![wind-turbine[1]](https://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/wind-turbine1.jpg?quality=83)
Guest essay by Eric Worrall
h/t Breitbart – Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, whose recently appointed a commissioner to handle complaints about wind farms, has just instructed the government Clean Energy Corporation not to subsidise any new wind farm projects.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald;
Tony Abbott has dramatically escalated his war on wind power, creating a new cabinet split and provoking a warning he is putting international investment at risk.
Fairfax Media can reveal the government has ordered the $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation not to make any new investments in wind power projects.
Treasurer Joe Hockey and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann have issued the so-called green bank with a directive to change its investment mandate, prohibiting new wind funding. It’s understood the directive was issued without the approval or knowledge of Environment Minister Greg Hunt, angering the minister.
The decision is another blow for the multibillion-dollar wind industry, which has just started to recover from the uncertainty created by the government’s Renewable Energy Target review. Analysts say $8.7 billion is expected to be invested in wind power in the next five years, while the corporation has invested about $300 million in wind projects to date.
The Australian Abbott government has twice been unable to muster the numbers in the senate, to pass legislation to abolish the commission. But they’ve done the next best thing – they’ve demanded the commission focus on developing new technology.
… The government has previously said it wants the corporation to focus on investing in innovative clean energy proposals and technologies rather than mature technologies that can be financed by mainstream lenders.
Senator Cormann and Mr Hockey amended the mandate for the first time earlier this year, directing the corporation to lift its targeted returns without lifting its risk profile.
The government has twice tried to abolish the corporation but has been blocked by the Senate. The bill to abolish the corporation is a potential double dissolution election trigger. …
Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey shares Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s concerns about wind turbines – in 2014 he described wind turbines as “utterly offensive”.
The wind industry has regularly claimed for years that their technology is close to cost parity with coal. So I expect the withdrawal of government subsidies for wind turbines will have no impact on future wind projects.
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Firstly I found it hilarious that Tim Flannery was standing in front of the cameras this morning screaming for more funding to get rid of that poisonous “carbon pollution” in time for the Paris extravaganza when outside it is freezing and we have snow cover over Eastern Australia as far as Queensland.
Yes, as a few people have already said, Environment Minister Greg Hunt was completely in the picture as far as future funding of wind farms is concerned. So the report in the Sydney Morning Herald is a total beat up. In fact Hunt says he was instrumental in advising the Senate of the fact in writing some weeks ago.
What the SMH may have assumed or insinuated is that as Greg Hunt’s portfolio has no control whatsoever over the purse strings of the so called green bank, as he is a dedicated environmentalist, he must have argued against it. But by the way he was defending the party line last night I don’t think so.
Greg’s and the government’s argument is that as wind and household solar are already established technologies with multi billion dollar Corporate investments why should they be given more taxpayers money? – which will have to be borrowed money as we are still paying off Labors’s debt. What little money we can afford should be spent on emerging renewable technologies such as large scale solar which was the CEFC’s original aim. So it is more a financial priority decision than an ideological one.
To say that Tony Abbott is at war with windmills I think is drawing a long bow. Yes he hates them as does his treasurer Joe Hockey but I think he realises he can’t pull them down. But if they are to survive they will have to do it own merits. I agree and time will tell whether they do.
Play MP3 of CEFC confirms advice sought on Govt directive to cut wind and solar funding ( minutes)
Samantha Donovan
The Corporation received the instructions from the Treasuruer and Finance Minister
18:15:00 13/07/2015
CEFC confirms advice sought on Govt directive to cut wind and solar funding
The Clean Energy Finance Corporation has confirmed it is seeking advice on the Federal Government’s directive that it no longer finance wind farms and small scale solar projects. The Federal Opposition and the Greens say the government is out of step with the rest of the world when it comes to renewable energy. But the Federal Environment Minister says Australians will be happy to see the CEFC focus on innovative technologies like large scale solar projects. More
—–
Frankly I dont want to see ANY large scale setups, home for personal OFF GRID
and let industry use oil gas whatever. stop stuffing us round.
The last paragraph is the killer argument. No long winded discussion needed.
King of Cool “large scale solar” you mean solar assisted Natural Gas?
Hi fossilage,
Greg Hunt was asked what he meant by emerging technologies by Fran Kelly this morning on the ABC Radio National breakfast show.
His answer included parabolic, trough and molten solar, tidal and geothermal. He did not elaborate on this in his speech in May at the 2nd Emissions Reductions Fund Summit.
Instead he concentrated on the projects that had been successful under the Government’s Direct Action Policy in industrial energy efficiency, transport, power stations, agriculture, soil carbon capture and forestry:
http://www.greghunt.com.au/Parliament/Speeches/tabid/87/ID/3270/Speech–2nd-Emissions-Reduction-Fund-Summit.aspx
It appears to me to be aimed at obtaining and proving results in emissions reduction to meet agreed international targets without hurting the economy, which is essentially Tony Abbott’s Direct Action policy or as Mr Hunts puts it:
“Australia has just contracted for the largest reduction in emissions in Australian history.
With Direct Action it has an approach that is practical, flexible, low-cost and efficient in actually reducing emissions. It is outcomes-focused. ..”
The Greens and the Labor Party are screaming however and methinks hate the fact that Direct Action can be shown to be working and are coming up with every argument under the sun (pun intended), on the big media issue of the day today, to show that without more, more, more funding for RE we are doomed.
Labors in the doo doo re shorten and the others right now
so any deflection is jumped at.
typically Vic Labor govts just shat on us n given the appro to 2 huge bird shredding areas one coastal and one near Grampians
Unfortunately it’s not a “withdrawal of subsidies.” It’s a cessation of new below-market financing. Although since the CEFC claims it is earning commercial returns, and has been asked to lift its return to a level considered impossible, one wonders why they would WANT such financing.
Regrettably all the other subsidies remain in place – the RET, the explicit transfers and the costs to the grid of their useless sporadic supply.
You gotta love that one. Hoisted with their own Petards. All you have to do is force them to prove what they are saying. If they say they don’t need subsidies, stop the subsidies. You gotta love it. America should be so smart. BTW, is it possible for the Wind industry in Australia to reach parity with coal, and the US wind industry not? If parity is reached in Australia, shouldn’t we be looking at removing the subsidies here in the US as well?
“Analysts say $8.7 billion is expected to be invested in wind power in the next five years, while the corporation has invested about $300 million in wind projects to date.”
The actual investment in no way can match the expected investment on any period. Therefore, the venture capital that the Australian Government is collecting is going into the hands of Criminal Government Misters and directly into their private offshore bank accounts (Swiss).
While it is a nice thing that the current PM is trying to address and account for, the majority of the Australian Government Bureaucracy disparately want the PM dead and are creating a funding mechanism to have him dead.
No Ha ha
ANDREW BOLT
Greg Hunt, Twitter, yesterday:
The Fairfax story today is factually wrong and is a misleading beat up.
More Hunt:
Fairfax was told on Friday that the mandate reflected the agreement with crossbench senators — as detailed in a letter from myself to the senators that was tabled in the Senate and widely reported at the time.
And yet more from the Minister:
This agreement was extensively discussed between and jointly approved by Minister Cormann and myself.
Fairfax are blowhards. Hunt again:
I fully support the changes to the CEFC investment mandate and any suggestion to the contrary is categorically wrong. Claims that I have been “angered” are a complete, absolute and utter fabrication.
The Hunt Twitter tornado finally calms with these tweets:
I’ve been repeatedly critical of the CEFC investing taxpayer funds in projects such as existing wind farms, rather than focusing on solar and emerging technologies. Our policy is to abolish the CEFC but in the meantime it should focus on solar and emerging technologies as was originally intended.
Eric
In the future, rather than repeat leftist propaganda from sources such as the Sydney Morning Herald, ABC, Fairfax, etc, may I suggest Andrew Bolt at http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/ as he has more honest reporting and is certainly more balanced.
“they’ve demanded the commission focus on developing new technology.”
I wonder if they will deign to look at LENR. The 1 MW plant has now been running well for 140 days
Sorry if it’s been posted elsewhere, it’s yesterday’s news and it’s a bit tangential ….. BUT, Solar Impulse 2 is not a happy camper, despite being on the lovely Big Island:
http://www.engadget.com/2015/07/11/solar-impulse-battery-delay/
It sounds like PM Abbott might be listening to reason. Perhaps from *Maurice Newman among others who are not taken in by the propaganda deluge.
*(Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Council).
I am a 1st time commenter here. I came across this blog post on wind energy today, Any thoughts?
http://www.hangthebankers.com/wind-power-denmark-electricity-demand/
Welcome.
jg1:
The topic was covered above in this same thread, just page search for Denmark.
Meanwhile, This tells you all you need:
A very rare event. When they post that Denmark’s bird killers have produced 100% for week without pause, let us know.
Otherwise, fossil fuel energy generation fills in the gaps. Shut down all of the fossil fuel generating facilities and Denmark’s going to be dark and cold, a lot.
jg1,
Go back to the comment at 2:17 pm and follow along.
I was born in Denmark – windy days are NOT unususal. But windless days are. When walking the countryside in Jutland you always know which is west : all trees and bushes have a lean! If you had to pick a place in the world where windpower could possibly pay for itself, pick Denmark.
Report here for interest
http://www.ref.org.uk/publications/280-analysis-of-wind-farm-performance-in-uk-and-denmark
For the UK the the The Western Isles, The Western Highlands, Orkneys and Shetlands are probably windier than Denmark. Very few locations anywhere in the UK achieve 50% load factors. The best onshore being a 80kW installation in northern England at about 54-55%
Check the data here (sorry about the long URL)
http://www.ref.org.uk/generators/searchoutput.php?mode=client&GeneratorName=&TechGroup=WD&rid=&TechCode=NW®oid=&CHP=&dateaction=equals&AccreditationDate=yyyy-mm-dd&kwaction=eq&InstalledkW=&Subsidy=&CtryCode=&TurbineModel=&Location=&turbineaction=eq&NumTurbines=&Postcode=&tkaction=eq&TurbinekW=&Developer=&hhaction=eq&HubHeight=&Operator=&bdaction=eq&BladeDiam=&SiteOwner=&save=Search&order=RollingLF&dir=desc
or start searching here for all renewables
http://www.ref.org.uk/generators/index.php
The answer my friend is
Blowin’ in the Wind
by Bob Dylan
Long time, no see.
Just like Alice Springs.
Long time no sea.
Windmills are neither renewable nor environmentally friendly through their life cycle from recovery to reclamation. The driver is ostensibly both, but not the technology, and not the massive deployments in “farms”. Nor is it a reliable source of energy production. It is an exceptional technology with highly circumstantial value.
Way to go, Tony Abbott and Australia!
A major step towards reducing debt.
How Much CO2 Gets Emitted to Build a Wind Turbine?
http://stopthesethings.com/2014/08/16/how-much-co2-gets-emitted-to-build-a-wind-turbine/
Tim,
That’s interesting but I think the increase of the good gas CO2 [TGGC] ought not be relegated to projects that are costly, inefficient, and mostly useless. Perhaps if brewers and vintners doubled the fermentation of grains, grapes, and other fruits the world be be better off and a happier place. Cheers!
be be better = people of the world would be
John have you ever done any home brewing? I did years ago. Now that I’m semi-retired I’m hoping to start again. Just a matter of the right sugars and hardy enough yeast.
michael
I’m trying to figure out these supposed subsidies that the fossil fuel industries are getting. Perhaps the people making this claim could be a bit more specific regarding which countries they are speaking of and what subsidies they are handing out? Saudi Arabia? Kuwait? Qatar? UAE? Russia? Iran? Mexico? Venezuela? These countries subsidize their oil production? LOL. Without tax and royalty revenue on oil, many of these countries would simply collapse.
provoking a warning he is putting international investment at risk.
Perhaps somebody could explain to the Sydney Morning Herald that when foreign companies stop “investing” because they no longer get subsidies, it means that tax payer dollars are no longer being exported to foreign countries. Why any country would want to do that is beyond me.
Please advise Mr. Tony Abbott that he would be welcomed to run for governor of California. We desperately need some common sense on the subject of CAGW. Jerry Brown is totally over the top and our electrical rates are again going to be increased for the “green” save the world, destroy California movement.
I think it is outrageous to claim that the government is subsidizing the oil and gas industry. Here is some data from Exxon-Mobil, (either 1 or 2 largest capitalized Company in the US)
From the 2014 10K of Exxon-Mobile petroleum company reported to the SEC
Taxes(Income 18 Billion, Sales 29.3 Billion, and other Taxes and Duties 32.3 Billion) : Total of about 80 Billion in Taxes..
Net Profit 33 Billion
Depreciation and Depletion 17 Billion (“Part or most of this is claimed to be a Government subsidy by the green lobby)!!
The green lobby also claims all the funds to oil production from governments that own oil to be subsidies.
I just spoke with my girlfriend in Darwin. She said the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Co.) is relentlessly frying Abbot for pulling the wind subsidies. Their news is apparently at least as one sided on the CAGW nonsense as Europe and the U.S. – maybe even worse.
oh yes Aunty ABC is soooo biased that its nauseating listening most days..but its that or commercial yadda yadda otherwise.
A lot of the CAGW nonsense in U.S. media outlets looks a lot like public service ad placements packaged as news stories. That ad space saturation approach can come from the one-track minded Federal agencies and NGOs. Publishers love the funding streams and will relax reporting standards in order to attract more ad spending. It works, in its own disingenuous way.
I would strongly recommend Rud Istvan’s recent article at Climate Etc. on energy storage solutions for intermittent (wind, solar):
http://judithcurry.com/2015/07/01/intermittent-grid-storage/
It’s not happening. No amount of government subsidy is likely to overcome the fundamental obstacles and the fact that back up power storage costs many times more that windmills themselves.
There’s a way better design for wind turbines thant his. Big grenade companies won’t look inton something else other than their “perfect” products. Here, check this amazing wind turbine For a spin..
http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Waters_Effect_Turbine
Green. Not grenade. Lol eyes half awake.
Daniel Vogler:
Please explain how to feather a Waters Rotor.
Richard
So far as I can understand, the open end of the rotor faces the on-coming wind. Hence the on-coming air, being decelerated, increases the pressure inside the rotor, and this higher pressure air escapes through the slots. As all slots have the same angle to the circumference, this creates thrust, and the rotor spins. Standard mechanical application of a governor, as the rotor spins, it rotates the governor, and if the balls are raised too high a mechanical leverage turns the rotor a bit off the wind, thus reducing the amount of air captured and hence the rotor speed is reduced.
Hope this satisfies you, Richard. If not, there could be no doubt a far more complicated way of doing it.
Most Australian farm windmills have a large fin at the rear. If they overspeed the fin is angled so that the fan is turned some way off the wind. Application of old technology.
Vertical turbines work the opposite way around, On one side the immediately adjacent air moving past is captured by the blades and enters the rotor. This increases pressure inside, and the air is forced out the other side, thus forcing the rotor to rotate. Normally seen on top of chimneys to power an axial fan which lifts the air up the chimney, thus enabling a fire to burn better. Large versions to be seen in “Earth Garden” and similar magazines where old 40 gallon drums have slots cut in their sides and the steel is twisted slightly to form the blades. Probably powers a converted washing machine motor, and hence lead acid batteries. Usable no matter what direction the wind is blowing from, and over speed is rarely a worry as the thing is not so well machined that high speed is ever likely to be obtained!
Dudley Horscroft:
Thankyou for your answer.
Yes, those methods would work for small rotors, but I have doubts about large ones (power varies with the cube of wind speed and wind provides gusts).
The more important issue that my question was intended to engender is why there is not rapid adoption of this new rotor if it works.
Richard
Reblogged this on Climatism and commented:
About time.
The billion dollar wind industry should learn to stand on its own two feet and not raise electricity prices to enable it to compete with cheap, reliable, efficient fossil fuels.
Australia’s once cheap energy was its greatest competitive asset. Now with Carbon taxes, green energy RET and green subsidies, manufacturing and other energy intensive industries have moved offshore.
Time to wind back the rent-seeking green (unreliable) energy scam.
Well done Tony Abbot and the conservative Australian Govt – genuinely looking out for Australian job and prosperity interests.
Apparently this Joe Hockey has a stick that matters. Mike, take note!