Dear Team members,
Who in their right mind would buy a car that could not be driven between Sunset and Sunrise because it had no fuel? Or could not be driven if it was cloudy or raining? Or even worse driving down a highway, and suddenly losing power, because a cloud had come overhead?
So why on earth do our Energy Ministers believe that rooftop Solar Panels and Solar Farms can provide the reliable base load electricity 24/7 that Australia requires. When Solar Panels are daily starved of the weather fuel that they require to operate. So, they end up only producing electricity FOR NINE HOURS or 40% or sometimes much less of each day.
This is because the fuel used to produce the electricity in a Solar Panel is a weather fuel Sunshine. The Sun only shines (in Winter) for a maximum of nine hours of every day, sometimes not at all. This means that (just like the car) for fifteen hours (62%) of every day the Solar Panel has NO FUEL. This leaves a black hole of fifteen hours each night with no electricity being produced. And depending on how cloudy or whether it is raining, even the nine hours of possible Sunshine might interrupt, or severely reduced.
To add batteries into the mix only increases the cost of the electricity charged to the consumer. And to subsidise the inefficiencies of both Solar Panels and Batteries is a waste of taxpayer’s money, as well as stopping the badly needed investment in current coal fired power stations, gas fired power stations and, in the pipeline, small modular reactors.
Please fight back against the building of the Goulburn River Solar Farm (GRSF) which is located between Wollar and Merriwa, on Wollara Road, in the Upper Hunter Region of NSW. https://lightsourcebp.com/project/goulburn-river-solar/
Irrespective of Goulburn River Solar Farm claiming to generate 992,000MWh per year, powering 156,000 homes equivalent (note it is only homes, solar in not powerful enough to power industry). It is all limited by the GRSF's access to fuel. Which as I have stated in Winter is only 9 hours a day (or 40%) and if very cloudy or raining perhaps nothing at all. THE GOULBURN RIVER SOLAR FARM WILL NEVER PRODUCE A VIABLE AMOUNT OF ELECTRICITY ON ANY DAY.
As well as the gross lack of electricity production, the land on which the GRSF is built will be permanently degraded for being used for large scale agricultural production. This loss will be permanent for 100 years or more, as the decommissioning of the land to return it to agricultural production will become financially and practically almost impossible. As the Solar panels are made of glass, metals and heavy metals (copper, some have cadmium telluride,) they can’t be just bulldozed as that would release the glass, heavy metals, etc., into the atmosphere and groundwater. Instead, they would have to be dismantled by hand an extremely expensive process. As the company building a Solar Farm is not forced to put up a decommissioning bond, there is nothing stopping the company just walking away from the project. If the land is only leased then the land owner and the ratepayers of the local council is left with a toxic junk heap.
A further loss to the local community is that of lost agricultural production. In Victoria, the local Protest movement against a 566-hectare Solar Farm at Meadow Creek near Wangaratta, estimated the loss of prime beef production at $5.66million per annum, for ten years it would be $56.6m and as the damage to the land is permanent 100 years $566m. This money is lost to the local community and surrounding towns and cities.
THE SAME LOSS OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION WILL HAPPEN IN THE CASE OF THE GOULBURN RIVER SOLAR FARM.
PLEASE MAKE A SUBMISSION TODAY, AGAINST this unviable Goulburn River Solar Farm going ahead and the permanent degrading of valuable agricultural farmland. Please make a submission, using the points made above to the NSW Government Planning Portal here https://pp.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/major-projects/projects/goulburn-river-solar-farm-0 Submissions close Monday 10th July 2023.
KEEP INFORMED BY DAILY MONITORING THE AEMO DATA DASHBOARD. And alert your friends to watch the AEMO dashboard, the more know what's happening the better.
Particularly at 7pm and 7am (Or a time that suits you?) watch (and record) the mix of coal, gas hydro, batteries, solar and wind generation and the prices per MWh for each State on the AEMO dashboard.
IT IS VITALLY IMPORTANT THAT NO CLOSED COAL FIRED POWER STATION BE DEMOLISHED AS THEY CERTAINLY WILL BE NEEDED IN THE FUTURE.
We are up to 1,697 signatures, let’s increase it by many more, everyone’s future depends on it. Continue to spread the word, to all family, friends, anyone you meet, particularly discuss it with shop and business owners. Ask the question, “How do you plan to cope when the blackouts come? Caused by this senseless transition to UNRELIABLES.
I would value it if you are able to donate $20 or $50 to promote the petition https://www.change.org/p/blackouts-will-be-devastating-they-must-be-avoided-at-all-costs and to also promote it on Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp or Email.