Of the more delusional claims made by wind power proponents, the notion that wind power is more dependable and reliable than coal-fired power, takes the cake.
Back in December, Victoria’s Premier, Daniel Andrews revealed his tenuous grip on reality when he made the very same assertion: Deranged & Delusional: Victorian Government Claims Wind & Solar More Reliable Than Fossil Fuels
As the readily available output data demonstrated then, Victoria’s coal-fired plants deliver the goods with all the certitude of a Swiss watch, day after day, whereas Victoria’s wind industry puts in a pathetic performance, every single day.
This time it’s the loopy hard-left ‘think tank’, the Australia Institute demonstrating its inability to think, very much at all.
Last week a single 660 MW unit at the Bayswater coal-fired plant went down for urgent repairs and, right on cue, the Australia Institute started howling that it was “dangerous” to depend upon coal. Imputing that it would be oh so much safer to rely upon weather-dependent wind and sunshine-dependent solar. [Note to Ed: have they ever seen a sunset or experienced calm weather??].
STT will return to the facts and reality, in a moment. But first we’ll cross to an article penned by The Australian’s Perry Williams, who never ceases to amaze with his ability to play the dupe and knave when it comes to the more ludicrous claims made by renewable energy rent seekers and their acolytes, such as the Australia Institute; proving that it’s easier to be a parrot than a journalist.
Heat prompts Australian Energy Market Operator to call for urgent, emergency power supply boost
Australia’s power operator called on NSW suppliers to prepare short-term emergency electricity reserves and for households to cut their energy usage amid volatile hot weather conditions and a major outage at one of the state’s biggest coal plants.
The last ditch power mechanism – triggered just a few times in the last decade – was called into action due to searing temperatures, the impact of severe NSW bushfires on power transmission and an unscheduled outage at AGL Energy’s Bayswater coal plant in the Hunter Valley.
Activation of the back-up supplies, known as the Reliability and Emergency Reserve Trader, was started to maintain power system security using power reserves and demand management contracts previously agreed with the market.
The Australian Energy Market Operator issued a forecast “lack of reserve 2” notice for the period from 2.30pm until 6pm as a signal for the market to direct urgent electricity supplies to the grid through either a boost in supplies or large industrial businesses cutting demand.
Households have also been called on to contribute and lower the risk of supply shortfalls.
“To help minimise the impact of supply shortfalls this afternoon, consumers can temporarily reduce their energy usage where it is safe and possible, by avoiding running multiple appliances at once, setting air conditioners to 24 degrees, and temporarily switching off pool pumps,” AEMO said in a statement.
“AEMO acknowledges that the health and wellbeing of consumers remains the highest priority, so please only conserve energy if safe to do so.”
While no impact to consumers is currently anticipated, AEMO said the situation could change given just 463 megawatts of spare reserves are forecast for Thursday’s peak demand period running from 2.30pm to 7.30pm.
NSW Energy Minister Matt Kean said the public could play their part in reducing electricity usage given the tight market.
“The tight conditions in the electricity system this afternoon are largely a result of the state’s weather conditions, bushfire impacts on transmission lines and mechanical issues at some of the state’s power stations,” Mr Kean said, noting the peak period between 4pm and 8pm.
The NSW government activated its energy action response protocol on Thursday afternoon which involves state agencies cutting their power use, Mr Kean noted.
AGL lost 660MW, or a quarter of output, from its Bayswater plant on Wednesday after a boiler tube leakage, according to sources.
Australia Institute
@TheAusInstitute
AEMO calling on emergency electricity reserves in NSW following 660 MW unit taken offline yesterday at Bayswater coal power station. Around 250 MW shortfall between 15.30-17.00 today. Demonstrating the dangers of coal dependence yet again #auspol #gasandcoalwatch
The facility is expected to take another five or six days to return to service, potentially posing a new problem for the market once peak demand resumes after the Australia Day long weekend.
The Australia Institute tweeted the situation in NSW was “demonstrating the dangers of coal dependence yet again”.
The power giant has resumed full operations at its Loy Yang A coal plant in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley after it suffered problems in late December following an earlier outage
So, let’s see how the data lines up with the Australia Institute’s whopper of a claim that the loss of a single generating unit at a coal-fired power plant is an example:
“Demonstrating the dangers of coal dependence yet again”
We’ll focus on the output of NSW’s wind power fleet (which has a combined capacity of 1,503 MW) and compare that with its coal-fired plants (which have a total capacity of 10,240 MW, around 8-8,500 of which is scheduled to be online on any given day).
NSW has a total fossil fuel generation capacity of 12,394 MW, the balance comes from gas plants, mostly OCGT ‘peakers’.
The data comes from Aneroid Fossil Energy and Aneroid Wind Energy
Set out above is the output from NSW’s wind farms on 23 January 2020.
Unlike what’s set out below, being the output from NSW’s coal-fired plant on the same day.
Delivering a constant stream of power into the grid of between 8,000 to 8,500 MW, rising to match demand as it increased throughout the day there doesn’t appear to be any real “danger” in depending on NSW’s coal-fired plant.
Set out above is the output from NSW’s wind farms on 24 January 2020.
Managing a brief spurt of around 540 MW (35.9% of capacity) there followed a sudden and precipitous 344 MW collapse, with output falling to 196 MW (13% of capacity). After bouncing around between 200 to 400 MW for a few hours, output slumps to a trifling 100 MW (6.6% of capacity) – right at the point when householders were cranking up their air conditioners to beat the evening heat and demand for power was at its zenith.
Words like “pathetic”, “hopeless” and “risible” spring to mind, but STT is at a loss as to why any person gifted with our good friends, logic and reason, would refer to what’s depicted above as “reliable” or “dependable”.
The same, however, can’t be said of what’s set out below: the output from NSW’s coal-fired plants on the same day.
Yes, on 24 January, there was the loss of the 660 MW generating unit at Bayswater, but the rest of NSW’s coal-fired plants made a very healthy contribution of between 6,000 to 7,400 MW, rising steadily to meet demand as it increased throughout the day. A pretty stark contrast to the performance put in by NSW’s wind industry; one which, thanks to the fickle nature of the wind, it repeats every day.
The Australia Institute is just another playground for the deluded RE zealots that believe that wholly weather-dependent wind and sunshine-dependent solar are more reliable and dependable than coal-fired power plants.
The only “danger” associated with Australia’s power supply is allowing this class of lunatics anywhere near Australia’s reliable and affordable conventional generation system. That system, which has been merrily chugging away for more than a century, has proven itself to be a whole lot more dependable than Johnny come lately wind and solar, time and time again.
Australia’s long, hot summer has a long way to run and, thanks to the inevitable chaos dished up by intermittent wind and solar, its inhabitants can expect more mass load shedding (controlled blackouts aka “demand management”) and widespread blackouts (demand mismanagement) before it’s over.
Welcome to your ‘inevitable transition’ from drinking icy cold beer in air-conditioned comfort on sweltering Summer evenings to sweating in the dark!
Source: Stop These Things
Advertisement
The 10 largest coal producers and exporters in Indonesia:
