{"id":384037,"date":"2025-06-21T12:59:56","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T10:59:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=384037"},"modified":"2025-06-21T12:59:58","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T10:59:58","slug":"australian-coal-plants-falling-apart-due-to-neglect-wind-power-useless-we-nearly-saw-widespread-outages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=384037","title":{"rendered":"Australian coal plants falling apart due to neglect, Wind power useless \u2014 \u201cWe nearly saw widespread outages\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

From JoNova<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Victorian state electricity grid is running close to the wire<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019ve run their largest coal plants into the ground \u2014 to the point of neglect where an air duct\u00a0\u201cdetached from the boiler end and fell to the floor\u201d<\/em><\/a>. So, one 380MW unit will be out of action at Yallourn for two weeks. And it\u2019s just the latest in an ongoing series of failures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are the Renewable Crash Test Dummy \u2014 this is what the unfree, fixed, forced market produces when the best assets in a system are treated like planet-wrecking trolls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Hi-Tech transition, my foot\u2026 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
An Air duct collapses at Yallourn Power plant. ABC News https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2025-06-09\/yallourn-power-station-outage-air-duct-collapse\/105394406<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The Net Zero forced transition is just vandalism of a perfectly good electricity grid.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The whole 1,450 MW plant at Yallourn makes 20% of the state\u2019s electricity but has been\u00a0described as \u201climping\u201d along into retirement \u2013<\/a>\u2013 (a lot like Victorian manufacturing.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One report on the power station found that at least one of its four generators was out of action for a third of the time last year. Yallourn was supposed to close in 2032, but under siege from heavily subsidized unreliable generators, and a rigged market, that\u2019s been brought forward to 2028.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It doesn\u2019t help that it is owned by EnergyAustralia which is a wholly owned subsidiary of China Light and Power (CLP) Group. Presumably the CCP won\u2019t mind at all if Victoria burns less coal, loses more smelters and can\u2019t compete with it in the race to build data centres?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Things got so hairy last week, Paul McArdle of WattClarity has written nine articles<\/a> about \u201cJune 12th\u201d, when the wind power (marked in green) produced virtually nothing of the state\u2019s electricity. (Graph from Anero.id<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state used 13% of their annual gas supply to keep the lights on<\/a> for three days. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Saner heads are pointing out the obvious risks:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The Queensland government told the Victorian government off, saying it couldn\u2019t keep \u201cbailing out Victoria\u2019s bad decisions\u201d.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And CEO\u2019s are calling for more coal and gas to give the system a buffer and warning that it could fall over any time:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Transgrid CEO Brett Redman\u2019s \u2018cold showers\u2019 warning as Victoria\u2019s energy grid stripped thin<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

By Perry Williams, The Australian<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The transmission giant delivering the roll-out of renewables infrastructure has advocated for authorities to accelerate the development of gas plants and retain a buffer of coal after warning the power grid has been \u201cstripped thin\u201d of supply.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Transgrid chief executive Brett Redman, a former boss of AGL Energy, said it was time to prioritise putting \u201cbuffer\u201d back into the system.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve really stripped the system very, very thin. And so, the events a couple of years ago where we nearly saw widespread outages and even what\u2019s happening in Victoria in the last couple of weeks, we are in this world now where you cannot predict exactly when it will happen.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile China Light and Power (who own EnergyAustralia) effectively said they are committed to \u201cNet Zero\u201d (in other countries): <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

EnergyAustralia told The Australian it had made a pledge for net-zero emissions by 2050 and \u201cclosing Yallourn by 2028 is part of that commitment\u201d. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why aren\u2019t EnergyAustralia committed to keeping the lights on, keeping electricity prices low, and serving Australians? Hmm?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does anyone really believe energy companies care about fixing the planetary weather a hundred years from now, or that it is appropriate for them to pursue their storm-stopping-witchcraft with essential public infrastructure?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What kind of lunacy is this? Not that they say it, but that we accept these ridiculous lines?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

They\u2019ve run their largest coal plants into the ground \u2014 to the point of neglect where an air duct\u00a0\u201cdetached from the boiler end and fell to the floor\u201d. So, one 380MW unit will be out of action at Yallourn for two weeks. And it\u2019s just the latest in an ongoing series of failures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":384046,"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":[691818216,691835935,691820659,691820781,691818154,691819094,691818299,691835936],"class_list":{"0":"post-384037","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-china-light-and-power","10":"tag-coal-plants","11":"tag-electricity-grid","12":"tag-net-zero","13":"tag-renewable-green-energy","14":"tag-subsidies","15":"tag-transgrid","17":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/2quote-star-trek-scotty.jpg?fit=1396%2C1025&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1BU9","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":384364,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=384364","url_meta":{"origin":384037,"position":0},"title":"Australia\u2019s Net Zero Grid to Face Strict Government Price Controls","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"23\/06\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I wonder what happens next, when a government imposes more price fixing in the middle of a supply and affordability crisis?","rel":"","context":"In \"Australia\"","block_context":{"text":"Australia","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=australia"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0ChatGPT-Image-23.-Juni-2025-09_33_17.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0ChatGPT-Image-23.-Juni-2025-09_33_17.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0ChatGPT-Image-23.-Juni-2025-09_33_17.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0ChatGPT-Image-23.-Juni-2025-09_33_17.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":290694,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=290694","url_meta":{"origin":384037,"position":1},"title":"Net Zero\u2019s dirty secret: Britain\u2019s green transition is powered by Chinese\u00a0coal","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"10\/12\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Tansport crates with Chinese flag on the conveyor belt. 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