Burning the surplus

Scott Morrison’s total paralysis in the face of the bushfire emergency gave rise to the most convincing excuse for his recent disappearance – he wasn’t doing anything anyway, so why shouldn’t he go?

John Quiggin.

Part of his problem is that any serious discussion of the problem involves climate change, and even one pull on that thread would risk unravelling the shroud of deception he and the rest of the right are sheltering beneath.

But surely Scotty from Marketing could come up with a campaign that appeared to take action on the bushfires themselves without doing anything about the underlying cause. There’s another factor that hasn’t been mentioned, as far as I can see.

Read the story by John Quiggin - “Burning the surplus.”

The five things we can't answer about the National Energy Guarantee

The National Energy Guarantee will face one of its last major tests in August, yet despite nearly a year of development, there are still a number of unanswered questions.

Will the policy work?

The Energy Security Board, which includes the main energy regulators, has spent the past eight months coming up with a scheme it says will reduce power prices, bolster grid stability and meet a "pro-rata" reduction in carbon emissions in line with Australia's Paris climate pledges.

The board thinks it has created a scheme that will meet its goals without generating a carbon price that would be political Kryptonite to the Coalition party room. Others think a shadow price will soon emerge.

The refusal of the board to release the modelling that spits out the stated results - such as helping to cut household prices by $550 a year over the decade starting from 2021 - undermines confidence the guarantee will work as projected.

Read the story from The Age by Cole Latimer and Peter Hannam - “The five things we can't answer about the National Energy Guarantee.”

Power plant failures push state's energy grid close to the edge in November heat

Victoria's strained energy network is about to face its first real test of the summer – several days before summer has even started.

Victoria's late November heatwave has stretched energy capacity to its limit. 

This week's mild November heatwave and the recent failure of two coal-fired power units in the Latrobe Valley have drained the state's energy grid of reserve supply and pushed it towards the danger zone for blackouts.

The Australian Energy Market Operator issued two notices Wednesday afternoon forecasting a lack of reserve in the energy grid as the temperature soars towards the mid-30s on Thursday and Friday afternoons.

The level one alerts are a signal that there is a shortage of back-up energy, meaning any further unanticipated loss of capacity or spike in demand has the potential to cause blackouts in parts of the state.

Read Adam Carey’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Power plant failures push state's energy grid close to the edge in November heat.”