work out why.
I think it is an assumption that coal fired will be driven from the market and gas will be very expensive due to export competition, but right now that doesn't seem to be happening as several gas user projects have been cancelled in the USA.
The report is very dense and hard for me to understand even though I was a consultant at one stage.
It is an enormous job depending on hundreds of assumptions.
It is a pity that if the RET is discarded completely, we will have the same stop/start windfarm development as in the USA where heaps of old tech ones were built in the 70s then few for many years, because the subsidies were stopped.
I was listening to Alan Jones this morning and he listed out the working conditions of the coal fired power unions which were pretty staggering.
His point was who would buy the generators ? I recall reading an old report by the bloke who now runs the NSW generators that one of the aims of privatisation would be to break the union dominance. Good luck with that.
Regards Philip A
Subsidies to coal-fired electricity stations, which one report estimated at $5.3 billion a year, have to be included in any comparison.
Energy Market Design & Australia's Low-Carbon Transition
Lower operating costs for renewables also have to be considered in any comparison.
As you say, its incredibly complex and I don't pretend to understand it all, but I do know that, for reasons of politics and self-interest, the comparisons have been skewed to hide the true costs of coal and the benefits of going renewable. A declining industry is struggling to hang on as long as possible.