{"id":383444,"date":"2025-06-16T17:28:57","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T15:28:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=383444"},"modified":"2025-06-16T17:28:59","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T15:28:59","slug":"victorias-renewable-grid-buckles-under-a-brutal-cold-snap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=383444","title":{"rendered":"Victoria\u2019s Renewable Grid Buckles Under a Brutal Cold Snap"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

In 2021 the Australian State of Victoria enshrined a fracking ban into the state constitution. Now they are paying the price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Victoria uses 13pc of entire year\u2019s gas budget in just three days<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Angela Macdonald-Smith<\/a><\/strong> and Ryan Cropp<\/a><\/strong>
Jun 13, 2025 \u2013 5.00am<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victoria has used more than 13 per cent of its expected gas for energy generation for the entire year in just three days as breakdowns at a coal power plant and feeble renewable generation force it to rely on the fossil fuel vilified by the Allan state government<\/strong> to keep the lights on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A technical problem that reduced supply from Esso\u2019s Longford gas plant, which is the state\u2019s main source, became the latest hitch on Thursday, raising the risk of shortages in a system creaking under the strain of a cold snap and weather conditions unfavourable to wind and solar.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

\n

The situation has exposed the vulnerability of Victoria\u2019s energy security when coal power and renewables are reduced and has triggered spikes in both gas and electricity prices.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state\u2019s wholesale power prices peaked at over $10,000 a megawatt-hour on Thursday morning<\/strong>, almost 140 times the average in the March quarter, and were forecast to top $15,000\/MWh on Thursday evening. Gas prices passed $15.50 a gigajoule \u2013 almost double Monday\u2019s level \u2013 with no easing expected until Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

https:\/\/www.afr.com\/companies\/energy\/victoria-uses-13pc-of-entire-year-s-gas-budget-in-just-three-days-20250612-p5m6v7<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The problems in Victoria have triggered a war of words with the Queensland Natural Resources Minister Dale Last, who lashed out at Victoria\u2019s \u201cbad decisions\u201d;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u2018Bailing out bad decisions\u2019: Queensland slams Victoria over gas supply<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

James Hall<\/a>, Angela Macdonald-Smith<\/a><\/strong> and Sumeyya Ilanbey<\/a><\/strong>
Jun 13, 2025 \u2013 5.55pm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victoria cannot rely on pulling more gas from Queensland to shore up an energy system pushed to the edge by a cascading set of breakdowns and concerns over the reliability of renewables, with the pipeline flowing south already at full capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Queensland\u2019s Liberal-National government remains staunchly opposed to further propping up the southern state\u2019s energy grid, saying it doesn\u2019t have the gas supply capacity to keep \u201cbailing out Victoria\u2019s bad decisions\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

\u201cQueenslanders should not be penalised over unscientific decisions down south that favour ideology over economics and engineering,<\/strong>\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have the pipeline capacity to keep bailing out Victoria\u2019s bad decisions<\/strong>. The solution to the southern state gas crisis is for the southern states to develop their gas reserves. We\u2019re not asking them to do anything we haven\u2019t done ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

https:\/\/www.afr.com\/policy\/energy-and-climate\/bailing-out-bad-decisions-queensland-slams-victoria-over-gas-supply-20250613-p5m762<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Aside from the decision to run Victoria\u2019s decrepit coal plants into the ground, instead of building new coal plants, one of those \u201cbad decisions\u201d is undoubtably green Victoria\u2019s decision to permanently outlaw fracking of their extensive gas fields;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Enshrining Victoria\u2019s Ban On Fracking Forever<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published:Friday, 5 March 2021<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Andrews Labor Government has listened to farmers and regional communities and banned fracking in Victoria for good, enshrining the ban in the state\u2019s Constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Constitution Amendment (Fracking Ban) Bill 2020<\/em> has passed through the Upper House and Victoria\u2019s Constitution will now be amended, safeguarding our regions from the threat of practices that could harm the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Quotes attributable to Minister for Resources Jaclyn Symes <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo other government in the world has gone as far as enshrining a coal seam gas and fracking ban in their constitution \u2013 but we\u2019re determined to make this a permanent decision.<\/strong>\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve listened to our rural communities who have told us they do not want the unacceptable risks that fracking brings that could impact our farming and tourism sectors.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026Read more:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.premier.vic.gov.au\/enshrining-victorias-ban-fracking-forever<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Victoria has some of the largest coal and gas deposits in Australia, but exploitation of these energy supplies has been retarded by the green ideology of the politicians who run Victoria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Update (EW): I forgot to include the cold snap article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Australia is in for an unusually warm winter. So why was the beginning of June so cold?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Emily Bennett<\/a> 7:28am Jun 14, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A cold snap left millions of people shivering across parts of Australia over the King\u2019s Birthday long weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Temperatures plunged in NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania before it was Queensland\u2019s turn to experience a blast of frigid weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Residents were told to expect minimum temperatures to drop five to 10 degrees below the seasonal average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026Read more:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.9news.com.au\/national\/winter-temperatures-in-australia-forecast-what-to-expect-everything-to-know-explainer\/00e46453-86c5-46fc-98ca-248427c4fb0a<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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

In 2021 the Australian State of Victoria enshrined a fracking ban into the state constitution. Now they are paying the price.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":383447,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","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_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":[691835852,691835853,691835854,691818677,691819873,691835855,691818728],"class_list":{"0":"post-383444","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-australian-state-of-victoria","9":"tag-fracking-ban","10":"tag-gas-supply","11":"tag-green-ideology","12":"tag-power-prices","13":"tag-unscientific-decisions","14":"tag-wind-and-solar","16":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/OIG3-19.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1BKA","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":209426,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=209426","url_meta":{"origin":383444,"position":0},"title":"Victoria\u2019s Green Zealots Banned Gas Fracking \u2013 Now Running Out of Gas","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"20\/07\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Essay by Eric Worrall Joined up thinking running strong in the Australian People\u2019s Republic of Victoria. 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