Racetrack or lake? Debate heats up over future of Hazelwood

The shut-down of the Hazelwood power plant, finally completed just weeks ago, leaves a legacy that will last much longer than the jolt to Victoria’s energy market when the station’s old coal-fuelled turbines were turned off early last year.

Source: Latrobe Council

The giant plant and its adjoining open-cut coal mine leave a deep and ugly scar on the Latrobe Valley.

Everyone agrees the site must be rehabilitated. But the Latrobe City Council and Hazelwood owner Engie seem at loggerheads over what should replace the station and coal mine, which has a 16-kilometre perimeter, that once sustained the local economy and helped power Victoria.

The Latrobe Valley is facing a “disappointing and mediocre” replacement under Engie’s current plans to create a massive lake, the council says.

Read the story from The Age Benjamin Preiss  - “Racetrack or lake? Debate heats up over future of Hazelwood.”

World's largest solar plant in Sahara Desert switched on

Yesterday, Morocco switched on the first section of its new Ouarzazate solar power plant. The new installation already creates 160 megawatts of power and is expected to grow to cover 6,000 acres by 2018—making it the largest in the world.

The first wave of power production is known as Noor 1. Situated in the Sahara Desert, its crescent-shaped solar mirrors follow the sun to soak up sunlight all day long. The mirrors, each of which is 40 feet tall, focus light onto a steel pipeline that carries a synthetic thermal oil solution. The oil in those pipes can reach 740℉, and that’s what’s used to create electricity: The heat is used to create steam which drives turbines. The hot oil can be stored to create energy overnight, too.

Read the story by Jamie Condliffe on GIZMODO - “Morocco Switches on First Phase of the World's Largest Solar Plant.”

Cash register noise 'just blowin' in the wind'

L

ooking out across Lake George, about 40 kilometres north-east of Canberra, farmer Harry Osborne takes a different view to Joe Hockey.

The Lake George wind turbines that Joe
 Hockey finds offensive - makes you
wonder when he last
looked at an open-cut coal mine?

It was looking back from the opposite bank as he drove from Sydney to Canberra that the Treasurer decided wind turbines offended him.

In an interview with broadcaster Alan Jones last year, Mr Hockey described the Bungendore wind farm looming over Lake George as "a blight on the landscape" and "utterly offensive".

And he was at it again this week, telling Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews: "I can't stand those things … they're all around Lake George", confirming it is the "aesthetic" of wind farms he objects to.

Mr Osborne, who is one of Bungendore's wind farmers, with 10 turbines set on the edge of Currandooley, his property adjoining Lake George, said everyone has the right to their opinion but they should be careful in assuming others share the same view.

Read Heath Aston’s story in The Age - “Operator of maligned wind farm is no fan of Joe Hockey”.

Senate likely to throw up more barriers to wind farms

T

he Senate will likely vote on the renewable energy target today.

The vote, scheduled for Thursday, was delayed by last-minute negotiations between the Government and crossbenchers to further control wind farms.

The RET is critical to investment in more renewable energy power in Australia and political debate has caused long delays to projects ready to be built in Victoria.

Wind farms worth almost $5 billion are poised to go in Victoria.

Thirteen projects with 854 turbines have won municipal council and State Government support

Read the Weekly Times story - “More barriers to wind farms likely by Senate vote”.

And don't forget to vote, the poll is at the bottom of the story.

Birds and wind farms safely share our skies

Manic views with no factual support frequently get rushed into conversations about renewable energy.

Birds and wind farms are generally
 comfortable bedfellows.

One of the favourites is the number of birds killed by the turbines of wind farms and they are frequently exaggerated and with absolutely no factual support.

Climate Progress has looked at this and subsequently produced charts to illustrate that while wind farms do kill birds, the numbers of deaths from turbines is miniscule compared to other forms of energy, primarily coal.

A story headed: “CHART: How Many Birds Are Killed By Wind,Solar, Oil, And Coal?” illustrates the fallacy of any argument about the dangers of wind farms.