saveeumundi.org

Response to Powerlink letter to the editor in Noosa News [12 August 2008]

Once again we have an example of Powerlink attempting to justify large-scale, old world engineering solutions to our current climate change challenges, and in particular to those of energy supply and demand.

It appears to be conveniently blind to any issues in the emerging energy debate that do not support projects it has planned and justified based on an outdated frame of reference.

RESPONSE: PAGE calls on Powerlink, Energex and State government to have some genuine smart state thinking to ensure there is real innovative sustainable energy infrastructure on the Sunshine Coast.

It is pathetic to see Powerlink trying to use Garnaut and the ensuing debate to try to justify its flawed decisions.

Garnaut does not suggest what we need is bigger infrastructure, and more capacity of the kind being proposed by Powerlink, and it is a travesty for it to try to justify its plans with such a misinterpretation.

While I am encouraged by Mr Bartlett’s belated reference to renewable energy, I think he should read the draft Garnaut report more closely before attempting to use it to support his argument.

On more careful reading, he would find that Garnaut in fact refers to the danger of inefficient investment decision-making resulting from “overinvestment in network infrastructure and centralised generation, and underinvestment in embedded generation like solar photovoltaic and cogeneration”.

Garnaut said we need infrastructure to support low emission alternatives; that without major change in the transmission infrastructure, new technologies will find it difficult to compete; and that the degree to which consumers can express preferences for lower-emissions solutions will be dependant on the availability of appropriate network infrastructure.

He also notes the “current processes for extending the electricity network are likely to be suboptimal from a societal perspective” and states explicitly that: “… it will usually be better NOT to install … additional capacity until there is concrete proof of need.”

He goes on further to say on this subject that “this onerous burden of proof is necessary to ensure that only essential infrastructure extensions are undertaken and to avoid the possibility of multiple underused extensions to the grid”. And again he said in this regard, and quoting the Australian Energy Market Commission, that electricity transmission infrastructure planning will need to have regard to the “the most efficient combination of transmission, generation, distribution and non-network options that will deliver reliable energy supply at minimum efficient cost to consumers under a range of credible future scenarios”. It would also take into account demand side, embedded generation and fuel substitution alternatives.

He goes on further to discuss a number of emerging factors that will impact on the economic justification for large transmission projects such as that proposed by Powerlink, such as the fact that energy losses from electrical resistance in transmission cables are significant when electricity is transported over long distances; the cost of network augmentation is driven solely by the extent of peak demand (3-4 days each year) and that embedded generation at peak periods helps to avoid or defer the high costs of network augmentation; and the fact that distributed generation that provides energy during high demand periods is significantly under compensated for its lower levels of losses, network benefits and timing of supply. This is what we have been pleading to Powerlink and indirectly to Energex and the government since the beginning of this debate.

Once again we call on Powerlink, Energex and the ministers Wilson and McNamara to get together and let’s have some genuine smart state thinking to ensure we have real innovative sustainable energy infrastructure on the Sunshine Coast and more broadly in the rest of Queensland.

Dr John Cronin
PhD, MA (Mgt), GDip(Law), FAJCD
Powerlines Action Group Eumundi

Source: Noosa News. To contact the editor to share your thoughts or to provide feedback on this article, their email address is noosaed@scnews.com.au.

Source: Noosa News – John Cronin (PAGE) (12 August 2008)