The Australian Energy Market Operator has made a rare foray into the mainstream media debate around the green energy transition, saying claims that its cost assessment of renewables does not include transmission and storage are “Wrong.”
The campaign has already drawn a response from CSIRO economist Paul Graham, but after one Murdoch media columnist sought to seize upon this as proof that renewables were not low cost, it appears to have been too much for AEMO. “Recent media commentary that AEMO’s Integrated System Plan does not include transmission and storage, as well as generation costs associated with providing electricity to Australian customers is wrong,” the organisation wrote in a media statement on Monday.
“The ISP demonstrates that new renewables with new transmission, firmed with hydro, batteries and gas - is the lowest cost way to supply electricity to Australian homes and businesses as coal fired generation retires,” it writes.
Graham pointed out that its cost estimates focuses on calculating the cost of moving from the expected 50% variable renewable share in 2030 to either 60%, 70%, 80% or 90% renewables.
"These tend to be based on renewables operating in ways inconsistent with least cost system design which must make use of all available technologies and only deploy renewables where they contribute to lower system costs.
I feel the same for politicians.
If an individual can be done for perjury when on the stand in court, then I think it is reasonable that a similar legal obligation should be placed on our politicians and journalists.
Actually, I think the consequences for a politician or journalist knowingly lying should be far greater than that placed on individuals, because both politicians and journalists have far better access to high quality sources of information than your average citizen, meaning there should be extremely limited grounds for the claim of “I didn’t know” or “I was deceived” to be accepted as a reason for them being ignorant of evidence and/or pushing baseless ideologies instead.