Canavan only one keeping his head on energy realities

Renewables are expensive, unreliable and have short operating lives (15 to 30 years). And they require huge energy storage cap­acity. The disposal costs for solar panels and wind turbines are high, adding to the cost of the electricity they generate.

The transmission costs are huge because the transmission line to each plant must be sized to carry their full output but, on average, transmit only 15 per cent to 35 per cent of the capacity of solar and wind plants.

The transmission lines must be very long because the renewable plants are widely dispersed in country areas away from where the power is used. The transmission lines need to run to energy storage sites and from the energy storage sites to the areas where the power is required.

The transmission system will become increasingly vulnerable to disruption by foreign powers.

Nuclear power is the safest and can become the cheapest way to supply power as 1) the enormous regulatory impediments that are making them so costly to build are removed; 2) small modular reactors are built in factories, shipped to site and installed rapidly; and 3) their costs decline as more are built, and their production and construction costs come down.

Peter Lang, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University, Griffith, ACT

As I watch the rapid decline of the electricity system at the hands of the climate alarmists I offer some observations from an old engineer (“As rest of world wakes up on coal, we’re closing it down”, 13/7).

The first is that simplicity is always better than complexity. In a sane world the process of putting coal into a power station and getting reliable, cheap electricity out is better than relying on a plethora of dispersed, chaotic weather-dependent generators that can’t always provide it.

Second is the need to consider the consequences of actions before taking them. This avoids the “act in haste, repent at leisure” outcome we are dealing with now.

Third is to maintain a rational view and avoid drama queens who are ignorant or have some vested interest as they are always dangerous. Remember, empty vessels make the most noise.

David Bidstrup, Plympton Park, SA

Those who voted for the so-called teals in the belief that “climate action” would happen should read senator Matt Canavan’s article for a hard reality check. While Europe is going back to coal, one needs to examine the failed California experiment where the demonisation of coal led to the cessation of coalmining, thus enforcing prolonged blackouts.

So where does this leave Labor’s proposed target of 43 per cent? In short, it would mean an already stretched electricity system, which can provide only 24 per cent of renewables in the energy mix, will be placed under even more stress.

The demonising of our coal industry has made it difficult for Australia to maintain a viable manufacturing sector able to compete with the rest of the world.

Angus Moody, Turramurra, NSW

It is frustrating to me that renewables advocates simply refuse to take account of, or even acknowledge, the most basic data. A simple Google search and a calculator is all that is required to realise that we would need approximately 40,000 to 50,000 large SA-style industrial batteries and about 40,000 to 50,000sq km of turbines to have a relatively reliable energy system without input from coal, gas or nuclear.

The batteries alone would cost in the order of $6bn to $7bn, three times Australia’s gross domestic product, and there would hardly be a single bird left alive in the entire area set aside for turbines. All this before we consider transmission lines and the enormous cost of replacing the batteries every 10 or 15 years.

It appears to me that Matt Canavan is the only one keeping his head while all about him are losing theirs.

Bob Irvine, Birtinya, Qld

Matt Canavan’s article about the virtues of coal is interestingly timed, just as it’s reported that Climate 200 will be targeting marginal Nationals seats such as Cowper on the north coast of NSW. Given the recent success of teal candidates in formerly safe Liberal seats where climate issues were an important theme, Canavan’s Nationals colleagues might be hoping the Queensland senator finds something else to write about over the next three years.

B. Thomson, Hurlstone Park, NSW