Article by Eric Worrell
First Posted by JoNova; If all coal plants were forced to close, greed would have no chance because there would be no electricity.
Generators are filling pockets again, pushing grid prices to new highs and putting renewables on the hook
Giles Parkinson
July 31, 2024Competition is good for the market, they say. We can only hope. At present, it is clear that there is not enough competition in Australia's wholesale electricity market, and the large players – and some new players – are only interested in taking advantage of the sun while they know that it is their “cherished” consumers who will ultimately benefit. . Come pay the bill.
Wholesale power prices hit new milestones on Tuesday night across all five states that make up Australia's main power grid. Prices on the national electricity market have topped $15,000 per megawatt hour (MWh) at the same time. According to market observers, this has never been seen before.
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Renewable energy should challenge this and lower prices in wholesale markets by introducing competition. but As the number of fully dispatchable generators decreases, competition at critical moments has actually decreased — At least for now — like seagulls surrounding a box of potato chips, market players are jumping in.
What we see here is naked greed surrounding an essential service, driven by the ability to manipulate prices to unreasonable peaks and the complete inability to maintain any sense of proportion or perspective.
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and The problem is that, in a bitterly partisan energy debateand a one-sided and populist media uninterested in facts, It will be renewable energy that gets the blame. We saw this last week in the report on wholesale prices for the latest June quarter.
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Learn more: https://reneweconomy.com.au/generators-fill-their-pockets-again-pushing-grid-prices-to-new-highs-and-leaving-renewables-to-cop-the-blame/
The Greens are deeply concerned that America's ruthless engineering types are fueling the latest round of hard-line supply-and-demand capitalism by adding unreliable energy to the grid while punitively blocking investment in reliable energy.
It seems to me that references to “naked greed” and “basic services” are actually thinly veiled calls for the renationalization of energy assets.
Perhaps the Greens shouldn’t be working so hard to prevent entrepreneurs from building dispatchable, zero-carbon nuclear power. That way they won't be exposed as a bunch of incompetents.
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