As even the dim bulbs of the Albanese government slowly start to realise that their ‘Net Zero’ fantasies are a disastrous delusion, one businessman has hit on a novel idea to win the NIMBYs over to nuclear: free electricity. Not for everyone, mind – just as a sweetener for those living in proximity to the reactors.
First, the growing realisation of the disaster that is ‘Net Zero’. The Albanese government is quietly walking away from its own emissions targets.
For a possible explanation, look no further than [Energy Minister Chris Bowen’s] statement that the target would be “ambitious but achievable,” with a qualification that there’s “no point setting a target which the country can’t meet”.
Is this finally an admission by the government that its 2030 targets won’t be met? That Bowen’s “reliable renewables” plan can’t deliver on the promises made?
If even Boofhead’s walking away, it’s got to be bad. But then, anyone who’s opened their electricity bill over the past couple of years already knows that.
Prices have kept rising as the queues in energy poverty kept growing. Despite suggestions wholesale prices had recently stabilised, the facts tell a different story.
In the June quarter, average wholesale prices jumped to $133 per MWh, the highest since the spikes in 2022, and a 23 per cent increase on the previous year.
In NSW, the average price rose to a high of $173 per MWh. Low wind speeds and reduced rainfall in the southern states increased reliance on gas-fired generation, leading to a price hike of $131 per MWh in Tasmania, up by 104 per cent in a year. Proof positive that Bowen’s “reliable renewables” plan was adrift. There’s nothing “reliable” about intermittent, weather-dependent renewables.
That Australia is even having a serious debate about the once-anathema nuclear power is a sign of just how sharply the reality of electricity bills has sharpened peoples’ thinking. The coalition have clearly decided that they’re on a vote-winner with their nuclear proposals.
The biggest hurdle will be NIMBYism.
Ryan Stokes, the son of billionaire Kerry Stokes, said people living near nuclear power plants could be offered incentives such as free electricity to build community support for the energy source backed by the Coalition […]
“To deal with the nimbyism, that’s easy … you can find ways to incentivise people to want to live around a nuclear power environment where they get a benefit – free energy, free power, or whatever the mechanism,” he said.
“Nuclear is a carbon-free power source, so it makes sense to be talking about that as we look to reduce carbon emissions […]
“I do think the fact that you’ve had cities pushing to try and get the investment associated with the nuclear sub program (AUKUS) just reinforces that community attitudes have changed,” Mr Stokes told The Australian.
“The reality is we have seen the continued investment in nuclear.”
The other great issue facing a potential nuclear industry is government over-regulation causing delays and forcing up costs.
The Seven Group boss blasted government policy settings on industrial relations and the proliferation of green tape […]
Mr Stokes said the WA government, which this month said it would cut green tape by leaving greenhouse gas assessments of major projects to the commonwealth, was on the right track in taking a whole-of-government approach to approvals.
The argument from Labor that nuclear is ‘too costly’ ludicrously ignores the staggering costs, financial and environmental, of so-called ‘renewables’.
“We’re not having sensible discussion on the true economics (of the energy transition),” he said. “Yes, renewables are going to play a big role in the future, but no one can possibly believe it’s free. There’s no such thing as free lunch, no such thing as free energy, just like there’s no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.”
Try telling the green-left that. Next you’ll be saying that socialism won’t work next time, either.
