The Victorian and federal governments still pursuing unreliable offshore wind plants shows how obsessed we have become with renewable energy, writes Nick Cater.
Seven years after Daniel Andrews’ presumptive declaration that his state would be carbon neutral by 2050, a Victorian government review has concluded the replacement of coal and gas generation with the existing sources of renewable energy is “an implausible prospect”.
You don’t need a doctorate in marine engineering to know why planting a wind turbine in the ocean is considerably more challenging than building on terra firma. Local environmental groups are blaming the spike in beachings on the noise and disruption of heavy construction.In 2007, a proposal by Gunns to build a wood chip plant in northern Tasmania collapsed after objections from environmentalists that included the effect of noise from pile-drivers on passing whales.
It warned alteration to the physical and oceanographic habitat could have “cascading impacts on the food chain”. "We should be looking at the whole suite of those and determining as a community which to develop, not leaving it to developers who have profits in mind." The momentous decision was clearly made without a single engineer around the table, for the impossibility of powering Victoria with wind, solar and batteries alone was clear from the very start.
The rest is pure fantasy unless our political leaders come to their senses and realise that the notion of replacing fossil fuels with energy-dilute, land-hungry, unreliable alternatives with a short lifespan is crackers.
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