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https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-18/australian-gold-plated-power-grid/8721566 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-18/australian-gold-plate... It seems to be

• ggm 6y ago
  Gold plating is a bit of a misnomer. Capital investment made in transmission was assured a rate of return above CPI. It was a gold class, form of spending money to earn future revenue under regulation. They didn't invest in the parts which we need now, in the light of shifts in transmission models from Coal and Gas, to both inter-state dependencies on trunks, and the in-local-distribution network storage and generation. They chose to invest in the assets they had, which were not the ones we need to invest in, to cope with variable load in wind and solar, and distributed generation in the home. Demand management, variable load, need for Syncons and storage and need for more resiliency in the inter-state connections and the "rhombus of regret" are where money needs to go. the gold plating was not made there. And in any case, its rent-seeking behaviour: its not a good model. (this is highly subjective opinion btw. A good economist to read on this is John Quiggin, and a good alternative engergy advocate is Giles Parkinson, reneweconomy. They are also partisan, but knowledgeable.)
  • rbg246 6y ago
    Thanks, that was really interesting. Always hear one side of news, especially when it's a semi-complex subject and I will have a look at reneweconomy.