Tag Archives: Denial

PLEA Network

16 October 2019 Renew Economy: Government blocks crossbench motion to declare a climate change emergency. The Morrison Government has blocked a motion in Federal parliament to declare a climate emergency, and refused efforts from the crossbench to even discuss the proposal. Greens … Continue reading →

PLEA Network

20 March 2018, SMH, Turnbull knows better than to deny fire weather link to climate change. Raising the issue of the role of climate change in extreme weather events is always a delicate matter for families battling grief over lost homes and … Continue reading →

PLEA Network

30 January 2018, Te Conversation, Explainer: power station ‘trips’ are normal, but blackouts are not. Tens of thousands of Victorians were left without power over the long weekend as the distribution network struggled with blistering temperatures, reigniting fears about the stability of our energy system. It comes on the heels of a summer of “trips”, when power stations temporarily shut down for a variety of reasons. This variability has also been used to attack renewable energy such as wind and solar, which naturally fluctuate depending on weather conditions. The reality is that blackouts, trips and intermittency are three very different issues, which should not be conflated. As most of Australia returns to school and work in February, and summer temperatures continue to rise, the risk of further blackouts make it essential to understand the cause of the blackouts, what a power station “trip” really is, and how intermittent renewable energy can be integrated into a national system. Read More here

PLEA Network

29 January 2018, Renew Economy, Victorian networks blow a fuse in heatwave – Coalition blows its mind on Twitter. Conservatives love a summer blackout. And with two-thirds of peak blackout season already gone, they were not going to miss the opportunity presented by last night’s outages across Victoria to point the finger at renewable energy, the state Labor government’s support of renewables, and most of all last year’s closure of the privately owned Hazelwood coal-fired power plant. The only slight hitch in this ingenious plan is that none of the above had anything at all to do with it. On Sunday, the state reached record grid demand for a Sunday in the midst of the heatwave, but around 55,000 Victorians suffered without power at various times on Sunday evening – and many continue to do so on Monday – after faults across the state’s distribution networks. As explained by the Energy Networks Association, the assorted network companies, and the Australian Energy Market Operator, the blackouts were caused by faults in the *delivery* of the electricity – and not the *supply* or generation of it. That is, as absolutely everyone in the state turned their air conditioners up to 11 to cope with temperatures hovering around 40°C – and an overnight low of around 30°C – the state’s “poles and wires” (mostly substation fuses) systems were overwhelmed by demand that peaked at around 9,144MW: “the highest operational demand for a Sunday, ever,” says AEMO. Read More here