I believe that currently the focus of those managing Australia’s electricity supply on two extremely important areas is ludicrous.
The first is the focus on Net Zero 2050, (net zero emissions describes the state where Australia’s emissions of carbon dioxide due to human activities and removals of these gases are in balance over a given period. It is often called simply net zero. Wikipedia).
For three reasons Net Zero 2050 is an act of futility as well as extremely damaging to the stability of the Grid and Rural Australia.
The first is that Co2 is the basis of life for all living things, if Co2 it was to fall to 180 or 190 parts per million, Australia would be covered in ice. https://climate.mit.edu/ask-mit/what-would-happen-climate-if-we-had-much-lower-co2-levels To read why Why CO2 Is Essential For All Life On Earth check out this website https://climatechangedispatch.com/co2-life-earth/
The second reason why Net Zero is ludicrous for Australia is that Australia is a Co2 sink tank where the grasslands, forests and surrounding oceans absorb, store and convert to oxygen, extremely much more Co2, than that created due to human activities
The third reason is that other Countries living with low living standards ignore Net Zero, as their main aim is to lift their population out of poverty. See this speech by Konstantin Kisin. It was considered the most important speech in 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mbdp51O0J6Q
The second issue of grave concern is that the authority the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) who has the responsibility of making sure Australia has a reliable supply of base load electricity, 24hrs/day/7 days/week (24/7). Is more fixated on being able to power Australia by 100% renewable energy by 2025 for 5 minutes.
From their website “We're aiming to enable 100% renewable energy at any point in time Our goal is to co-design and co-engineer the NEM and the WEM to manage 100% instantaneous penetration of renewables at any moment on any day by 2025”.
This is where I feel the AEMO goes off the rails as it loses sight of providing a reliable supply of base load electricity 24/7. And instead goes to the trouble of setting prices for 48 blocks of 30 minutes each 24 hours.
This is done by the AEMO taking bids from Batteries and various generators, Biomass, Black Coal, Brown Coal, Gas, Hydro, Liquid Fuel, Solar and Wind. All bid to provide the lowest cost electricity in 5 minute blocks. The AEMO conducts 6 auctions each 30 minutes and then averages the 6 lowest prices to arrive at the price to pay the winning bidders for that 30 minutes. If you think that is the most convoluted scheme possible I would heartily agree.
The result of this ridiculous process is that prices per Mega Watt hour (MWh) fluctuates wildly over the 24 hours. It can go from $80 to $160MWH at night to the situation in Victoria. Where on the 2nd April 2024 9.35am EDST. Where providing electricity were Batteries 0%, Biomass 0%, Brown Coal 58%, Gas 3%, Hydro 7% Diesel 0% Solar 10%, Wind 32%. The price being paid was minus -$20.00.
That is correct in Victoria, Brown coal was providing 58% of the electricity, but the stupid design of the bidding process came up with a payment of minus -$20MWh. I’m not sure what that actually means. Did the brown coal generator have to pay the AEMO $20 for all the 58% of the electricity that it generated?
UNLESS NET ZERO IS SCRAPPED AND WE SET UP A BIDDING PROCESS TO SUPPLY ELECTRICITY TO THE AEMO IN AT LEAST 4 HOUR OR 6 HOUR CONTINOUS BIDS.
THEN THE AUSTRALIAN ELECTRICITY GRID IS DOOMED TO HIGH PRICES TO CONSUMERS AND BLACKOUTS FOR EVERYBODY
May I strongly urge all business owners, large and small. CEO’s Managers, those in charge of aged care homes, and other public institutions, everyone in a position of management. Homeowners, etc. Blackouts are a diabolically, serious issue. Talk with your management, boards, staff about how it will affect your business.
Any business who believes that their business is totally renewable energy powered is deluding themselves and doesn’t realise how wrong they are. It is more likely to be anywhere between 60% to 80% fossil fuels and only 20% to 30% unreliables, with the damage unreliables are doing to Rural Australia can only be described as reprehensible.
Continue to promote our petition as widely as possible. https://www.change.org/p/blackouts-will-be-devastating-they-must-be-avoided-at-all-costs I would value it if you are able to donate $20 or $50 to promote the petition on Change.org and also promote it on Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp or Email.
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.
Example: Eastern States 1st April 2024 5.40pm EDST. Batteries 1%, Biomass 0%, Black Coal 49% Brown Coal 18%, Gas 3%, Hydro 7% Diesel 0% Solar 11%, Wind 11%. In an hour solar will have gone to sleep for the next 15 to 16 hours and produce nothing. Winds 11% is not assured, if the night is calm, that could be down to 2% or 3%.
IT WILL BE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS TO GET TO A POINT WHERE WE RELY ONLY ON GENERATORS WHOSE PRODUCTION IS TOTALLY DRIVEN ON THE UNCERTAINTY OF THE WEATHER
We are up to 3,020 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? Are you thinking of buying a generator? I’m having second thoughts about the portable generator, but I have gas for cooking and heating. WE MUST KEEP THOSE COAL FIRED GENERATORS GOING, TO KEEP OUR SOCIETY FROM HAVING A BLACKOUT ATTACK!