{"id":458306,"date":"2026-07-27T11:14:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T18:14:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=458306"},"modified":"2026-07-27T11:14:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T18:14:36","slug":"major-pivot-academic-says-get-used-to-a-few-blackouts-to-keep-costs-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=458306","title":{"rendered":"Major pivot: Academic says \u2014 get used to a few blackouts to keep costs down"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
An abstract ocean waves background image with Australia silhouette<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

By Joanne Nova<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What bad luck, eh? Electricity prices are rising again in the renewable superpower known as South Australia. But it\u2019s not the fault of renewable energy; it\u2019s your fault, see, for \u201cdemanding the highest standards of reliability.\u201d<\/em> \u2014 you unreasonable perfectionist, you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the unwashed masses can just let go of that extravagant notion and live with a few blackouts, the experts can make electricity prices slightly lower. (But not actually cheap, just at nosebleed level, not the full ischemic stroke grade power bill, right?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the last twenty years, they\u2019ve been beating us over the head with the message that renewables are the cheapest form of energy there is, bar none. But now that has categorically failed, they are not just moving the goal posts, they\u2019re trying to change the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make no mistake, this is a big pivot. They are admitting (quietly, and without the honesty to actually say so) that it\u2019s more expensive to run a renewables grid. I must have missed their apology?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it could be cheaper, they say, if we could just be reasonable serfs and put up with a few blackouts. As the expert Daniel Rossetto says, slightly exasperated, \u201cNobody in Australia, with the exception of maybe a few rural communities and so forth, is prepared to tolerate any downtime.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, Mr. Rossetto, no one wants to plan their day around the electricity schedule, or lose their data, or get stuck with wet hair, unwashed clothes or an uncharged phone in a crisis. We\u2019re not keen on screaming kids in a cold bath, or half cooked dinners, or not being able to study the night before an exam. And a dose of salmonella can ruin your whole day. We like our fridges to stay on.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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

South Australians urged to consider occasional power outages to curb costs<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 By Malcolm Sutton, the ABC<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With yet another power price hike in the works this year, an energy technology expert warns South Australians may need to consider tolerating the occasional blackout for the sake of cheaper power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daniel Rossetto is an expert in global environmental and energy commodity markets at Adelaide University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He called upon Australians to have a conversation about accepting less reliable energy, or making concessions elsewhere, if it wants to bring down utility prices with any meaningful impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People have unrealistic expectations of having electricity working all the time, just say, like we used to for most of the last century. The problem is that it will cost a fortune to have reliable back up power to cover every last contingency. (Because giant infrastructure will be sitting around all year doing nothing, just waiting for that half-hour when it\u2019s needed. Who thought that would be cheap?).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watch the pea here in the paragraph below \u2014 we used to have two of the three major priorities, then we added number three, and now we have none:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said there were \u201cbasically three major policy priorities\u201d when it came to energy, and it was currently impossible to achieve all three for electricity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne is affordability, another is sustainability, and third is security, or reliability,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Righto. So, it\u2019s possible to have affordable<\/em> electricity and reliable<\/em> electricity but not (gasp) renewable energy at the same time? Well, why didn\u2019t you just say so, and fifteen years ago would have been handy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is Olympic level spin:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe end up prioritizing reliability by default, and sometimes also sustainability with renewables and things like that, without necessarily thinking about affordability,\u201d Dr. Rossetto said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut are we prepared to tolerate a slightly slower pace of decarbonization on electricity in the name of less expensive energy? Or are we prepared to take little more outage time in exchange for lower prices?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, you must remember how you are always the problem but forget how you used to have affordable and reliable electricity\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, the great renewable-energy transition continues: First, electricity becomes more expensive. Then, reliability becomes an optional luxury. And finally, the public is blamed for expecting the power system to do what power systems used to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article originally appeared at JoNova<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Joanne Nova<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A prize-winning science graduate in molecular biology. She has given keynotes about the medical revolution, gene technology and aging at conferences. She hosted a children\u2019s TV series on Channel Nine, and has done over 200 radio interviews, many on the Australian ABC. She was formerly an associate lecturer in Science Communication at the ANU. She\u2019s author of The Skeptics Handbook which has been translated into 15 languages. Each day 5,000 people read joannenova.com.au<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

What bad luck, eh? Electricity prices are rising again in the renewable superpower known as South Australia. But it\u2019s not the fault of renewable energy; it\u2019s your fault, see, for \u201cdemanding the highest standards of reliability.\u201d \u2014 you unreasonable perfectionist, you.<\/p>\n

If the unwashed masses can just let go of that extravagant notion and live with a few blackouts, the experts can make electricity prices slightly lower. (But not actually cheap, just at nosebleed level, not the full ischemic stroke grade power bill, right?)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":458314,"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_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"What bad luck, eh? Electricity prices are rising again in the renewable superpower known as South Australia. But it's not the fault of renewable energy; it's your fault, see, for \"demanding the highest standards of reliability.\" \u2014 you unreasonable perfectionist, you.\n\nIf the unwashed masses can just let go of that extravagant notion and live with a few blackouts, the experts can make electricity... ","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"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":[691844296,691818279,691844294,691819691,691844295,691819094,691821005],"class_list":["post-458306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-affordable-and-reliable-electricity","tag-blackouts","tag-cheaper-power","tag-electricity-prices","tag-great-renewable-energy-transition","tag-renewable-green-energy","tag-south-australia","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1Ve2","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":330200,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=330200","url_meta":{"origin":458306,"position":0},"title":"Blackouts Beckon: Calm Nights Mean Wind & Solar \u2018Transition\u2019 Nothing But Grand\u00a0Delusion","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"05\/27\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Rent-seekers and the wind and sun cult who run with them are in a flat panic as they realise that their game is up. 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Reality has a tendency of biting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Australia\u2019s Eastern Grid\"","block_context":{"text":"Australia\u2019s Eastern Grid","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=australias-eastern-grid"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/00-blackout-GettyImages-466231145-770.jpg?fit=1200%2C779&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/00-blackout-GettyImages-466231145-770.jpg?fit=1200%2C779&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/00-blackout-GettyImages-466231145-770.jpg?fit=1200%2C779&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/00-blackout-GettyImages-466231145-770.jpg?fit=1200%2C779&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/00-blackout-GettyImages-466231145-770.jpg?fit=1200%2C779&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":353685,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=353685","url_meta":{"origin":458306,"position":1},"title":"Grid not-fit-for-purpose: On a warm day, Crazy Australia paid $3.5m to industry to *stop* working","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"12\/09\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Last Wednesday, during the near-miss of a blackout in Sydney, the AEMO spent $3,558,000 on \u201cdemand reduction\u201d which means they paid productive industries to stop working to save the grid from a blackout. What it really means is that electricity users in New South Wales paid $3.5 million to businesses\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"AEMO\"","block_context":{"text":"AEMO","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=aemo"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/00Australia-Sydney-Opera-House-night-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C673&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/00Australia-Sydney-Opera-House-night-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C673&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/00Australia-Sydney-Opera-House-night-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C673&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/00Australia-Sydney-Opera-House-night-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C673&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/00Australia-Sydney-Opera-House-night-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C673&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":282027,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=282027","url_meta":{"origin":458306,"position":2},"title":"Lunacy Unplugged: Renewable Energy Debacle Proves Clowns Are Clearly In\u00a0Charge","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"10\/05\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Adelaide blackout from the plane - Sept 2016 From STOP THESE THINGS When disaster threatens the rational retreat, but the clown soldiers on and even doubles down, accelerating the race to oblivion. Facts are treated with contempt; reality with derision. So it is with the grand wind and solar transition.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Australian energy grid\"","block_context":{"text":"Australian energy grid","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=australian-energy-grid"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/0Adelaide-blackout-from-the-plane-Sept-2016.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/0Adelaide-blackout-from-the-plane-Sept-2016.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/0Adelaide-blackout-from-the-plane-Sept-2016.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/0Adelaide-blackout-from-the-plane-Sept-2016.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/0Adelaide-blackout-from-the-plane-Sept-2016.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":353248,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=353248","url_meta":{"origin":458306,"position":3},"title":"Renewables Star state \u201curgently\u201d wants to force two diesel plants back to stop blackouts","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"12\/04\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Back in February, South Australia was the Renewables Wonderland basking in the thrill of driving two diesel plants out of business. The remarkable transition had\u00a0claimed two new fossil fuel scalps. But the farce of last weeks\u00a0near blackout in Sydney\u00a0must have scared the management in South Australia. 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