Andrew Bolt: China’s nuclear vision shows up Australia’s ignorance

China is building 11 more nuclear reactors in the next five years, as the anti-nuclear Albanese government scoffs and prevaricates. It’s yet another reason to panic about what’s being done to this country.

Every week I get a fresh reason to panic about what’s being done to this country, especially to the electricity system that keeps us all in business.

So far this week there’s actually been three more reasons.

Take Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek. Straight after killing off a gold mine, she approved a giant solar farm in the Northern Territory. Hey, just in time for Saturday’s NT election!

But check what Plibersek said about this SunCable project, with a planned installed capacity of 4GW: “The energy generated by this project is almost six times the amount of energy a 700MW large nuclear reactor could deliver.”

What ignorance. In fact, this massive SunCable project, if it ever gets built, would deliver less than twice the electricity of that nuclear reactor because solar farms typically produce less than a quarter of their installed capacity, since the sun isn’t always shining. But a nuclear station produces 93 per cent of its capacity.

Three of Chris Bowen’s schemes have now flopped inside a month. Picture: Martin Ollman

If Plibersek doesn’t know even that, she should spare us her anti-nuclear lectures.

Just to rub in that know-nothing, China last weekend announced it would build another 11 nuclear reactors, all in just five years.

The second thing that scared me this week was Energy Minister Chris Bowen. Again.

Three weeks ago Bowen said he was spending another $100m, some to help Ampol build another 200 fast chargers for electric cars by next year.

But this week Ampol said, oops, that actually couldn’t be done because of “the difficulties in connecting to the grid in Australia in particular”.

That’s now three Bowen schemes flopping in just one month.

Bowen had promised billions to create green hydrogen, only to have Andrew Forrest, Australia’s biggest investor in the gas, last month admit it was too expensive.

Bowen also backed SunDrive Solar, saying this Sydney company could build solar panels here, only to have it two weeks ago sack staff and say it was changing direction.

Now this Ampol flop. Bowen is floundering, as we run out of electricity and gas.

My third scare this week was to already see some consequences.

BlueScope Steel said profits were down because Australia’s power costs up to three times more than the energy of our competitors, helping China to make steel cheaper.

Yes, that’s China, now building 11 more of those nuclear reactors in five years that anti-nuclear Bowen scoffs are too expensive and would take us 20 years.

Aren’t you now worried, too?