electricity

 Mark the Graph had two articles on this HERE and HERE.

Ray Wills says we won't get lower prices until renewables are over 50%.

I might also add Adam Morton on what is occurring in Queensland.

A few things.

• Coal powered power stations are unreliable. Their units break down regularly. This is one of the reasons we had so many of them before privatisation. Nifty Wran was livid when he was told! This problem gets worse as the temperature rises. Also baseload power is incompatible with the market dominated by public companies. Baseload power is also incompatible with solar panels on house roofs, The solar duck curve everyone.
• Gas can only be part of the answer if the domestic price of gas is a lot lower alah WA otherwise they constantly push prices up.
• I constantly hear people say what about when the sun does not shine and the wind does not blow. This ignores two things. firstly history shows as the CSIRO showed sometime ago this rarely occurs. The reason I assume is because the sun is shining where some solar panels are and where the wind isn't blowing. Think of it as not putting all your solar panels and wind turbines in the same basket.
• Batteries and getting bigger and bigger, They are dispatchable. Add in pumped hydro and you have firming
• Batteries in houses will also change things. The peak in electricity demand has gone from around noon to 6 pm. Moreover demand is lower at peak times. Batteries will further move both the time and the supply needed. 
• I do note a lot of the objections to new solar and wind farms come from people whol ive nowhere near the proposed farms.
• Solar panels are great for sheep farmers. The farmers get rent and the condensation makes for good grass and thus great wool.

We need to get a move on and maybe even ignore protests from people who live nowhere near any proposed projects.