27 Oct 2024

Why Australia Has Over-Priced Electricity - Snowy 2.0 And Marinus Link

Electricity has skyrocketed in price in Australia at a time when appliances are more efficient than ever. So what happened? We think this video from outside Australia explains it well.


THE FACTS. 

Launched by Malcolm Turnbull in 2017 Snowy 2.0 expands on the Snowy Mountains Scheme to also act as a battery. The video explains it quite well. 'Excess' solar energy is used to pump water to a higher elevation so it's essentially a gravity battery. What Turnbull didn't mention is the same amount of electricity is generated by water going downhill as is used to pump water uphill. It's the 'second law of thermodynamics'. 'Pumped hydro' doesn't actually produce electricity because the input electricity and the output electricity are the same.

Original cost estimates was from $3.8 to 4.5 billion. Now it's blown-out to around $12 billion. It was supposed to be operating by 2024 but by February 2024 is was only half finished. Now it's supposed to be completed by 2028. Somebody has to pay for this monster. Guess who?

THE SCAM

State-owned generators like Snowy and Hydro Tasmania essentially blame their customers for creating 'demand' which the generator use to modify the hourly price of electricity. When your product travels at the speed of light your consumer is an easy target. 

HOW TASMANIA PLUGS IN TO THIS DISASTER

Back in 2005 then energy minister Bryan Green announced Tasmania will join the rest of Australia in the National Electricity Market using the small Basslink cable. Now the once energy-independent state became more and more exposed to global and national forces that would send our electricity bills Snowy Mountains high.

Subsequent energy ministers like Guy Barnett decided to expose Tasmanians even more to the national grid by introducing 'Marinus Link'. The idea is that consumers pay to enable Chinese and Philippine wind generators to sell green power to the rest of Australia and the rest of the World. They called it 'Battery of the Nation' and it's going the same way as Snowy 2.0 with more cost blowouts.

BATTERY OF THE NATION WHEN THE NATION IS FULLY GLOBALIZED

This is where the unqualified energy ministers get exposed. Why should the smallest state in Australia be forced to become the 'batter of the nation' in a nation trading with every opportunistic, overpopulated, authoritarian regime it can? 

Rural Tasmanians keep warm in Winter with firewood because they can't afford the 'battery of the nation's' over-priced electricity. Our taxes paid for the Tasmanian hydro scheme but it's been stolen by multinational corporations. The state and federal governments are hoping you never realize what short-sighted scammers they really are. At the end of the day voters only have themselves to blame.

Meanwhile Hydro Tasmania, Transend and Aurora execs retire on gold-plated pension funds. These are same pseudo-public servants that bought new Bass Strait ferries and assumed new wharves came with them. What a joke? The current government has never acted in Tasmania's interest. 

Resources leave Tasmania 24 hours a day, 365 days a year in pipelines, conveyor belts and shipping containers. So how is that wealth actually helping Tasmanians? Tasmanian's see none of the benefits because Tasmania is a dysfunctional kleptocracy. The money disappears. 

DUTTON'S NUCLEAR OPTION

This is actually not Dutton's but Gina Rinehart's plan to slow-down the transition to renewable energy. She wants to maximize her Queensland coal seam gas licenses over the next decades and the long nuclear timeline gives her all the time she needs before her licenses are useless. If you know more drop it in the comments.

SOLUTIONS

The Snowy Scheme already had the ability to match power generation and demand at any point in time. Think of an accelerator pedal controlling water valves? What did change since the Snowy Scheme started is the climate and the government caused that with relentless deforestation, coal exports, gas exports and urban sprawl. In the case of Snowy 2.0 and Marinus link we have electricity distribution being managed by lawyers and accountants. That's because they gravitate to the top of the pecking order in a neo-colonial monarchy.

We also need people who can think properly. Australia is now full of half-educated people who have been trained not to think. Then the government pander to them for votes. This is not just water going downhill, this is an entire society going downhill. 

Example. Power distribution lines going East West across time zones make more sense than submarine cables going North-South into the same time zone. While Sydney and Melbourne are cooking dinner, the sun is still shining in WA. When WA is cooking dinner load is coming off in Sydney and Melbourne.

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