The coal hard facts: the economics and the science refute the so-called ‘Australian way’

LCOE doesn't mean shit. It's a measure of the cost of the total volume of electricity produced over the life of the asset. It ignores the extreme minute by minute intermittency of green energy and the costs that this imposes on the wider market. This is why the experience throughout the world so far has been that as grids have become "greener" costs have increased.

Some people refer to this as the "green paradox". Here is a good article:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianmurray1/2019/06/17/the-paradox-of-declining-renewable-costs-and-rising-electricity-prices/?sh=1161aa0961d5

The cheapest way to generate reliable electricity is to burn coal in a power station. The only way that "green" energy proponents can get away the cheapness is to ignore the wider system costs that increase as a result of more intermittent energy and/or to deny the billions in subsidies green energy receives. In Australia's case this cross subsidy takes the form of renewable energy certificates which are created out of thin air whenever someone builds a wind tubrine or solar farm and must be bought by retailers.

Besides, if I'm wrong about this, and "renewables" are soooo cheap. Why are we talking about it? You can't simultanously claim that it's cheaper, but then blame the big bad government for us not having more of it. Just think about how ridiculous that is ..

/r/AustralianPolitics Thread Parent Link - smh.com.au