Empowering the absurd

EARLIER this month I wrote about the absurd political games of the Palaszczuk government that will wreak economic havoc on all Queenslanders.

Not to be outdone, Cathy O’Toole, in her letter coauthored by Bill Shorten ( TB, 13/ 10), displayed an even greater capacity for the absurd.

Labor’s plan is for renewables to generate 50 per cent of all electricity by 2030, 100 per cent by 2050, and the closure of the thermal base- load power is solved by investing in large storage batteries, pumped hydro and gas- fired generation for standby and peak load demands.

Labor, state and federal, is opposed to NQ having a 1000MW ultra- modern HELE coal- fired base- load power station. Labor falsely claims that the cost of $ 2.2 billion is too high and will further increase electricity prices. They ignore the fact that a thermal base- load power plant can generate 1000MW 24/ 7, 365 days a year. They ignore the fact the a HELE base- load power plant has 40 per cent less emissions than older coal- fired plants.

Ms O’Toole made the absurd claim that as Townsville has 300 days of sunshine annually, it will be a solar hub and the solution to Australia’s energy problems.

Yes, Townsville has 300 sunny days but the mean hours of sunshine in Townsville range between 6.54 hours for each day in February and 9.29 hours in October.

No matter how many solar power stations Townsville has, they work only when the sun shines. They do not work for “300 days” a year; they work for 6.54 to 9.29 hours a day 300 times a year. In ideal conditions we will have massive overgeneration for these hours. For the duration of rain/ cyclone events, possibly many days, there will be no sun therefore no power generation.

Queensland’s peak demand is less than 10,000MW. We could build say 12 new ultra- modern 1000MW HELE coal- fired real 24/ 7 base- load power stations for $ 26 billion. Problem solved – ample reliable and affordable power; emissions from electricity generation reduced by 40 per cent.

In South Australia Labor is installing the world’s largest battery costing $ 64 million ( US $ 50m). This battery has a capacity of only 129 MW hours which is 0.53 per cent of the 24,000MW hours generated daily by one HELE power station. Battery storage to equate to the daily generation of one HELE power plant would cost $ 12 billion; for three days’ storage to cover adverse weather conditions – $ 36 billion. To match the capacity of 12 new HELE power plants for three days, the storage batteries would cost $ 432 billion.

Queensland Labor will spend $ 80 billion on renewables to achieve its 2030 50 per cent generation target but it will still need to fund storage and backup generation.

It is absurd to claim that spending far in excess of $ 500 billion on Queensland’s renewable energy, battery storage, back- up generation and renewable subsidies will reduce consumers’ electricity costs.

By 2030 Queenslanders could have 12 new HELE power plants for $ 26 billion and reduce emissions by 40 per cent or we spend over $ 500 billion on Labor’s absurd renewables plan.

These are but a few of the absurdities of Labor’s energy policy. BARRY LOWE, Kirwan.