{"id":323617,"date":"2024-04-26T09:25:36","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T07:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=323617"},"modified":"2024-04-26T09:25:39","modified_gmt":"2024-04-26T07:25:39","slug":"alinta-chief-admits-the-transition-has-soaring-costs-and-has-stalled-because-of-the-rooftop-solar-glut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=323617","title":{"rendered":"Alinta chief admits the transition has \u201csoaring costs\u201d, and has stalled because of the rooftop solar glut"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From JoNova <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Jo Nova<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Solar panels eat the profits of the reliable generators for lunch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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The system is reaching a crisis point and April is turning out to be the month of confessions<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

His speech was the sound of an industry being tortured. The transition is going backwards. Big projects are stalled. Costs are rising and reliable old assets are being closed too quickly. It\u2019s like we are disassembling the plane as we fly it\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A couple of weeks ago in Australia the chief of Alinta Energy admitted in a big speech that the industry needs to be honest with the public about the costs of the transition. This marks a big shift from the \u201ccheaper and cleaner\u201d misinformation which the renewables industry was practically built on. Jeff Dimery had a stark warning \u2014 his company bought a large old coal plant in Victoria<\/a> for a billion dollars in 2018, and it powers one fifth of Victoria. But to replace that today with renewables would cost $10 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But he also laid bare the crushing effect subsidized rooftop solar PV panels are having on the transition. No news outlets seemed to appreciate the implications of this.  Fully one in three Australian homes now has solar panels<\/a>, but they are all dumping power on the grid at the same time pushing wholesale prices into negative territory that burns the other generators. The midday solar glut, as he calls it, means no one wanted to invest in large scale renewables. But as night follows day, surely that which ruins the market for large scale renewables would also ruin it for large scale fossil fuel plants too? The subsidized solar panels are vandalizing the whole market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Skeptics who have been predicting this all along, note that the same people who cheered every time a coal plant was struck down are now wading through an impenetrable swamp of their own creation. The same subsidies that hurt coal and gas power, now wipe out the large (subsized) wind and solar plants too. It\u2019s takes some chutzpah to complain about solar subsidies ruining the market for other generators which are also subsidized<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Someone let a plague of solar-locusts on our grid. They eat the profits out of all the reliable providers, which close down. We are actively sabotaging the entire grid \u2014 killing off the parts that made it work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Australians to pay more for their energy as transition accelerates, Alinta Energy says<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

By Colin Packham, The Australian<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Australians face higher bills as the country struggles to build adequate replacements for coal with soaring costs for new sources of green power and transmission, Alinta Energy chief executive Jeff Dimery has warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stark comments, described by the energy boss as \u201ctruths and straight talking\u201d comes amid growing concern about the toll of Australia\u2019s energy transition.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Dimery said Australian energy stakeholders must be honest with the public about the toll of the transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Dimery complains he can\u2019t build anything profitable at $58 a megawatt hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I sat down to write this speech, the future Victorian energy price for the 2026 calendar year was $58 a megawatt hour,\u201d said Mr Dimery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt $58, I can\u2019t build anything to meaningfully prepare for coal to come out of the system. I can\u2019t build more solar, because we already have a glut of solar in the middle of the day, which is sending spot prices deeply negative. If I was just looking at the forward price, I would also be very wary about building new wind, because the margins would be slim to non-existent, and any curtailment \u2013 which is a growing problem \u2013 could be disastrous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If only the energy commentators of Australia could read the same AEMO reports that unpaid bloggers do? Then they\u2019d know that this time last year\u00a0old brown coal plants were still selling electricity for $15 a megawatt-hour<\/a>. But Mr Dimery probably knows this, since he owns one of those coal plants, and he didn\u2019t mention it either. (Perhaps he believes in the transition, or perhaps the Hong Kong owners of Alinta might not appreciate that?). He\u2019s being more honest than the other energy chiefs, but Australians need the whole truth. Just what are we giving up by blowing up the old coal plants?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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