Winds of change for Golden Plains as huge wind farm gets go-ahead.

A massive 170 square kilometre wind farm has passed the final Victorian planning hurdle, and could be powering in four years if the federal government approves the project.

The Golden Plains wind farm has passed
the final Victorian planning hurdle.CREDIT:

The $1.5 billion wind farm, sprawling over 17,000 hectares near the small town of Rokewood south of Ballarat, passed environmental approvals last month.

Acting Planning Minister Lily D’Ambrosio will on Saturday announce the Victorian government has granted a planning permit for the project in the Golden Plains Shire.

All that remains is for the federal government to sign off on it.

Read the story from The Age by Bianca Hall and Adam Carey -“Winds of change for Golden Plains as huge wind farm gets go-ahead.”

Here’s how a complex low-pressure system sent temperatures plummeting

New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia are currently affected by a massive complex low pressure system, dropping temperatures and bringing rain, hail, wind and snow.

The complex low weather system currently swirling over south-eastern Australia.

While complex low pressure systems like this come along every year or so, some Australians may be feeling whiplash after a particularly warm autumn.

Typically, as Victoria and Tasmania head into winter we see cold fronts that move from west to east, generating rain and thunderstorms. This weather system started off like that, but developed into a complex low that will stay with us for the rest of the week.

Read the piece on The Conversation by a Senior Meteorologist, Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Adam Morgan - “Here’s how a complex low-pressure system sent temperatures plummeting.”

Banking on solar power

Australian businesses investing in solar power for their own use will see a massive 400 per cent increase this year, according to the regulator. And Shepparton businesses are joining in, with hundreds of businesses having installed substantial systems, ranging from 10 to 500 kilowatts.

Clean Energy Regulator executive general manager Mark Williamson said the growth of businesses investing in solar plants had been underestimated.

Two years ago Mr Williamson predicted commercial and industrial solar sector would be cumulatively putting on a large scale renewable power station every year.

That milestone is set to be reached this year.

‘‘It’s really taking off . . . the capacity in applications for commercial and industrial-sized systems between 100 kW and 1 mW (for 2018) is going to smash last year,’’ Mr Williamson said.

‘‘In Shepparton, you now have five power stations (over 100 kW) with a capacity of 1.94 mW, that’s equivalent to about 400 households.’’

The Greater Shepparton region has a further 431 installations between 10 and 100 kW, with a total capacity of 9.66 mW, with more in the pipeline.

SCS Plastics business operations manager Andrew O’Sullivan said the installation of a 300 kW plant had been a game changer.

‘‘We’re quite a large consumer of power (and) we have noticed a significant reduction in our power bills, particularly over the summer months. We’ve seen a reduction of between $4000 and $6000 a month,’’ Mr O’Sullivan said.

‘‘The solar is basically driving our business for three to four hours a day.’’

When the Wheeler St, Shepparton, business closes its doors on weekends its solar plant continues to work, so 100 per cent of the generated power goes into the electricity grid, bringing in further Mark Williamson financial gains.

Mr O’Sullivan said SCS Plastic’s plant had been built with the help of a low-interest loan, sourced through the Greater Shepparton City Council.

SCS Plastic’s decision to invest in solar was a purely commercial decision.

The price of power and the skyrocketing percentage of total spend led to the investment, Mr O’Sullivan said.

And that investment is being copied across the country as the Clean Energy Regulator is inundated with applications, outpacing the growth in household solar installations.

‘‘Obviously there’s been a lot of focus on electricity prices and I think a lot of businesses as well as households have been looking at that,’’ Mr Williamson said.

‘‘It’s really a combination of electricity prices going up and cost of systems going down.

‘‘While we’re still seeing very steady growth in the household level, the economies of scale for industrial systems are much better.

‘‘We are looking at an exponential growth rate . . . Australia has the biggest penetration of rooftop solar in the world (and) the headline story here is that business is embracing solar in a really big way.’’

Story from The Shepparton News by Myles Peterson - “Banking on solar power.”

The Future of Energy Transformation

This week, many conversations at CERAWeek in Houston— one of the world’s leading energy events— revolved around the massive transformation that is reshaping the global energy landscape. Topics ranged from energy and climate policy to innovation and investment in an energy market that is going through unprecedented change. The growing role of renewables and the impact of distributed energy technologies were two frequently discussed examples. 

At GE, we believe that the energy transformation is playing out as an evolution: from a centralized, one-directional grid, into a decentralized, decarbonized, digitized network that’s smarter and more productive.  

This evolution brings together seemingly competitive energy offerings—solar, coal, wind and gas—that combine traditional and emerging energy to deliver more efficient and effective results.

Read the story from LinkedIn by GE Chairman and CEO, John Flannery - “The Future of Energy Transformation.”

Climate change soon to cause mass movement, World Bank warns

Climate change will result in a massive movement of people inside countries and across borders, creating “hotspots” where tens of millions pour into already crowded slums, according to the World Bank.

Lalmonirhat in Bangladesh was flooded last year. It is one
of the areas likely to be hard-hit by climate change,
leading to high levels of migration. 

More than 140 million people in just three regions of the developing world are likely to migrate within their native countries between now and 2050, the first report on the subject has found.

The World Bank examined three regions, which between them account for 55% of the developing world’s population. In sub-Saharan Africa, 86 million are expected to be internally displaced over the period; in south Asia, about 40 million; and in Latin America, 17 million.

Read Fiona Harvey’s story from The Guardian - “Climate change soon to cause mass movement, World Bank warns.”

(Australia’s present border concerns will be trivial compared to what the country faces when the predicted impacts of climate change evolve into reality, which will be within a decade or so - Robert McLean) 

The land of ice embracing climate change

Greenland's massive ice cap is melting at alarming speed, raising fears of sea levels rising around the world.

A sheep farm in Greenland.

But for many of Greenland's 56,000 residents, melting ice means money.

"I'm quite optimistic," Andrias Olsen, a fleet manager with the State fishing company Royal Greenland, said.

"We're seeing some higher stocks due to climate change — at least due to warmer sea temperatures — but also due to the ice cap melting.

"A lot of nutritious water comes down the big fjord systems, which creates optimal conditions for fishery.”

Almost 80 per cent of Greenland is covered by an ice cap, meaning everyone has to make a living on the coast.

Read the ABC News story by foreign correspondent Eric Campbell - “The land of ice embracing climate change.”

Palaszczuk says she will veto federal Adani loan as she accuses LNP of ‘smear’

The Queensland government will veto Adani’s application for a $1bn commonwealth loan to build a rail line for its massive Carmichael mine, Annastacia Palaszczuk has said.

Annastacia Palaszczuk, campaigning with deputy premier
 Jackie Trad on Friday. The Queensland premier has accused
the LNP of intending to smear her.

Palaszczuk said the dramatic move, amid her campaign for re-election, came in response to what she believed was a federal Coalition plan to “smear” her and her partner, Shaun Drabsch, over his role in Adani’s loan application to the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (Naif).

As the government is in caretaker mode, any move to veto the loan would need bipartisan support.

The move will be a heavy blow to the Indian mining giant’s attempt to win finance in China for the controversial coalmine, but puts the state Labor government on the right side of opinion polls on the issue.

Read the story by Joshua Robertson on The Guardian - “Palaszczuk says she will veto federal Adani loan as she accuses LNP of ‘smear’."

State money fails to slow, or stop, environmental deterioration.

Victoria’s environment continues to deteriorate.

And, that deterioration continues despite massive investment by the State Government.

An ABC Rural story headed: “Victorian Auditor General tells government to think long term to improve deteriorating environment” warns of the need for the government to set long-term goals.

Commemorating human failure - we need to shift our focus

Today we commemorate and lament the tragedy that is war.

We dote on Anzac Day - we need to shift our
attention to addressing climate change.

Thousands of people gathered at ceremonies throughout Australia to remember events that are clear evidence of humanity’s failings.

Another event of a magnitude sufficient to make all the wars resulting from those failings appear of little consequence is about to rush over our horizon to disrupt and disable humanity and leave unimaginable carnage strewn about the planet.

The door through which we can access the solutions brought upon us through the damage we have done to our atmosphere is closing – our opportunities to address climate change are quickly becoming fewer and fewer.

The time, effort and money invested in commemorating our mistakes is misplaced for if we re-directed that trio, accompanied by the massive and sweeping media coverage war and its commemoration is given, then we would at least have some chance of mitigating, or adapting to climate change.

Among those things which will disable much of society and bring with it costs almost beyond comprehension is see level rise.

ClimateProgress discusses the consequences of sea level rise in a story headed: “84,000 Lives threatened by sea level rise in New England”.

The troubles facing New England are just one of an intricate mosaic of troubles facing people around the globe in this and the next decade.

Commemorating wars is a relatively simple emotive process as for once a year you assemble, illustrate your concerns, have your thoughts assuaged, secure endorsement from  your fellows (that’s most people), endorse business as usual and then return to live your life largely unchanged.

Nothing has effectively happened, unlike what is required when you become a climate change advocate and to say you endorse the science that unquestionably illustrates the reality of a damaged atmosphere, means you are stepping aside from society’s momentum and effectively saying “there’s another and better way”.

That takes courage, dramatically different from that exhibited by those who stormed the beaches at Gallipoli nearly a century ago, but still an aspect of courage about which people have little, or no understanding.

Doubters told to 'put up or shut up'

Those convinced our climate is changing and that humans are responsible can prove that with indisputable facts.

The skeptics, those chose to ignore what science is telling us and favour fantasy and fallacious ideologies don’t see themselves in any need to prove anything.

Oddly, and confusingly, those same people seem to be assembling behind the idea that geoengineering projects, massive in scale and cost, and aimed at resolving the very troubles we have set in train will slow climate change.

In the first instance they disagree, but then they want us to risk it all in which life on earth is the bet.

There is a contradiction there that first alarms me and illustrates that the reason the doubters lay claim to is absolutely absent.

A story published on The Guardian headed: “Climate change: time for the sceptics to put up or shut up” argues it is time those same doubter had an international conference and told us what it is they really believe.