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Australia has some of the most expensive electricity in the world. There are no bitcoin miners of any size here. The electricity problems we are facing are pur

Australia has some of the most expensive electricity in the world. There are no bitcoin miners of any size here. The electricity problems we are facing are pure corruption and negligence. Solar isn't the problem, its the lack of funding and poorly weighted energy markets that are crippling Australia's grid.

roenxi 8y ago
Solar isn't the problem, but the renewables situation is related. We had a Labor government with the Greens holding a balance of power from ~2010 to ~2013. The Labor party had, I believe, been opposed to a carbon tax up until that point. Then, likely because of pressure from the Greens, introduced a carbon tax. The lesson there will not have been lost on big investors. If anyone invests in fossil fuel generation (ie, the economic option) then the Greens will find a way to destroy their profit margins at some point in the next decade. And so, little serious investment in the energy sector seems to be taking place. I'm not aware of any big developments planned except an interesting hydropower project by the current government and creeping smaller-scale wind and solar as prices rise and justify their existence.
- henearkr 8y ago
  Following your reasonning, there is no reason why investors should shy away from renewables. The Greens would not harm any project of additional large scale batteries, for example.
  - zeth___ 8y ago
    Yes but the Coalition will because solar gives you cancer.
    - majewsky 8y ago
      > solar gives you cancer Is that hyperbole or are they seriously saying that?
      - stephen_g 8y ago
        Hyperbole in that specific case, but they did have an enquiry into wind turbines partly examining alleged health effects...
        majewsky 8y ago
        Okay, that's not as outlandish as health hazards from solar. We have a lot of wind turbines in Northern Germany, and some people complain that they emit low-frequency sounds and thus cause noise pollution. I don't know about the research on this topic, though; I never noticed any adverse effects when staying near wind turbines.
  - ludston 8y ago
    I think there are two main reasons whu investors would shy away from renewables in Australia: 1) Firstly there are no large well-known actors, so there is uncertainty around renewable energy companies are going to "win". 2) Secondly, Australia currently has a government that is hostile towards renewables. It could at any time introduce legislation that would make renewables economically untennable.
    - vvll 8y ago
      These are both true, furthermore a lot of the bigger players became big as a result of the initial round of solar rebate schemes - where a lot of low quality solar installations were put up. Now a lot of these companies are doing much larger jobs without the necessary skillsets. There's a bit of a minefield of shoddy installers still out there - look at the Crap Solar Facebook page for an insider look (there are some horrific installations). Despite all this, I've seen a huge amount of interest in investors wanting large scale commercial and utility scale solar projects. From what I know, solar engineering consultancies are turning jobs away due to the demand being so great.
    - henearkr 8y ago
      Even with the evilest scheme, it seems unlikely to come up with something harming the rentability of renewables, or of solar in particular. It's basically free electricity from sun, which is plenty in Australian deserts. You pay only the installation, which price is determined by the tech market.

roenxi 8y ago

Solar isn't the problem, but the renewables situation is related. We had a Labor government with the Greens holding a balance of power from ~2010 to ~2013. The Labor party had, I believe, been opposed to a carbon tax up until that point. Then, likely because of pressure from the Greens, introduced a carbon tax. The lesson there will not have been lost on big investors. If anyone invests in fossil fuel generation (ie, the economic option) then the Greens will find a way to destroy their profit margins at some point in the next decade. And so, little serious investment in the energy sector seems to be taking place. I'm not aware of any big developments planned except an interesting hydropower project by the current government and creeping smaller-scale wind and solar as prices rise and justify their existence.

henearkr 8y ago
Following your reasonning, there is no reason why investors should shy away from renewables. The Greens would not harm any project of additional large scale batteries, for example.
- zeth___ 8y ago
  Yes but the Coalition will because solar gives you cancer.
  - majewsky 8y ago
    > solar gives you cancer Is that hyperbole or are they seriously saying that?
    - stephen_g 8y ago
      Hyperbole in that specific case, but they did have an enquiry into wind turbines partly examining alleged health effects...
      - majewsky 8y ago
        Okay, that's not as outlandish as health hazards from solar. We have a lot of wind turbines in Northern Germany, and some people complain that they emit low-frequency sounds and thus cause noise pollution. I don't know about the research on this topic, though; I never noticed any adverse effects when staying near wind turbines.
- ludston 8y ago
  I think there are two main reasons whu investors would shy away from renewables in Australia: 1) Firstly there are no large well-known actors, so there is uncertainty around renewable energy companies are going to "win". 2) Secondly, Australia currently has a government that is hostile towards renewables. It could at any time introduce legislation that would make renewables economically untennable.
  - vvll 8y ago
    These are both true, furthermore a lot of the bigger players became big as a result of the initial round of solar rebate schemes - where a lot of low quality solar installations were put up. Now a lot of these companies are doing much larger jobs without the necessary skillsets. There's a bit of a minefield of shoddy installers still out there - look at the Crap Solar Facebook page for an insider look (there are some horrific installations). Despite all this, I've seen a huge amount of interest in investors wanting large scale commercial and utility scale solar projects. From what I know, solar engineering consultancies are turning jobs away due to the demand being so great.
  - henearkr 8y ago
    Even with the evilest scheme, it seems unlikely to come up with something harming the rentability of renewables, or of solar in particular. It's basically free electricity from sun, which is plenty in Australian deserts. You pay only the installation, which price is determined by the tech market.