All renewable grid a fantasy

I note that Future Sooner is lodging its final report soon (CCN 478).

Closing our existing coal-fired power stations would have some benefit, but what are we going to replace them with?

Surely not with weather-dependent solar panels and wind turbines?

To keep the lights on 24/7 we need dispatchable generators to service our needs when the intermittents are not activated by sunbeams and breezes.

Large-scale battery storage, at this time, is economically non-viable and perhaps never will be viable, given energy density considerations.

Hydro storage is limited by water availability and NZ experience shows it is weather dependent.

Germany, with the highest percentage of ‘renewables’ and the highest costs in the EU, buys electricity from nuclear France (NB – France does not have the highest costs) when Germany has no sun nor blow.

An all-renewable grid is a fantasy or at least an unreliable and expensive (solution).

The dispatchable choices to replace coal are nuclear (carbon-free) and gas (less CO2 than coal for the same electricity production).

Take your pick.

There is no clean, green energy revolution; it is an illusion, and there is no known immaculate solution to our energy needs at this time.

Global atmospheric CO2 and coal consumption are still increasing at an ever-increasing rate despite the trillions spent by the rich world over the last decade and more on ‘renewables’, so clearly seen as a failure.

Unless ever-increasing atmospheric CO2 is arrested, it cannot be claimed that the clean, green energy revolution is happening, no matter how many solar panels, wind turbines  and batteries are installed nor how much money is wasted, including all subsidies.

Besides, these ‘renewables’ are not so clean and green when you consider the mining and processing necessary to manufacture the facilities and the conditions under which it is done as well as the overall environmental impact.

Email, Mar 15
Charles Hemmings, Woy Woy