Rafe Champion: Power Policy in parallel Universes
The hopeless mission of the Australian Energy Market Operator
This year 2024 Daniel Westerman will become a well-known if not much-loved public figure.
In his role as the energy czar – the CEO of the Australian Energy Market Operator – his mission is to mastermind the great transformation of our energy system to deliver clean, reliable, and affordable energy to your home, business, and in due course, your car.
In fact, the decision to pursue that transformation is the greatest policy blunder in our history, wartime included. To anticipate the punchline of this bad joke: ‘It’s the wind supply, stupid!’ That is explained below.
Westerman’s predecessor laid the foundations for this ‘Great Reset’ of the energy market with a cultural revolution in AEMO, stacking the organisation with green activists and model builders to generate the Integrated System Plan for the transformation. This received high praise from the Net Zero industry and scathing criticism in a forensic review by a team of scientists and engineers associated with the Energy Realists in the parallel universe of energy policy.
The interaction between the two worlds is much like the dispute between two fishwives observed by Boswell and Johnson (literary lions of the time) shouting at each other from their front windows across a narrow street. Johnson remarked, ‘They will never agree. They are arguing from different premises.’
Perhaps a shared perception of impending disaster can provide a common premise for a constructive exchange between the two worlds. The possibility is there since the latest update of the AEMO Electricity Statement of Opportunities in late February flags an impending shortage of supply after Liddell power station closes in April to be followed by the biggest unit in NSW, Eraring, two years later. In less diplomatic language, get ready for blackouts! This is old news for energy realists, still, with the threat officially acknowledged, the time has come for an urgent review of the transition plan.
The role of Daniel Westerman will be crucial in that process. What manner of man is he? Does he have the qualifications and experience to lead a gruelling and divisive campaign to keep the lights on? Can he keep his head while all about him are losing theirs and blaming it on him?
He was born in Australia, graduated in Mechanical Engineering, and gained MBAs in Melbourne and London. He did some time consulting on energy at McKinsey before he moved to England in 2014 and rose to be the Chief Transformation Officer and President of Renewable Energy at London-based National Grid. He also ran the England and Wales electricity system as part of National Grid’s dual responsibility as electricity market operator. The UK was on a ‘rapid energy transformation pathway’ based on large-scale wind and solar, especially wind.
In 2021, he was appointed as the CEO of AEMO, arousing great expectations. The Financial Review reported that the AEMO chairman and the board members were very pleased with Mr Westerman’s experience. The voice of the Energy Network of Australia was effusive: ‘The northern hemisphere’s loss is Australia’s gain as we chart the path towards a clean, reliable and affordable energy future.’
Sarah McNamara of the Australian Energy Council opined that his knowledge of markets in the UK will be invaluable as we navigate the challenges, ‘Protecting the future security of the National Electricity Market and balancing the energy needs of today with the necessary changes for the future.’
What happened in Britain under his leadership to arouse so much hope for our future? Warning: We are now entering the parallel universe where the former Prime Minister of Britain, Theresa May, proudly legislated for Net Zero with practically unanimous support in the House.
Consequently, Britain went into free fall on the energy front, well over a year before the war in Ukraine started. Power prices went through the roof and energy-intensive industries are closing down or heading for the Exit door. Subscribe to Net Zero Watch from the Global Warming Policy Foundation to get a gruesome week by week account of the deindustrialisation of Western Europe, especially Britain, and Germany.
Can we expect to do better? The answer at present appears to be, ‘No!’ At the release of the Electricity Statement of Opportunities, Mr Westerman quickly resiled from the full implications of the report and reverted to the official script, calling for ‘urgent and ongoing investment in renewable energy, long-duration storage, and transmission to reliably meet demand’. This reflects the government commitment to more wind and solar, more ‘big batteries’, completing Snowy2.0, re-wiring the nation, and getting rid of coal.
What don’t they get about the Iron Triangle of Energy Supply? That is the nexus of wind droughts and lack of storage that guarantees blackouts on windless nights unless there is 100 per cent of conventional power available? Surely they appreciate the need for continuous input to the grid…
As for wind droughts, AEMO has all the information they need to document the phenomenon because they have continuous records of the output from all the registered windmills attached the grid. In 2012, Paul Miskelly documented wind droughts across SE Australia when highpressure systems linger, sometimes for days.
Anton Lang drew on the AEMO data to keep tabs on the wind supply and the performance of the other generators, which he documented in thousands of blog posts on his site from 2018 to the present.
It seems that nobody with influence in energy planning and policy took any notice of these public records which clearly signal that the green energy transition is impossible with existing technology. This means that the Net Zero policy is the greatest blunder in our history, wartime included.
Wind literacy is the key to public appreciation of the Iron Triangle. Regular weather bulletins could easily include the amount of wind power in the energy mix at the time. The figures at night and at breakfast and dinnertime, when there is little or no solar power, should be a wakeup call. Similarly, glancing at the NemWatch widget at those times signals how much we depend on coal and gas for hot meals and air conditioning.
The reporters and commentators in the mainstream media have scandalously kept people ignorant of the basic facts pertaining to the Iron Triangle, facts that are required to enable informed public debate. If the news doesn’t travel fast enough to stimulate timely remedial action, be prepared to move to Tasmania or hoard wood and animal dung for the time when household generators are banned or our diesel stocks run out.
Third generation miner, third generation poet and prolific author Ron Manners AO is the founder of Mannkal Economic Education Foundation, making a positive impact worldwide.
Ron’s latest book, The Lonely Libertarian published by Connor Court, is now available. Buy one for yourself and one for someone whom you wish to impress.
World Health Organisaiton worse than ever
Wide Awake media has helpfully provided the following ghastly confirmation of WHO’s hostility to humanity. For proof that Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is lying and that edible animals cannot increase carbon dioxide levels, here is the link to my substack of 29 December 2023.
The lying marxist Tedros knows perfectly well that our food systems, enabled by mechanisation, herbicides, pesticides and entrepreneurial environmentally focused primary producers have been doing a magnificent job, feeding better food to more people and reducing hunger.
Of mighty significance is the life expectancy data.
The gigantic worldwide improvements in health and quality of life are threatened by WHO, by the IPCC, by the UN, and by every politician who wants decisions about Australia to be made somewhere else.
Unchain Australia is free to subscribers at www.michaeldarby.net/unchain
No Surrender on the Digital ID Bills!
Friends, this is not the time to surrender. Lobby your local minor party and opposition parliamentarians and candidates. The priorities for governments do not include even greater intrusion in the lives of Australians and destroying their right to use cash. The priorites for governments do include a Federal royalty on the gross earnings of the tech giants, plus State and Territory legislation to allow victims of fraud to recover damages from the entities which advertised that fraud. These important points are convincingly made in Unchain Australia, published August 2021, and available in pdf form free to subscribers to this substack at http://www.michaeldarby.net/unchain
Message to Free Subscribers
In the Substack system, the lowest rate which can be charged for a subscription is $5 per month or $50 per year. In these difficult times that is a lot of money, especially if you are already contributing to other worthy sources. So be kind to four friends and help my work by gifting four subscriptions for one month only at $5 each, for a total of $20. If your budget is really tight, then gift one subscription for just $5. Donors of gift subscriptions to this substack all receive full status as paid subscribers. Just hit the Subscribe button and follow the prompts. Thank you so much.
Unity of Purpose is a Worthy Aim or
Let’s Get Our Act Together
Dr Peter McCullough and his ally John Leake have together made a wonderful international contribution to understanding of early treatment protocols and the harm caused by mRNA drugs. In addition to their powerful intervention against the Biden administration’s obsession with maximising the profits of Big Pharma, DrMcCullough and John Leake also contribute strongly to the defence of civilisation against the profiteering advocates for abolition of reliable energy.
Similarly, Dr Robert W Malone MD, another effective opponent of coercive vaccination, also warns us of the immense dangers inseparable from the policies of the Environmental Protection Agency, for example the intended requirement for electric models to account for 60% of new urban delivery trucks and 25% of long-haul prime movers by 2032.
Some of the millions of victims of vaccine harm have not yet realised that their suffering has been caused by the same politicians, the same unelected authoritarians and the same profiteers who drive the global warming fraud. Let’s all encourage such victims to identify and expose the wickedness which has caused their pain, while we maximise our efforts to alleviate that pain.
Some of the good folk who lucidly advocate for real science in opposition to the charlatans of the Global Warming Cult have not yet turned their attention to the wickedness of Big Pharma and its corrupt allies in positions of power in Australia, Canada, USA, UK and elsewhyere. Let us all encourage every person of goodwill to speak up for the victims of vaccine harm (or their surviving loved ones) who emphatically deserve compassion, care and compensation.
Some readers have not yet declared themselves as supporters of freedom and national sovereignty for the people of Ukraine, victims of brutal aggression by the Putin hegemonists. Historians of the future may well concur that the October 2023 attack on Israel by HAMAS was orchestrated by Putin, with the results exactly as he planned; a major distraction from public examination of the wickedness of Russia, and a dilution of support for Ukraine. Neither Putin nor HAMAS care in the slightest about the consequent bloodshed. Note that Australia has still failed to deliver on the promise to shift our Embassy to Jerusalem. Thoughtful Australians stand with Ukraine and stand with Israel. Riccardo Bosi - the thug who called for Australian public officials to be hanged - and his fellow twerps shamefully stand with Putin.
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Thank you for a well-written article on the fundamentals of freedom - basically, the ability to avoid dependence. I do believe our very survival is at stake here, and to place such responsibility in the hands of a small group of very wealthy global elitists is pure insanity. I also found the Australian history you highlighted fascinating, since most of my family now resides on your island.