{"id":372909,"date":"2025-03-31T10:36:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-31T08:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=372909"},"modified":"2025-03-31T10:36:02","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T08:36:02","slug":"aussie-election-a-choice-between-impractical-renewables-and-unaffordable-nuclear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=372909","title":{"rendered":"Aussie Election: A Choice Between Impractical Renewables and Unaffordable Nuclear"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Essay by\u00a0<\/strong>Eric Worrall<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Domestic energy policy blunders from politicians on all sides are killing Australia\u2019s manufacturing industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018The big lie\u2019: Why governments can\u2019t deliver cheaper power<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Political leaders have been promising lower power bills for two decades. But with the energy transition in full swing, it’s high time they came clean about its true costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ryan Cropp<\/a><\/strong> Energy and climate reporter<\/em>
Mar 27, 2025 \u2013 5.00am<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Since the early 2010s, when Australia\u2019s climate wars began in earnest, practically every federal political leader has at some point in the electoral cycle pledged to do something about power prices. Very rarely have they followed through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Albanese government is the latest to walk into the trap. On Tuesday night, Treasurer Jim Chalmers offered up a third round of electricity rebates, in part to cover its tracks after its ill-fated 2022 election promise to reduce bills by $275 was overtaken by events \u2013 albeit largely beyond their control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not to be deterred, though, the Coalition is heading into the federal election selling an equally ill-advised counterclaim that its policy to replace Australia\u2019s coal power stations with seven government-owned nuclear power stations will lower power bills by 44 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But whichever way you slice it, Australia\u2019s energy system is at a crossroads. It is reliant upon an ageing and increasingly unreliable fleet of coal-fired power stations that will eventually need to be replaced. Whether governments choose to do that with renewables, nuclear or something else entirely, it\u2019s going to cost a lot of money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026Read more (paywalled):\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.afr.com\/policy\/energy-and-climate\/the-big-lie-why-governments-can-t-deliver-cheaper-power-20250318-p5lki3<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Australia\u2019s energy infrastructure is not \u201cat a crossroads\u201d, it is on the verge of falling apart. Decrepit power systems have been maintained well beyond their expected end of life, because decades of hostile regulatory policies have deterred investment in new generators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Australia’s Callide C Coal Plant Owners Enter Voluntary Administration<\/a><\/blockquote>