We cannot ignore the hard facts when it comes to renewable energy

Why are people in authority allowed to get away with obvious untruths about climate change, despite all the factual evidence to the contrary, asks Peta Credlin.

Not only do all the renewable energy advocates claim that wind and solar will produce cheaper power than coal and gas, but they then invariably assert that “all the research” proves it.

Yet everywhere that transitions from fossil fuels to widespread use of wind turbines and solar panels experiences big price hikes and the risk of blackouts.

Depending on wind farms leads to price hikes and the risk of blackouts.

It’s no coincidence that South Australia, with the highest use of intermittent power sources, has had the highest electricity prices in Australia; and that power prices generally have roughly doubled over the past decade as renewables went from almost none to nearly 30 per cent of total generation.

How it could ever be cheaper to replace 24/7 power with power that’s only on when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing is hard to fathom.

I’m a reluctant conspiracy-detector, but it’s hard not to see one in all the “researchers” eager to “prove” what’s utterly implausible just because that’s what the green-establishment wants people to think.

Now, the lie about renewables being cheaper has yet again been exposed.

A Northern Territory worker installs solar panels. Picture: Lucy Hughes Jones/AAP

Back in 2017, the Northern Territory’s power generator reported to the government that reaching a 50 per cent renewable energy target would push up system costs by up to 30 per cent and that “capital costs will replace fuel costs as the key driver of electricity prices”. When challenged on this leaked report, the NT government said this week that it was “outdated” and didn’t reflect new developments.

Yet when this report was given to the government, the Chief Minister had claimed: “We very much see this as about substitution rather than additional costs … The advice we’re getting … is that an investment in renewables will actually put downward pressure on household prices.”

Despite the Chief Minister’s assurances, the NT’s renewable energy target hasn’t stopped further price rises.

Why are people in authority allowed to get away with obvious untruths on everything to do with climate change? It’s a classic case of wanting the lie to be true so insisting that it is despite all the factual evidence to the contrary.

Expect to hear even louder and more frequent assertions that renewables are cheaper in the run-up to next year’s Glasgow climate conference — but this debate has to include all the facts and science, not just the version that the zealots want to push.

THUMBS UP: Morocco for becoming the latest Arab country to normalise its relations with Israel. This will do more to ease tensions in the Middle East than the UN has achieved in decades.

THUMBS DOWN: The Victorian Government for cancelling Melbourne’s Australia Day parade. Despite not cancelling June’s BLM rally, they say this decision is about COVID, but they’re still allowing 30,000 at the cricket and refuse to say it will be back in 2022. Make no mistake, this is about the hard-left’s holy grail to wipe January 26 off the calendar

Originally published as We cannot ignore the hard facts when it comes to renewable energy