“Woke Billionaire Capitalists” in Cleantech (Cowboys?)
That is what the right-wing, Murdoch press is calling the board of Origin Energy after they decided to close the Eraring coal generator in New South Wales (NSW) early. Mike Cannon-Brookes’ surprising bid for Australia’s worse emitter (AGL) intensified their fear. Looks like he is another woke billionaire capitalist. One wonders how long the campaign of misinformation (FUD) can continue before the reality overwhelms Murdoch and his cronies. Electricity prices are not going up, Australia is not suffering blackouts. South Australia’s renewable revolution continues to set records and the other Australian states are following rapidly.
Yes, the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow — but that is why so many batteries are being installed. Perhaps we need to build one outside Murdoch’s window.
Here’s the real issue: “Too much intermittent, weather-dependent power damages the economics of baseload power, especially from coal,” states Peta Credlin in the Australian Newspaper. Coal-fired power stations cannot compete on price. On a humorous note, Federal Minister for Energy Angus Taylor was not told of the early closure of Eraring — negotiations were instead conducted at a state level. He was not impressed.
And it’s only going to get worse. New South Wales (home to Origin’s Eraring power station and AGL’s Bayswater power station) is setting up a Renewable Energy Zone in the Central West region of the state. Last year, in response to a call for expressions of interest to build 3 gigawatts (GW) of renewable power capacity, offers poured in to build nearly 10 times more than that.
NSW is now planning to put in place the transmission infrastructure to carry that power to where it is needed.
Note: Woke refers to being aware or well informed in a political or cultural sense. Conservatives think possessing this knowledge and awareness is a very, very bad thing, so they use it as an insult.
Since government has decided not to lead us to a climate-friendly renewable future of electrified domesticity, thank God for woke billionaire capitalists like Elon Musk, Mike Cannon-Brookes, and Twiggy Forrest. Ride ‘em cowboy!
Featured picture of Mike Cannon-Brookes by TedXSidney (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license).
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