{"id":277648,"date":"2023-09-07T10:49:02","date_gmt":"2023-09-07T08:49:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=277648"},"modified":"2023-09-07T10:49:06","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T08:49:06","slug":"not-so-bright-spark-grand-renewable-energy-battery-plan-runs-flat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=277648","title":{"rendered":"Not So Bright Spark: Grand Renewable Energy \u2018Battery\u2019 Plan Runs\u00a0Flat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From STOP THESE THINGS<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hubris drives the so-called wind and solar \u2018transition\u2019, which now depends upon the myth of giant batteries compensating for the vagaries of the weather and sunset. These mythical batteries come in all shapes and sizes and with enough added hyperbole have grown to include the entire island state of Tasmania. Touted with the rent-seeking classes\u2019 usual understatement as \u201cThe Battery of the Nation\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The wheeze goes something like this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tasmania has an enviable hydropower generation capacity (2,270MW in total), thanks to its mountains and exceptional annual average rainfall. It also features 4 clusters of wind turbines with a total notional capacity of 556MW. Whereas its hydropower generation capacity is available on demand (with the exception of lengthy dry conditions when Tasmania turns to diesel generators<\/a>), its wind power fleet delivers occasional power around 30% of the time, they just can\u2019t tell you which 30% of the time that might be with any meaningful advance notice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tasmania is already connected to the mainland\u2019s power grid, via a high-capacity undersea cable acting as an interconnector between Tasmania and Victoria\u2019s remaining coal-fired power plants<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Battery of the Nation story depends upon yet another cable with a multibillion-dollar pricetag being dropped beneath the icy waters of Bass Strait, presumably allowing Tasmania\u2019s wealth of wind and hydro power to pass seamlessly between Tasmania and the mainland. However, as it turns out, Tasmania hasn\u2019t got enough power to power itself, as the team from Jo Nova report below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Battery of the Nation goes flat<\/strong>
J Nova Blog
Jo Nova
11 August 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Marinus Link cable was meant to spark a glorious renewables boom and make Tasmania \u201cThe Battery of the Nation\u201d, instead it will cost more than a new advanced coal fired plant, provide no energy at all, and currently even the thought of it is causing chaos. New projects are on hold, factories can\u2019t expand and Tasmania is held hostage to visions of an electricity grid designed to stop storms instead of generate energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Marinus Link is a 255km cable that was supposed to be the second interconnector from Tasmania to the mainland. In theory it would cost $3 billion and carry 1.5GW of electricity. But the costs have blown out to $5.5 billion and the State Premier is balking at the new bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, most of the new wind power projects in the state are awaiting the magic cable before they commit \u2014 without it, they can\u2019t reach the real market, which is mainland Australia. But without them, the local grid doesn\u2019t have enough surplus capacity to cover the lean times (or rather, without the cable, they can\u2019t get access to more reliable brown coal power in Victoria).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The brutal truth is that wind power is only \u201ccheap\u201d (or even barely economic) if the poor taxpayer serfs pay for the five thousand million dollar cable (and the storage). If Tasmania built another reliable power plant instead, it wouldn\u2019t need the inter-connector at all. The cables look, smell and cost like public infrastructure, but are just another hidden cost of \u201crenewables\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The foiled plan and uncertainty means Tasmania is in a quiet energy crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Even without being built, \u201cthe cable\u201d is causing chaos<\/strong>
As reported in The Australian<\/em>, Tasmanian businesses can\u2019t get energy to expand. One paper mill that runs on coal-fired boilers wants to replace them with electricity but can\u2019t. In a state with \u201c100% renewable energy\u201d you\u2019d think the state electricity corporation would be beating a path to their door. Instead Hydro Tasmania said it can\u2019t spare 50MW of despatchable power and told the company it needs to arrange equivalent power from wind and solar generators. But the paper mill is struggling, and says it would involve \u201csubstantially higher operating costs\u201d. Funny how the free energy always costs more?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Industry, jobs on hold as Tasmania \u2018runs out of power\u2019 and Marinus Link stalls<\/strong>
Matthew Denholm, The Australian<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Michael Bailey said the state was in \u201canother energy crisis\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have businesses asking the government for more power to expand and create more jobs, yet today we\u2019ve heard that the government is turning them away because we simply do not have enough generation to meet demand,\u201d Mr Bailey said. \u201cIf that\u2019s not the definition of a crisis, then what is? Even the Economic Regulator has said \u2026 there is no \u2018head room\u2019 in the Tasmanian grid, which confirms the business community\u2019s worst fears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the glory days of 2018 as dreamed up by Malcolm Turnbull,<\/a> the second cable was originally estimated to cost $1.1 billion, and the full 5GW \u201cBattery\u201d <\/a>of pumped hydro in Tasmania would be twice the size of Snowy 2.0 (which is currently also stalled in its own cost blowout and trapped tunnel borer<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some Greens want to Sink the Link too<\/strong>
Environmentally the idea is so bad even Bob Brown and Christine Milne, former Greens leaders, have launched a \u201cSink the Link\u201d campaign<\/a> to stop the cable for environmental reasons. They can see now that it will unleash a wave of industrial development that will consume the wilderness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are these older Greens finally realizing they were tools of property developers and big industry all along? They campaigned for years for exactly this future. Now they want to stop this train?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo one in Tasmania\u2019s south appreciates the sell-out and industrialisation of the north that is being proposed to line the pockets of private developers and feed power to the mainland. The magnificent Robbins Island, takayna, Stanley, and forests and farmlands from Circular Head to Eddystone Point and the Central Plateau are all in the firing line. It is time that people had access to information about what is happening on the ground,\u201d Bob Brown Foundation takayna Campaigner Scott Jordan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013Bob Brown Foundation<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the state that approved a\u00a0Mega Wind farm that won\u2019t be able to operate for five months<\/a>\u00a0of the year lest it hurt the Orange-bellied Parrot. That\u2019s the\u00a0Robbins Island Mega wind farm: killing birds and baseload power at 300 kilometers per hour<\/a>. Presumably construction of the largest wind farm in the Southern Hemisphere is also waiting for the big cable\u2026
Jo Nova Blog<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hubris drives the so-called wind and solar \u2018transition\u2019, which now depends upon the myth of giant batteries compensating for the vagaries of the weather and sunset. These mythical batteries come in all shapes and sizes and with enough added hyperbole have grown to include the entire island state of Tasmania. Touted with the rent-seeking classes\u2019 usual understatement as \u201cThe Battery of the Nation\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":277657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691819180,691822379,691822378,691822376,691818130,691822377],"class_list":["post-277648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-energy-costs","tag-interconnector-cables","tag-mega-wind-farm","tag-myth-of-giant-batteries","tag-renewables","tag-tasmania","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/00Fire-at-Victorian-Big-Battery-1536x1155-1.png?fit=1536%2C1155&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1aec","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":383476,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=383476","url_meta":{"origin":277648,"position":0},"title":"\u2018Net Zero\u2019 Is Collapsing in U.S. States","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"06\/17\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"From New York to California, state renewable electrical power dreams are collapsing. Power demands soar, while the federal government cuts funding and support for wind, solar, and grid batteries. Renewables cannot provide enough power to support the artificial intelligence revolution. 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Then, and perhaps only then, will those that pretend to govern us stop lying to us and tell it like it is.","rel":"","context":"In \"batteries\"","block_context":{"text":"batteries","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=batteries"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0shutterstock_495170521.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0shutterstock_495170521.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0shutterstock_495170521.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0shutterstock_495170521.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0shutterstock_495170521.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":434989,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=434989","url_meta":{"origin":277648,"position":2},"title":"Renewables Are Cheap Myth","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"03\/28\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"I have long been meaning to address the myth that renewables provide the cheapest electricity. This myth has achieved \u201ceverybody knows that\u201d status which means that a rebuttal must have strong supporting arguments. A series of articles at the Science of Doom blog by Steve Carson explains why this myth\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"cheap electricity\"","block_context":{"text":"cheap electricity","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=cheap-electricity"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AQNHl9AKaUujnp_oKefu2SSDZXqj5kkKnpsg2QUx1mG9gJiWTdguYjXMjVIa4vDgyWpjb0eadWQTVMvjaIrrOSiDo6A8U0tP3foiGqRpDmQ-EIlH29q2AYMajvpHZF9wJy_ZLSIM_tJ0TKAcwD65T_m0BEvRig-2.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AQNHl9AKaUujnp_oKefu2SSDZXqj5kkKnpsg2QUx1mG9gJiWTdguYjXMjVIa4vDgyWpjb0eadWQTVMvjaIrrOSiDo6A8U0tP3foiGqRpDmQ-EIlH29q2AYMajvpHZF9wJy_ZLSIM_tJ0TKAcwD65T_m0BEvRig-2.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AQNHl9AKaUujnp_oKefu2SSDZXqj5kkKnpsg2QUx1mG9gJiWTdguYjXMjVIa4vDgyWpjb0eadWQTVMvjaIrrOSiDo6A8U0tP3foiGqRpDmQ-EIlH29q2AYMajvpHZF9wJy_ZLSIM_tJ0TKAcwD65T_m0BEvRig-2.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AQNHl9AKaUujnp_oKefu2SSDZXqj5kkKnpsg2QUx1mG9gJiWTdguYjXMjVIa4vDgyWpjb0eadWQTVMvjaIrrOSiDo6A8U0tP3foiGqRpDmQ-EIlH29q2AYMajvpHZF9wJy_ZLSIM_tJ0TKAcwD65T_m0BEvRig-2.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AQNHl9AKaUujnp_oKefu2SSDZXqj5kkKnpsg2QUx1mG9gJiWTdguYjXMjVIa4vDgyWpjb0eadWQTVMvjaIrrOSiDo6A8U0tP3foiGqRpDmQ-EIlH29q2AYMajvpHZF9wJy_ZLSIM_tJ0TKAcwD65T_m0BEvRig-2.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":342627,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=342627","url_meta":{"origin":277648,"position":3},"title":"The bus-sized battery farms threatening to blight Britain\u2019s\u00a0countryside","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"09\/11\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Wind mills, solar farms and giant batteries. 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Yet as soon as Western society developed the wealth and technology to take advantage of fossil fuels, they were discarded\u2014along with batteries for electric cars\u2014with no place in the modern world for grid-scale generation of electricity.\u00a0\u00a0","rel":"","context":"In \"carbon dioxide (CO\u2082)\"","block_context":{"text":"carbon dioxide (CO\u2082)","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=carbon-dioxide-co%e2%82%82"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0new-sodium-aluminum-ba.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0new-sodium-aluminum-ba.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0new-sodium-aluminum-ba.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0new-sodium-aluminum-ba.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0new-sodium-aluminum-ba.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=277648"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":277659,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277648\/revisions\/277659"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/277657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=277648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=277648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=277648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}