POOR OLD SOUTH AUSTRALIA

South Australia is still on the road to economic disaster with Premier Weatherill and his Greeny team of bureaucrats at the helm.......I doubt that SA will ever recover from being bottom of the list of viable Australian States. Its landscape is strewn with useless wind turbines, that icon of the Green Movement. Thanks to Greeny Professor Flannery we have a billion dollar desalination plant in mothballs rusting away, and, like an old abandoned gold field, we have the expensive residue of an unsuccessful deep drilling geothermal company venture, all of which has been swept under the carpet (don't mention the war).

Yesterday we saw reported (The Advertiser) the latest folly of the SA Labor Government in its quest for "sustainability" or their version of a future Utopia .......the official opening of Stage one (of 3) of the Hornsdale Wind Project located north of Jamestown, SA. 32 wind turbines of the total 105, have been completed, are owned and operated by the French company Neoen, but controlled from Canberra via the network interconnector cable.

In my opinion, this is a highly undesirable development in power supply for the State, and should be halted. The supply risk factor has been totally ignored. There will be a never ending increase in the cost of electricity due to reliance on parasitic wind farms. Already heavy industry is deserting SA (auto industry, steel, other manufacturing) due to high costs of operation (power and labor).

To be viable and have a prosperous future South Australia needs a reliable base-load supply of cheap electricity. At present, and for ages, we have had the opposite, being promoted by foolish Labor governments of Premiers Rann and Weatherill, pushing renewable energy projects with the aim of making the State a World Leader in this technology, but unfortunately they opened the door to swindlers and SCAM artists with their economic disasters.

What should be done at top priority is to develop the State's natural energy resources of coal, gas, oil and uranium. SA Mines and Energy (MESA) must be able to assist in the exploration of these resources and locate the next 100 year's of supply. We also need the latest technology to be able to convert them into usable products, like electricity and suitable hydrocarbon fuels. Our local Universities must be geared up to teach the new technologies need for this advancement.

Our future prosperity depends on developing coal and hydrocarbon fuels and nuclear power. It is high time we realized this, and gave the bum's rush to present Geenie Labor Premier Weatherill and his sycophanting bureaucrats,...... out the back door with you and never to return.

CO2 IS GOOD STUFF

CO2 is good stuff and is a beneficial atmospheric gas. Plants love it and CO2 is vital for the well being of the Biosphere. Our South Australian Premier Weatherill wants to reduce our production of CO2 on direction from the corrupt United Nations. He plans on Adelaide and SA having a low carbon economy. The bugger's mad....let's get rid of him and pursue a sane energy policy for the State. The same advice applies Federally, to PM Malcolm Turnbull......we don't need any restrictions on CO2 production to slow our economic growth.....CO2 is NOT a pollutant........to think restrictions are desirable is just agreeing with UN eco-religious bunkum. IPCC get lost.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA DOOMED (AGAIN)

According to ABC Online News, the renewable energy advocates (unfortunately) still lurk in Port Augusta, SA, by proposing a 1.2 billion dollar solar-thermal power station and other solar plants, thereby buggering up our energy supply problem which is in a great mess already. Why don't these idiots go away?....go back to the USA......we don't want them here in Australia.

Alinta Energy is closing down the two coal-fired power stations at Port Augusta and has already closed the open cut coal mine at Leigh Creek that fed the power stations. The result has been the loss of hundreds of jobs, leaving our SA State power supply in a precarious position. I wonder at the sanity of Labor and Greenie, Premier Mr Weatherill, to allow this to happen. It seems the SA guidance in energy supply matters comes direct from the United Nations which demonizes CARBON.

South Australia is littered with failed Green energy projects costing us a fortune.....yes, Professor Flannery has been here. He promoted and spent millions on deep geothermal drill holes which even a school boy would know was a crazy idea. Hush, hush...don't mention their stock market crash. It's all swept under the carpet.

Our beautiful landscape is covered in useless wind turbines, that ICON of the Green Movement, which rely on having a base load power supply constantly available, for when the wind doesn't blow (now via Interconnector cable from Victoria's coal power plants). We have the most expensive electricity in Australia. Also , don't mention our mothballed billion dollar desalination plant, built with State tax money, when Flannery said we would run out of freshwater, which we didn't.

South Australians are sick of their future being at the mercy of raving lunatics who follow the false eco-religious bunkum of the Greens and the United Nations.......Energy planners, just go away and allow some sane people develop the State's valuable energy resources. Goodbye Labor Premier Weatherill, please do retire, like former Premier and Greeny, Mike Rann,...we don't want you anymore.

Where to South Australia? We have to wait for the Fed's New Energy Policy

South Australia has its State Election next month, on the 15th March. We have had 12 years of Labor Government mismanagement with Premiers Mike Rann and now Jay Weatherill. Its high time we had a Liberal Government and so followed new policies to achieve a more prosperous future for all, and not just trade unionists.

Little has been said in electioneering about how this new prosperity can be delivered. We are still reeling from the announcement that General Motors Holden will be gone by 2017 and there will be no more car manufacturing in the State. Earlier BHP decided not to expand the uranium mine at Roxby Downs, to make it the world's largest, due to low metal prices and their predicted future world financial situation. There are now more businesses closing down and shedding workers than there are, if any, starting up. So it's batten down the hatches and hope for the best.

There is little a new Liberal Government can do about the energy situation (except STOP any more wind farms) Our domestic electricity price (31 cents/kWhr) is more that double that of the USA and Canada and exceeded only by Germany and Denmark. This is a ridiculous situation and represents more than a 100% price increase in a decade, mainly due to former Premier Mike Rann's promotion of South Australia as leading the way with renewable energy (wind and solar), thereby preventing the world from cataclysmic global warming. The State Government and councils are still lumbered with this eco-religious nonsense which is not even mentioned in the lead up to the state election. The Liberal pollies are too scared to do so and possibly loose votes, and the Labor pollies wont mention it because they don't realize how stupid they have been to swallow all the warmist bunkum.

In July when Australia gets the new Federal Senate, which is more favorable to the Coalition, it should be possible to rescind Labor's Carbon Tax bill and so remove one lot of chains that are holding back development and investment in industry, agriculture and tourism. Next the Renewable Energy Target (RET) legislation will have to go (now under review) since it is based on the bunkum that atmospheric CO2 is a pollutant, which it definitely is NOT. So by the end of this year 2014, the economy will be moving ahead in the right direction and the new Liberal Government of South Australia with Steven Marshall as Premier, will be able enact new policies, including a new Energy Policy, that will see sensible development of our coal, gas and uranium resources, and the down grading of useless wind farms and pie-in-the-sky large solar and geothermal plants. A NEW DIRECTION TO PROSPERITY IS NEEDED.

Hot again today in South Australia ... that's our typical climate.

Australia Day at Adelaide, South Australia, by the beach at Brighton/Hove (like the UK) at 5pm outdoors it's 35 C (max predicted 38 C), humidity 10 %, clear blue sky and calm conditions. Inside my flat it's has been 25 to now 29 C (no air conditioning). Just reporting in.

Once again the calm conditions means only a dribble of electricity from the many wind farms (26+) in South Australia to (not) cope with the long peak demand for electricity driving air conditioners (ca 75% of houses). However, there is more than a dribble of Government cash flow to wind farm owners and renters of land upon which they are constructed, irrespective of whether the little power generated comes or not when you most want it.

This sorry predicament and scam we can blame on the past Labor Government, in particular ex-Premier Mike Rann who was a Greenpeace member and enthusiast of wind and solar power. Because of this our domestic power price is a very high 31 cents per kWhr when it could be half that if the State had relied only coal and gas fueled power plants.

It's not too late change track and get rid of the wind farms. This March 15th State Election is the opportunity for the Liberals (Oz) to toss out the present Labor Government of Jay Weatherall and to implement a NEW ENERGY POLICY designed to give us cheaper electricity domestically and for industry. Happy New Year from Allano.

South Australia 15th March 2014 State Election is the opportunity to change direction and achieve a prosperous future

SA must have plans to achieve LOWER prices for electricity, water, gas and hydrocarbon fuels if it is to have a viable and prosperous future. Are the SA Liberals capable of doing this? (Oz Liberals not US). I am not sure, which is why I write this blog to nudge them in the right direction.

For a decade or more the State has suffered from the application of the renewable energy nonsense of former Premier Mike Rann. South Australia unfortunately is now leading the country in renewable energy (wind and solar), also promoted by the Greens, which is why the State, like Tasmania, is economically stuffed and cost of electricity is so high (31 cents per kWhr in Adelaide). This political direction of demonizing carbon and imposing legislation limiting "greenhouse gas emissions" promoted by Labor and Greens must STOP and be replaced by a scientifically sensible ENERGY POLICY, devised without Green bunkum. (Ditto water policies)

The Federal change of repealing the Carbon Tax and Mining Tax later this year will be a welcome great step forwards. State wise it is essential to STOP giving permits for construction of wind farms which are just a SCAM. Liberals take notice: NO MORE WIND FARMS PERIOD. Also, subsidies to existing wind farms must be phased out over 5 years and plans made for their demolition, removal, and landscape restored to its former attractiveness.

Plans for subsidizing any large scale solar plants (eg Port Pirie) should be scrapped as being expensive and un-necessary. Existing coal-fired plants can be expanded and modernized with expansion and development of the States coal resources. The possibility of importing coal from the Eastern States needs to be studied. This is just the beginning ... watch this space. Cheers Allano

3 CHEERS FOR A PROSPEROUS SOUTH AUSTRALIA

A prosperous future for South Australia lies in getting energy (electricity) costs down preferably by HALF what it is today i.e. down to 15 cents per kWh from the present 31 cents which has come about mainly by the Labor Government subsidizing wind farms and solar panels. Promoting wind and solar is a very expensive way of getting a dribble of "green electricity" often when you don't need it, and this must be stopped if we want a prosperous future.

We must preserve and modernize our existing coal-fired power plants at Port Augusta and expand production and development of our coal resources beyond the Leigh Creek operation. Shipping coal in from NSW or Queensland could be considered as a possible option.

A new Coalition Government for SA in March must stop the present Labor's idiotic unbridled promotion of expensive renewable energy projects. I hear that a $40 million grant is being considered for a FEASIBILITY study of a thermal solar plant for Port Augusta! It is high time these Green cowboys were given their marching orders out of our state so that a sensible energy policy can be followed exploiting our extensive coal and gas resources for electricity generation. Merry Xmas from Allano

Very costly electricity in South Australia

South Australia's promotion of renewable energy by its Labor Governments (Premiers Mike Rann and now Jay Weatherill) has resulted in the State having the most costly electricity for domestic and industry supply. My last power bill was calculated at 31cents/kWhr, a rate which is double that in the USA. The reason is the ridiculous expenditure on subsidizing wind farms (=WIND SCAMS) and domestic solar panels. All the wind farms need backing up from gas-fueled power stations so why build them in the first place? Answer,is they are just a SCAM to squeeze money from the Government for providing a dribble of electricity at times when we least need it.

The Advertiser today (26/11/13) has an article "We are in a power of debt" which reveals in South Australia, unpaid energy bills total more than $30 million and that figure is only to grow. The Australian Energy Regulator's recent report shows that 39,626 SA households owed on average $700 for electricity and $265 for gas in the June quarter. Also, SA households pay a higher proportion of income towards energy bills than those in other mainland states, despite being among lowest of energy users.

The cause of the undesirable situation can be laid at the feet of ex-Premier Mike Rann, a Greenpeace member and promoter of windmills and other useless renewable energy projects (remember the now defunct geothermal project up north?). South Australia does NOT need expensive wind or solar energy projects when it has plentiful coal and gas resources, and also the largest uranium mine in the world. Mike Rann was a Green devotee and now we see the result in our power bills. Let's stop all this Green/Labor eco-religious fantasy and instead sensibly develop our coal and gas resources for the benefit of all.

How to have a prosperous South Australia

20 20 Vision for South Australia: What goals are sensible for year 2020? How do we get a more prosperous SA and Australia when we have ever increasing power and water bills? The more we have to pay for utilities, the less money we have left over to pay for other goods, for fun things and luxuries (home, car, holidays etc).

To be more prosperous we MUST have the cheapest electricity and water possible. BUT the reverse is happening, noticed? The reason is that we have some very stupid politicians in Labor/Green Governments at the State and Federal levels following an anti-carbon eco-religious belief system.

In South Australia, let's have as a goal the cheapest electricity possible. First thing to do at the Federal level is to get rid of the RET bill, which specifies that 20% of our energy must come from renewable resources, such as wind, solar, geothermal, hydro etc. Renewable energy is good stuff, particularly hydro (none in SA), but the Greens are TOO impatient. Renewable energy will come gradually but it doesn't need subsidies from Government that distort the energy market.

In South Australia we must develop our coal and gas resources for power generation; coal for base load generation and gas for covering peak loads. There must be a STOP to any further Government subsidy of wind farms and any large solar plants (eg solar/gas plant at Pt Augusta) which are fundamentally unsound economically. Plans can be made for phasing out the worst and most inefficient wind farms and have the landscape restored to the original pristine state (good Green jobs here for redundant Climate Change bureaucrats). It will take a decade going in this new direction to get reduced power bills and a sensible energy policy established in this State.

More needs to be said regarding coal exploration and development and modernization of existing coal plants, and the possible role of nuclear power. That's enough for today, but then we are only half way to prosperity .... there is WATER to worry about and what a supply disaster that has been!!!!

Australia's new ENERGY POLICY requires flushing out of all Eco-religious Green & Labor zealots

Australia is the lucky country since we have enough known coal and gas resources to last hundreds of years at the present rate of consumption. The major problem is that there is a misguided eco-religious faction of the population hell-bent on destroying our economy by forcing everybody to use very costly solar and wind energy, for reason that it fits in with their bizarre anti-carbon belief system.

I am a geochemist by training and I take a dim view of non-chemists including ex-trade union officials, which includes PM Julia and Greg Combet, formulating the stupid destruction of the Australian economy by demonizing the element carbon and so now taxing "the big polluters" for their emissions of carbon dioxide. It is my view that power station emissions of CO2 are quite harmless and actually beneficial, being a free fertilizer, provided the power station has the usual controls over particulates and sulphur emissions.

The Greens and Labor fellow travelers are the cause of the high price of electricity in Australia now due to mandated use and subsidy of solar and wind energy and the differing infrastructure required. Get rid of wind farms, or at least STOP approving them is a start towards getting a sane energy policy and cheaper electricity.

Black and Brown Coal should be top priority for electricity generation in Australia

Australia's energy policy is so distorted by nonsense info emanating from the Labor/Green warmist brigade that it's not funny. Even a bright school child could formulate a more sensible energy policy that would ensure our future prosperity for the next couple of hundred years.

The source of the problem is the Renewable Energy Target Bill (RET) that specifies 20% of energy should be renewable by year 2020, which is an impossible objective, and very costly. Both Labor and the Coalition Parties promoted this bill, but now in retrospect we (at least some of the Coalition, and most of the community that pay electricity bills) now realize that the RET, which promotes solar and wind farms,is based on bunkum economics and should be rejected ASAP.

However, in principle, renewable energy is good stuff, at the right price. In Australia we have the Snowy River hydro scheme which provides electricity for NSW State and Tasmania has several hydroelectric schemes operational all providing valuable base-load electricity and/or available to be brought more into operation at short notice for peak demand.

In Australia about 75% of our electricity is generated from coal and lignite fired power stations at low cost compared to that from gas, solar and wind farms. There are no nuclear power stations yet, which is anomalous, considering we are a major producer of uranium ores which are exported.

So what is the sensible road ahead? Don't look to the Rio + 20 Earth Summit for the solution. The warmists are in disarray and now everybody realizes that their yearly Conference is just one glorified expensive junket of no worldly significance, except to organize next year's extravaganza, at tax payer's expense, in another exotic locale.

In my opinion, what should be done is for the Coalition to amend the RET bill by changing the objective date to the year 2200, (instead of 2020). This gives everybody another 200 years to develop renewable energy technology without the need of Government subsidies. There should be no subsidies for solar energy or wind farms.

What's the big hurry? Australia has enough known coal reserves to last a couple of hundred years without looking for more. What about "global warming" and the need to move to a "low carbon economy"? This is all bunkum and false propaganda promoted by the Greens, Labor and businesses that have invested heavily in the so-called Green economy, like US General Electric and many EU companies. I say Pox on them. In Australia we know better and will pursue our own path to prosperity, once we vote out this incompetent Labor/Green Federal Government, which will be ASAP. Allano

"No Easy Choices: Which Way Australia's Energy Future?"

So titled is the Grattan Institute's latest Energy Report (6th Feb 2012) presented to Government today by Tony Wood, the program director. It concludes that we must quickly change the way electricity is generated in order to meet the Commonwealth's goal of reducing Australia's greenhouse gas emissions to 80% below 2000 levels by 2050. The possible role of technologies that generate electricity with near-zero emissions (viz., wind, solar, geothermal, nuclear, carbon capture and storage, and bio-energy) is reviewed.

The underlying supposition is that the introduction of a price on carbon (CO2) emissions by the Labor Government will move investment towards renewable energy production, particularly wind and solar and away from coal, or to coal with the costly addition of carbon capture and storage. The conclusion of report is a nonsense since it is based on the false idea that carbon dioxide is an atmospheric pollutant and that it is sensible to proceed to a costly low carbon economy. The idea of actually burying CO2 emissions is bizarre since it is essential for growth of the biosphere; the plants and trees love it! Any Federal legislation dealing with CO2 emissions and the Carbon Tax must be revoked. Our future prosperity is dependent on sensibly using our vast resources of coal, gas and uranium, NOT with costly and intermittent wind and solar energy.

Tonight on 7.00 TV News we see Tony Wood explaining the details of his new report and saying that "Climate change is real" (ditto Tony Windsor interview). Really! Climate change is what makes the Earth a dynamic planet and it has been thus so for 4.5 billion years. Perhaps all pollies and members of the Grattan Institute should do and pass an elementary course in Geology?

New Coal-Fired Power Station for Bangladesh

Bangladesh Government has signed a joint venture agreement with the Indian Government to build a $1.5 billion coal-fired power station to generate 1300 MW of electricity to overcome the chronic power shortages. Present supply comes from aging and inadequate gas-fired stations. Predictably some environmentalists object saying that emissions of SO2 and fly ash will cause untold harm to adjacent forests and mangroves. What they don't say is that in modern power stations these emissions are at a controlled and harmless level and that the CO2 emissions are very beneficial to the biosphere, acting as a free fertilizer for crops and forests. This is the sort of power station we need on the outskirts of Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide to prop up our base-load generation of electricity, instead of wasting $billions on useless and costly wind farms.

South Australia's New Energy Policy

South Australia Energy Policy
New Premier Jay Weatherill of SA's Labor Government is reconsidering the regulations regarding location of wind farms, following complaints from the proletariat. A 2 km free zone from domestic dwellings is being considered, like that in Victoria.

This is typical Labor Party pussy-footing around the whole energy problem for South Australia, and indeed the nation. NO more licenses should be granted for wind farms and the existing ones, which supply a dribble of electricity usually when not needed, should be phased out ASAP, eventually to be demolished for scrap metal. Then the dreaded icon of the Greens will be no more. Our power bills will be capped if not reduced.

The energy future for South Australia lies with coal-fired power stations with nuclear power coming in ASAP once the ALP State and Federal Governments have been voted out of office. Natural gas we have plenty but it is a pity to burn it in power stations when there are so many other more important uses for it. We need to modernize the Port Augusta coal power station and build another coal-fire power station possibly using coal shipped in from the eastern states.

Of course, the SA Mines Department should upgrade and assist coal exploration within the state. The energy future for South Australia looks rosy only if the Labor/Green's stifling influence is eradicated.

Where to South Australia?

This January has seen the retirement from SA politics of former Labor Premier Mike Rann. I wish him a happy and productive retirement. Now we have a chance of repairing the damage his Labor Government has done once the State Liberal Party wins the next election. But what has to be done?

Mike Rann is a devoted Greenie and his aim was to make South Australia the leading state for the use of renewable energy, which includes solar, wind and geothermal "hot rocks" technologies. It all sounds wonderful but the idea has proven to be misguided and a great waste of tax payer's (your) money. Our beautiful landscape has been visually polluted by uneconomic wind farms. Subsidized solar panels have cost the Government a fortune and drilling into hot rocks has predictably been a costly subsidized failure, and not needed.

Personally, I would prefer South Australia to be a leader for the nuclear power industry with this technology taught in Adelaide universities. The expanded BHP Billiton's Olympic Dam copper/ uranium mine would be an ideal site for a nuclear power plant. Australia should specialize in application of modular small nuclear power plants to provide electricity for outback mining regions located far away from coal deposits or gas pipelines.

Other disastrous Labor inspired projects are the building of an unwanted and un-needed desalination plant costing ca $2 billion which is unfinished. It is supposed to be run with power from windmills!! Best put it in mothballs, or dismantle it and sell to some Arab country that really has a use for it. This whole idea of supposed lack of water is tied up with the SA mismanagement of water, in particular, that of the Lower Lakes region which is wrongly included as part of the Murray Darling Basin. You can rely on the Greens to stuff up the Australian economy with their contracted and bizarre view of the world. More on this later. Allano

New Year's Resolution

My New Year's resolution is to reactivate and update my blogs, including this one to do with the Carbon Cycle and all things about CO2, and Government policy to do with carbon in all its forms.

I have given it a rest for a year, for various reasons, but now see the need to take up the battle again in order to achieve sensible Federal Policy, which is possible only from a Liberal-National Coalition Government.

What needs to be done is pretty obvious. Firstly, this mad pursuit, regardless of cost, of renewable energy, both solar, wind and geothermal, must STOP (ie No Government subsidies). There is no need for it since we have coal & gas reserves to last hundreds of years. The idea of avoiding "carbon pollution" is just a bunkum concept dreamed up by the fanatical Greens. So the Renewable Energy Target (RET) bill for achieving 5% renewable energy by 2020 must be negated which is easily done by changing the target date from 2020 to the year 2200.

Concurrently, the tax on "carbon emissions" or CO2 liberated by industry must be revoked for reason it being based on complete nonsense. The harmful effect it would have on the Australian economy is enormous and too frightening to contemplate. This would just be the beginning of the huge task a Coalition Government will have of unravelling the stupid laws and regulations imposed by the present Labor/Green/Independent unGovernment of PM Julia. Let's get to work. Cheers, Allano