Some nice Banker people have turned up to give us the batteries we need to save the world. What could possibly go wrong?
The Leviathan BlackRock will soon spend a billion dollars on big batteries in Australia. It is the largest asset manager in the world — with some $10 Trillion in assets to direct. To put that kind of power in perspective, the entire GDP of Australia is about $1.4 Trillion, so if BlackRock chose to throw its weight around, to hypothetically, improve its chances of making a profit, it won’t need an army, it just needs to hint “nice business you have there”, and the path will presumably clear. There are only two countries on Earth with larger GDP’s — America and China.
If BlackRock was a country the Foreign Investment Review Board of Australia would need to pay attention to potential conflicts of interest. But as it is, BlackRock flies under that radar while it bullies other companies and governments to do things to “save the world” which also happen to make profits for BlackRock.
If say, the voters of Australia voted against Climate Action as electricity bills drew blood, it’s hard to imagine BlackRock wouldn’t be pulling strings to keep the government subsidy train pointed at its own tunnel. It would effectively be working against the interests of Australians. While all investors are supposed to work for their shareholders, most investors don’t wield the kind of power that’s larger than our GDP.
US Giant BlackRock to Invest $1 Billion Into Australian Battery Projects
Daniel Teng, The Epoch Times
U.S. investment giant BlackRock will invest $1 billion (US$701 million) into Australian battery projects after agreeing to acquire Melbourne-based Akaysha Energy.
Its largest project is the 1,600 megawatt Orana battery in Wellington, central-west New South Wales, which can provide around eight hours of energy storage.
Given that BlackRock is equivalent to a major foreign power, shouldn’t the government be asking harder questions before it opens the door to an entity that lobbies like a political activist, serves foreign investors, and shamelessly meddles in national policies?
h/t Colin, Dave B,
Australia is now generally an unattractive place to invest except for mineral projects or unreliables.
So, since this project relates to unreliable energy production (solar and wind) there must be a substantial, above average return on investment for the battery project.
This great return will, of course, ultimately be paid for by the Australian consumer and what little industry is left.
Australia is one of the world’s most fanatical subscribers to the anthropogenic global warming fraud. There will be many more of these projects as other wiser countries start refusing any further energy starvation projects.
751
Who and what the Hell is Akaysha Energy, and what are its assets?
130
Maybe it’s in Russian.
Akaysha translates back as ” Acacia “, indicating it’s Australian based.
50
Reads like a name that a certain demographic would lumber onto their baby girl. (Apologies to all little girls named Akaysha or variations thereof.)
170
There was a company called Acacia Resources some years ago.
40
As science is irrelevant to Climate Change, I have almost stopped giving reasons why it is nuts, wrong, absurd and obviously not true. Like the end of the Great Barrier reef is suddenly completely wrong. Which means it was always wrong.
The complete lack of warming for a decade means Climate Change/Global Warming, man made or not man made is also wrong.
So it’s no longer Climate Scientology. It has no pretence of science. Science is not even mentioned. And the world is greener which means nett zero is rubbish and a new Brazil in size has grown with the extra CO2. So much for the carbon equation and carbon credits. We owe the planet a fortune.
No, it is the Climate Change Religion. CCR. Goes with CCP.
And governments handing our money to this religion have no right to do so. They do not fund the Catholic church or the Church of England, the Buddhists or the Mormons or the Sikhs or the Jews or the Presbyterians or the Athiests. And in the US the government is explicitly forbidden under the first amendment to the constitution.
You can believe in Climate Change. That’s your right, to believe in anything you want. Like the Rapture.
But you are not to spend my money on windmills and giant batteries or teams of trained hedgehogs or seals. Or votive offerings to Gaia. And you are not to give $444Million to ‘save’ something which does not need saving and I want my money back. Why raise money for good causes when the Turnbull’s can gift our money like the new Medici.
So batteries are fine. But only those who believe in Climate Change should pay for it. With their own money.
291
“Like the end of the Great Barrier reef is suddenly completely wrong. Which means it was always wrong.”
It’s all good now that labor are in.
110
Might as well invite the WEF in as well. Could have a great party with Blackrock & all their mates in our Government & Coalition parties.
40
Another thing to consider is that with these huge amounts of money being invested in unreliables, if we ever get a rational government (not likely!) and said rational government decides to disengage from unreliable energy production, the payouts to cancel the contracts of companies like this will be huge.
Logically, the compensation payouts would be paid for via electricity prices.
We therefore may never see any reduction in electricity prices, even if we went one hundred percent coal, gas or nuclear.
In other words, this effectively permanently locks in high, economy-destroying electricity prices.
781
A very good point when it’s said that;
“the payouts to cancel the contracts of companies like this will be huge”.
There is, however, a requirement that contracts be made in good faith and the “selling points” claimed by the vendors must have substance.
Those who bought the renewables on our behalf have a responsibility to check out the truth of any claims made during the sales pitch.
I believe that this aspect of the contracts needs checking as I do not believe that renewables in any shape or form are saving the planet or giving us cheap electricity.
Are these “contracts” valid?
Perhaps we, the people, should be seeking compensation from the vendors; past, present and emerging.
KK
631
True, contracts have to be in good faith.
But the lie will be that the government was making decisions in accord with “best available expert scientific advice”.
This will include the false claims of organisations like the CSIRO (once reputable government scientific research organisation) and Australia’s Bureau of Meterology that drove and supported government decisions, as well as numerous “reputable academics”.
431
The climatista are always saying that renewables are cheaper than coal-fired . Well is it?
Relative Cost of coal-fired power & Wind-generated
Long term costs
Wind driven generators (WDG) between $1.3million $1.9million per MW to build (internet search)
Capacity factor (CF) 25-30% (25% according to AEMO report some years ago ) (22% calculated using data from the 2021 AEMO report)
1.5 GW wind farm costs between $1.95 billion to $2.85 billion to build (doesn’t include land rental & so many other things)
Because of the CF you need over 3 to 4 times the generating hardware so $1.95 billion X 3 = $5.85 billion &n $2.85 billion X 3 = $8.55 billion
Additional transmission infrastructure + backup generators are also required but not addressed here.
South Australian 129MWh big battery $100 Million (between $50 & $150 million, not officially announced as far as I know)
One night 14hours X 1.5MW = 21 MWhrs storage would cost about $16 million ? How much would be needed? A week or more may be needed to cover low wind periods. Batteries are increasing in price as the lithium price has increased 3.5 times this last year.
The wind-farm would could last less than 20 years. You would have to replace them at least 2 times (that means 3X the construction costs)
meaning the total cost for 60+ years = at least $17.4 billion to $25.65 billion and that doesn’t include the costs of backup, additional transmission infrastructure, dismantling & removal from the site when replaced as well as the subsidies resulting from the RET legislation. The RET may end soon or may continue and be expanded, who knows what will happen? Subsidies are also received from ARENA and other organisations.
The backup batteries and inverters would need to be replaced 5 times or more during that 60+ years (around $105 million x number of days to be covered).
The Transmission infrastructure would cost billions as well and then there is O&M (not cheap with weather exposed equipment).
Coal at $3,500/KW results in $5.25 billion to build 1.5 GW plant + O&M for 60+ years of operation. (CF around 90% if allowed to operate efficiently) (I think that the $3,500/KW is too high on purpose to discredit coal-fired generation but that was what was claimed!)
The Wind generator solution would be between 3 and 5 times as expensive as the cost of the coal-fired plant without considering the costs of backup and additional transmission infrastructure, disassembly & removal from the site when replaced. I believe that 5 times is closer to the mark! There are a lot of unknowns to so with the WDG, all increasing the cost.
So much for the longterm cost of electricity!
Short term:
Contract prices received by coal-fired plants are between $40 & $80 per MWh.
The wholesale spot market (renewables and gas peaking plants etc.) around $228/MWh & $344/MWhr recently depending on the state during the last quarter. Renewables also receive around $51/MWh (LGC which is a subsidy we electricity users pay for) which means that they receive about $279/MWh to $395/MWhr depending on the state
Now which is cheaper? Also, you cannot do a black start with a wind, battery or solar generators!
That is $80 compared to $395 per MWh. What do you think?
John
81
Your ball park figures are good enough to establish the fact that we are being scammed by our own government. It is beyond doubt that the government should not be trusted at all. Bowen is doing his best to kill off what little manufacturing we have left and then he will move on agriculture unless their sloppy approach to keeping FMD out lets in the disease and does the job for them. By 2030 we will not need to strive for net zero in 2050, it will be here already and Australia will be wide open to a Chinese takeover. There are traitors in our midst and they are running the show. No wonder facts are not allowed to be broadcast because heaven forbid the proles might want to ask more questions. It is up to Dutton to direct every question in QT to Bowen about his climate catastrophe.
70
Yes, things will be grim, as electricity costs go up and up, and as we get more renewables, there will be blackouts. Higher interest rates, higher staff pay (mandated by unthinking polls as vote winners) along with various (mostly) government entities wanting a share of the supposed inexhaustible money pile will lead to a recession (at least) and businesses will respond by reducing staff, ordering less stock etc. even stopping trading, compounding the downturn.
The various governments will panic especially as the money runs out and ‘printing’ more causes the Ozzie dollar to slide to parity with toilet paper (which will rise in value). The general public, even those still employed, will be annoyed and the various Public Bureaucracies will suddenly find they have to justify their existence or go. The result will be a collapse in support and probably nervous breakdowns by politicians who want to be loved. Morale in Canberra will collapse. There will be large numbers running around doing a great imitation of a headless chook. You cannot force people to continue towards bankruptcy and expect continued support.
The result, the fissioning of the Labor party (the Liberals already going that way) and possibly a government that just says no. Blackrock and other trough inhabitants will lose out.
281
Or, Anthony Albanese will copy Scott Morrison and swear himself in as every minister, then form a ‘bipartisan’ government with the leader of the opposition, and then tell us the public that we can go pound sand because if we even think of protesting the Stazi will lock us up.
IOW, predictions are always dodgy.
91
Yes,
going right on target up to;
“Blackrock and other trough inhabitants will lose out”.
These excressences never lose out. They’ll have stock market CFDs or whatever to cover any loss.
Our main trouble is with the middle men, politicians and public serpents, who are acting on their own behalf, not ours.
Investigate their assets and income, find the dirty money and parade them in public; preferably in wooden stocks.
See if that changes anything.
141
I thought I’d used all the bypasses to get around the modulation device, but no.
50
Guess it got too much for Forrest who seems to have stopped posting; I’m similarly on the verge of abandonment.
40
I was going to say, with an army you can cancel any contract you like…then I remembered, I’m in Australia, not the USA.
50
So how many desalination plants are working? And we are likely still paying for them at ancient interest rates on the never never. Billions for nothing. And nothing is said.
70
There seems to be a long trail of opportunity costs to the never ending trail of stupidity
Anti Australia long term LNG contracts
ATSIC
Sydney 2nd Airport
Closing the Gap
Desal Plants
French Submarines
GBR slush funds
“Renewables” generally
Covid lockdowns, responses, vaccines
Snowy 2
Just imagine if we had those funds to do things like dams, useful power generation, education, mental health, health and medical, public transport, real defence spending
70
It won’t be permanent because, fortunately unreliables and batteries have a very short life before they go to landfill.
50
Not looking forward to having to deal with the resulting battery fires either.
20
How do monoliths like Blackrock escape due diligence investigation.
300
Australia has some of the world’s most stupid and ignorant politicians. That’s how.
551
But David, it is clearly obvious we certainly do not have any sort of monopoly on the ‘world’s most stupid and ignorant politicians’ 🙁
150
Yes, but we are in the gold medal class against stiff competition.
70
TdeF,
“Yes, but we are in the gold medal class against stiff competition.”
Indeed yes; there is pretty stiff competition from NZ, down your way; as well as UK, US, Germany etc. up here in the Northern Hemisphere.
Interesting to see who actually wins a gold medal for a nation-wide blackout, relying on un-reliables, in the coming [N] winter [the Southern Summer] . . .
Living inside the M25, I fear it may be Boris’s Carrie-Antoinette’s pals here in the UK, and their toxic legacy – but I’d be delighted to be proven wrong.
Have many candles, though, just in case.
Auto
30
How? A quick check finds this for a start:
Blackrock was founded in 1988 by CEO Larry Fink and others.
Larry is 69 and has been married to Lori since 1970.
So it looks like Larry started early, made every post a winner, and didn’t mess around.
His wealth was reported there as $1 billion. I suspect that is his loose change.
50
Larry and Lori, lovely couple.
20
A couple of real finks…
40
You fink so?
60
Wasn’t it in Mad magazine that I first heard of a fink? Spy versus spy was excellent and a precursor to the FBI versus the CIA or maybe the FBI versus the USA.
20
How they all tug their forelocks to the likes of Blackrock and WEF is quite amazing. They clearly dont govern for the people.
50
Bankers and the printer(government)are tightly linked. Death by self interested regulation surrounds them. Responsible wealth generation swapped for assured payment by clipping essential services.
230
Government and the public service are just like batteries.
They produce nothing, they take energy and resources from the surrounding world, redistribute it and keep a cut for themselves.
30
Is ESG like triple bottom line.
70
No, ESG stands for Elevator Services Group. They’ll fix your lift for a fee.
Seriously though, it stands for Easily Screwed then Gone.
51
I thought it stood for Energy Shortage Guaranteed
50
No, it’s my standard order at Mickey-D’s: Egg, Sausage, Grease.
10
https://www.afr.com/markets/equity-markets/labor-s-andrew-leigh-takes-on-blackrock-vanguard-20210608-p57z0j
No wonder the banks refuse to invest in reliable energy generation (e.g. coal related investment).
https://www.mining.com/web/banks-dont-want-to-lend-to-australias-coal-miners-any-more/
Not to worry. Once the Chicomms have been invited by the Left to takeover the country, they will immediately get to work on coal exports. Australians will be left to starve on unreliables.
291
This idiocy never seems to end and all because we’re supposed to be facing a…..
climate crisis + emergency + even an existential threat to the Human race.
YET very simple sums and data proves that the reverse is true and we are now living in the very best of times for Human well-being since the start of the Industrial Revolution.
Why do we ignore the data and instead choose to BELIEVE delusional anti-science nonsense from the MSM, stupid pollies, big business activists and left wing extremists?
And why do we want to wreck our electricity grids by wasting endless billions of $ on DILUTE, TOXIC, polluting S & W and ignore the fact that fossil fuel BASE-LOAD power has created all of our recent prosperity in the first place?
Why don’t they just look up the data and THINK.
411
This idiocy never seems to end
Scottish Express
@ScotExpress
NEW: SNP humiliation as they invest £20m in electric police vehicles but not chargers to use the
Meanwhile in Gloucester
Electric police cars are ‘running out of puff’ and causing ‘lots of problems’
ELECTRIC police cars are running out of charge when responding to emergencies because the sirens and blue lights drain the batteries, according to a Police and Crime Commissioner.
Gloucester Constabulary has the largest full electric fleet in the UK, with 21 percent of their 435 vehicles being electric. Chris Nelson, Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner for Gloucester, said officers who were driving the electric vehicles had difficult experiences finding chargers in the county.
Mr Nelson acknowledged that some officers, especially in more rural areas, were having issues locating charging stations.
Speaking at a recent police and crime panel, the PCC said he was concerned about the operational impact electric vehicles were having on the force.
He added: “We’ve all got to go towards electric vehicles. We have the largest fleet by percentage size – that has brought its problems.
“The design options available for electric vehicles for operational uses are not perhaps as advanced as I would like them to be.
“So, let’s put it like this, I’m cautious about going any further down that road at this stage.
260
More – Police stations across Scotland given electric vehicles despite having no charging points
More than 20 police stations in Scotland are home to electric vehicles despite not having any charging points.
The national constabulary has invested almost £20 million over the last three years in electric vehicles as part of its drive to create “a fit-for-purpose, efficient, effective and sustainable 21st century police service”.
But the Scottish Lib Dems said its research found the number of available charging points had not kept pace with the number of cars bought.
Figures obtained via Freedom of Information found there were 23 police stations with no chargers.
And one police officer alleged electric vehicles were being left overnight “in various council car parks” as a result.
Plus
Electric vehicles slammed by readers as ‘too expensive’ and ‘inconvenient’
MOTORISTS are not willing to swap to an electric or hybrid vehicle to reduce their environmental impact, a new poll of Express.co.uk readers has found.
The UK Government is encouraging drivers to stop using petrol and diesel vehicles to help meet net-zero emissions targets. The sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles will be phased out by 2030 and hybrid vehicle sales will also cease in 2035.
Electric vehicles run off batteries which require external charging while a hybrid is powered by a smaller self-generating battery alongside a petrol or diesel engine.
In a poll that ran from 5pm on Wednesday, July 29, to 2pm on Tuesday, August 9, Express.co.uk asked readers: “Would you choose an EV or a hybrid car for now?”
Overall, some 3,375 people responded with the vast majority, 75 percent (2,524 people) answering “no” they would not switch to an EV or hybrid car.
A further 23 percent (762 people) said “yes” they would, while just three percent (89 people) said they did not know either way.
Dozens of comments were left below the accompanying article as readers discussed the benefits and drawbacks of switching from a petrol or diesel vehicle.
Most readers were against replacing their vehicles with electric models.
One reader, username The taxilady wrote: “NEVER. Diesel until I die.”
Username Elsie forever said: “I will never own a disposable electric car. Batteries that last a short time. The cost of these vehicles is astronomical. The plan will never work.”
261
Out Utopian Future
30
Oops Our Utopian Future
30
“sirens and blue lights drain the batteries” I expect also that heaters in electric cars would greatly reduce the life of the batteries. I wouldn’t like to be caught up in a traffic jam in freezing weather in one of those things.
80
I’d imagine a 100W electronic siren would be a real bummer on a long drive…I’ve even seen 200W models available. The battery would be flattened after 10 minutes at 160 kph. And it can be very cold in the UK (or very hot, it seems) pre-flattening the battery.
70
Really ?…how do you figure that ?
Please Explain your estimation,… or correct your comment !
It is nearly as dumb and uninformed as the Police Commissioners comment that ..”sirens and flashing lights drain the batteries” !
21
I suppose this is a thumbs up for criminals, Plods’ blue light will go flat before you get back to your scummy flat on the estate.
30
At some point, the CCP will look like a better government than Australia’s. It’s hard to see where we can go for a better life.
131
Does now, at least you know they hate you and what they want to achieve
Our Govt pretends its there for us and is totally clueless about where its going or how to get there, wherever there is imagined to be at the moment.
30
It would be nice if reporters had a clue about what they were writing about. I suspect it’s really a 1,600 MWh battery capable of delivering up to 200 MW of power.
The “eight hours of storage” is extra-deceptive. It sounds like you are backing up all power needs for 8 hours, but it’s really an indication of how *unavailable* the power is. You could trickle it out over a month by reducing power output to 2 MW.
430
Robert, it’s one of my pet annoyances.
Along with them calling carbon dioxide “carbon” or nitrogenous fertilisers “nitrogen”.
It’s tragic to think that the people reporting on these issues and strongly influencing public opinion are so scientifically illiterate (and no doubt illiterate in other ways as well).
401
They have no clue about what they are reporting, recently Qantas plane reported as running low on petrol.
360
Hopefully it did indeed have no petrol in its tanks! (sorry…)
80
+1 here.
And i dont get the excitement over this deal ?
$1.0 bn will only buy about 1.0 GWh. Of battery storage…total !
Not enough for eorthwhile backup dtorage….
…but wii earn plenty from fixing those pesky FCAS problems caused by Wind and Solar !,
…whilst harvesting profits from arbitrage ! 👍👍🤫🤫
90
Yes, the 8 hours refers to the battery, not the demand it is feeding.
30
You are correct, If One 1,600 MW battery supplies power for 8 Hours
then every hour 200MW of power is used.
200MW of power every hour is 200,000 KW (divide by 1000 to get KW hours)
If every home uses 2KW of power, the battery will supply 100,000 homes for 8 hours.
If the power companies introduce the new A.E.M.O. rule (made last August) that solar homes have to pay for exported power to the grid, say an initial fee of 10 cents per KW. This battery will have an incoming power revenue from mum’s and dad’s with solar on their roof of $20,000 per hour.
( 200Mw = 200,000 Kw X 10 cents = $20,000 per hour)
The same battery supplying 100,000 homes using 200,000 Kw, charges 40 cents per Kw hour, = $80,000.
Total revenue = incoming fees + outgoing fees = $100,000 per hour.
The cost of these batteries is eye watering.
Could some a lot smarter than me please explain how our electricity bills will fall by $275 per year and
how many mega batteries of this size would we need across Australia by 2030 to lower emissions by 43%?
Thanks.
80
Oh, how convenient.
The Queenslandistan Government is withdrawing rebates for home batteries and instead building TWELVE grid-scale batteries.
Other state governments are doing similar.
ABC News item (2min 21sec):
https://youtu.be/itoRX_hVu9Q
I wonder who gets to invest in those?
And guess what? This means you won’t be easily able to go off-grid. There will still be centralised power at the occasional times it is available.
We can’t have the Serfs being energy independent can we?
It’s all part of the plan. Clever!
191
“I wonder who gets to invest in those?”
Mostly their mates, after suitable backhanders.
141
“The Queenslandistan Government is withdrawing rebates for home batteries and instead building TWELVE grid-scale batteries.
Other state governments are doing similar.”
It goes without saying that if the grubbiment subsidised US to have OUR OWN batteries, WE would have CONTROL of our own destiny, well now, we can’t have that can we, so OUR REBATES are gone and in their place is a grubbiment owned battery facility, paid for by US, they we have no say in, they will decide who gets what and how much it will cost us.
150
I wonder how this will fit in with Queenslands Treaty with some of its own citizens, along with “TRUTH TELLING” Im sure we are all headed for utopia.
UTOPIA: Imaginary island with perfect social and political system; An ideal perfect place or state of things
71
I thought it was spelt ‘you, dopier’.
70
I love how they call the “grid scale” when they clearly are not.
50
Its largest project is the 1,600 megawatt Orana battery in Wellington, central-west New South Wales, which can provide around eight hours of energy storage.
Help me out – – Why Wellington?
[Wikipedia says 4,077 folks in 2016]
Does the “eight hours” apply to Wellington or are they planning on powering Sydney for 8 hours.
140
Interesting question John.
It’s a strong National seat.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/federal/2022/guide/cala
The NSW Government doesn’t need to buy votes.
Does an important person own the land on which the battery will be built, perhaps?
181
Wellington? It could be because there are both wind and solar installations there, and close to an existing distribution hub, so I guess they’ve already experienced some interesting unexpected variations in supply.
There’s been several days here with gusty winds and on again, off again sunshine, and I’d expect Wellington to have had something similar, as it’s only about 50 crow-miles away.
Cheers
Dave B
Cooyal
180
That makes sense, its part of the hub.
https://wellingtonbess.com
40
At Wellington they have a couple of thousand acres of tracking solar panels across the road from a long standing 132 kv sub station which was connected a decade ago to a new 330kv line to the Bayswater/Mt Piper 500kv line at Wollar. I guess the battery will go there.
The Mt Bodangara windmills are just up the road a bit past the gaol on the way to Gulgong.
About that 500kv line. It was built in the early 1980s 55kms longer than it needed to be so as to avoid going through the Wollemi National Park. The conductors are a bit over an inch in diameter in bundles of four, spaced out at about knee height for the blokes who went out along them to fix the spacers. This bundling is to counter the poer loss into the atmosphere at high voltages. At 500 kv a single conductor would have to be two and three eighths of an inch thick to reduce the loss to an acceptable level. It would be impossible to transport a cable so thick on our roads. Bundling achieves the required effect.
For 25 years it operated at 330 kv. Then one muggy day the kids told me the line was crackling. I couldn’t hear it, too deaf. But a few days later I read that they had just upped the voltage to 500 kv.
So I wonder how much power is lost from that extra 55 km of line?
110
Thanks. Here is the location:
Suntop, a Canadian firm
Lat/Long: -32.5764, 148.82
10
Makings of another descriptive acronym there –
“Experienced Some Interesting Unexpected Variations In Supply.
“An ESIUVIS Problem” sounds very technical
30
Perhaps it’s a volcano???
20
There is a “vision” for western NSW to be some kind of energy hub. Serving what I am less sure as its a long way from any significant demand. Between intermittency, conversion losses and transmission losses it looks to me like another govt sponsored white elephant in the making.
40
Another example of Climate Change hysteria distorting our priorities.
The UN has a number of Sustainable Development Goals. SDG #6 is increasing access to clean drinking water and sanitation.
The UN say that:
– “billions of people still lack safe water sanitation”
– “Each day, nearly 1,000 children die due to preventable water and sanitation-related diarrheal diseases”
– “funding is inadequate”
So, 1000 children a day are suffering and dying from preventable diseases with terrible symptoms like chronic diarrhoea, with lack of funds being a major obstacle to a solution, yet somehow we can find a billion dollars for batteries. And according to the IEA, trillions over the last few years for “clean energy”.
This is an aspect of the Climate Change issue that doesn’t get enough attention. Alarmists like to talk about the moral imperative for climate action. Perhaps they should look at their own distorted priorities before giving sanctimonious lectures.
230
Saving lives doesn’t count because the Left generally also have a depopulation agenda (e.g. https://populationmatters.org/news/2019/09/world-and-un-must-reduce-population-growth).
131
Why is it the case that although humans first evolved in Africa, the ones still living there still have no idea where or how to find a basic like clean water, what have they been doing for 60,000 years.
191
The same could be said for the indigenous population in this country prior to the
invasioncolonisation by the British. They had not even invented the wheel but were perhaps fortunate that a plentiful river system provided clean water.191
Quite the opposite.
When Charles Sturt discovered the Darling River it was a chain of waterholes too salt to drink, and the natives were dying of starvation.
Watkin Tench, a captain of marines on the First Fleet, wrote an interesting record of the Sydney area. Free at gutenberg.org. I downloaded in epub and read them on the iPad.
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3534
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3535
30
“Charles Sturt discovered the Darling River it was a chain of waterholes”
But Ted1, that is impossible
Droughts didn’t exist before human emitted CO2 caused climate change! 😉
60
From an engineering standpoint, the ENTIRE “battery’ thing is a monumental CROCK.I am NOT an electrical engineers, but I spent three decades in and around the electronics side of the construction industry, have debugged a few circuits and seen some spectacular “stuff-ups”.
“Batteries” are, by definition DC devices. Thomas Edison would have been, briefly, excited.
HOWEVER, the REAL world, runs on Nikola Tesla’s ALTERNATING CURRENT, at least for generation, distribution and general consumption.
Thus, to CHARGE a “battery”, you need to have a “black box” that takes the AC, converts it to DC and then stuffs it into the “battery” in a CONTROLLED ms this relies on a hydrocarbon fueled engine to DRIVE an alternator (fancy name for a “generator” that makes ALTERNATING Current). This AC is then run through a “black box” which converts to AC to DC. This MUST happen because as the IC engine speed varies, so does the AC voltage and frequency. Somewhat older vehicles actually used real DC generators, with “control circuits” out of the Bronze Age. Silicon Semiconductors changed that forever, though if the modern Luddites have their wicked way, most of us will be walking to the mass graves, anyway.
IF this rectifier / regulator setup goes wonky, expect your vehicle to come to a sudden and VERY expensive halt. ALL modern vehicles are controlled by “computers” of varying type and performance. Dumping AC into these will result in expensive tears before bed-time and possibly “smoke” wafting from instrument panels and DEFINITELY a total loss of vehicular functionality.
Back to these “magic” batteries.
SO first you need to CHARGE the beasties to a nominal level. Oddly enough, this will require ELECTRICITY from another source AND transmission lines.
Then, in the event you achieve a decent charge, the “battery” can “output’ into a hugely-expensive “inverter” circuit to produce Alternating current to be applied ro wires feeding “THE GRID”.
After that, most folks will be at the mercy of the sort of “interesting” people who seem to currently (Boom! Tish) be set on total control thereof; (RATIONING) based more on political whims than any semblance of reality.
The usual LSM suspects have bee rabbiting on bout the price of Nickel lately. Not surprisingly, as the potentially most voracious customer is “battery” makers; “Nickel-Metal Hydride” types, for starters. LOTS of “interesting” links in this caper. Also used in certain steel alloys.
270
Thanks for that explanation Bruce, did you know that the old generator on 50’s cars actually made AC current internally up to where it was rectified by the commutator and brushes , a mechanical rectifier.
40
Yeah: sort of “pulsed DC”. Straight alternators use “sliop-ring”s instead od multi-pole commutators.
Some of the ’30s and ’40s cars that had radios in them also had a multi-voltage setup because of the requirement for different supply voltages for valve-heater supply and amplifier supply. This had pretty much disappeared by the mid 1950s.
The late 1940s also saw the push to change from six Volt systems to twelve Volt systems, but that is another story.
50
When I was at school in Sydney there was in the physics lab a nickel/iron battery that was over 50 years old, and still worked like new. 1.5 volts per cell.
It was the introduction of transistors that revolutionised automotive electrics. The alternator was a giant leap forward.
30
Wasn’t when it was one of those Prestolite ones made under license by Email though
10
In this 5 minute video Alex Epstein explains why the use of UNRELIABLE, TOXIC S & W is an EXISTENTIAL threat to Humans and our way of life.
The data since 1800 proves that he is correct and yet we still want to throw our prosperity away?
https://www.prageru.com/video/whats-the-deal-with-the-green-new-deal
90
I disagree with his basic premise that CO2 is of anthropogenic origin but agree that whatever the cause of increasing CO2, it is a benefit.
131
Bjorn Lomborg, Koonin, Schellenberger all pronounce their belief in Anthropogenic CO2 ( ie. that “we” are the main contributors to the observed rise in earths CO2 levels) because they believe it keeps them in the debate. Saying otherwise would be too radical and they would be shunned. In fact, there are others who are Climate Realists, but then believe in the greenhouse effect, even though its a total misnomer and doesn’t even come close to describing how a greenhouse works.
90
We can measure CO2 coming out of factories or engines – directly measure it. If it didn’t come from the chemical process predicted to produce CO2 how did it come to be in the place it is predicted to be? And when it is released into the air how does it suddenly disappear?
414
Green vegetation and oceans suck it up.
90
And when the ocean “sucks it up”, the ocean plants use a lot of it.
Those plants are eaten by crustaceans, fish etc.
When they die, the carbon compounds sink to the ocean floor.. out of the short term carbon cycle.
That is why the atmospheric CO2 level has been so low, barely plant subsistence level, for so long.. teetering on the edge !
Then, THANK GOODNESS, along came Man, to release a small amount of buried carbon back into short term Carbon Cycle.
Basically .. HUMANS SAVED THE PLANET !!
50
Australia’s GDP of 1.4 trillion dollars cannot realistically be compared to Blackrock’s 19 trillion of Funds Under Management (FUM). That is like comparing apples with oranges. For example, Australia’s Superannuation System totals over 3 trillion dollars which is greater than the GDP of Australia on its own. Then there is the rest of wealth of Australia – Housing stock, Land, Minerals, etc, etc, etc.
Having said that, I would not trust Blackrock, the UN, the WEF, the Chinese or anyone else like that to have the Australian population’s interests at heart. Heck, I don’t even trust the Australian Federal Guv’ment or the States and Territories either.
Nothing will really change until it has to.
Crash and Burn and Brick Wall come to mind with all of this.
191
To provide complete grid scale battery back-up of a solar & wind powered electricity grid would cost $10 TRILLION.
The maths is not difficult
$1 Billion is just small change
170
I’m over it. I’m barely even arguing any more.
I own a pitchfork. I am polishing it, eagerly awaiting the day. Is it bad that my torch is a Dolphin?
[Tim, you appear to be using a full (real) name. You have also included a link which is public, to your apparently real business. Another reader has pointed out that this could be a privacy matter or worse. I removed the link from this comment but you should consider removing it from your personal settings. None of the mods can do that except for individual comments. It will be up to you to make the change to your profile. H/T: Gee Aye ]ED
140
No, because when you fall off your fishing boat in the ocean in the middle of the night your torch will float.
40
Hi Tim – you might want to be careful with what you write while giving us yours and your company’s contact details. Not everyone appreciates the joke or the stance.
[Thank you, Gee Aye, for pointing this out. I removed the web link from his comment and will point out the possible privacy trouble for Tim to consider.]ED
90
Alex Epstein answers 20 myths about fossil fuels and Andrew Dessler debated Dr Steve Koonin last night at the SOHO Forum. Please check out Alex’s debunking at the link below..
I’ll try to get a link to the Koonin, Dessler debate ASAP.
https://energynow.com/2022/08/commentary-20-myths-about-fossil-fuels-refuted-alex-epstein/
110
Judith Curry reported that, after seeing some results of the debate, that Koonin “won”. I think that is good, but Koonin is still a believer in the CO2 effect, so he’s in that same club as Bjorn Lomborg.
50
I don’t know specifically what Lomborg and Koonin think. However, an argument can be made for a small CO2 effect, but not a continuing one. Read that last clause again.
I will add a longer comment at the current end –
current end is #48.
20
I wonder how much land will be involved in building a 1600 megawatt battery and will all the green protest groups find endangered frogs, possums, birds or lizards on this proposed site. Is it possible that it could be a sacred site that will also delay development ? Will court cases protesting the project go on for years as in the case of Adani or will it be signed off by everyone in the blink of a metaphorical eye? Sorry, forgot about the brown paper bag big enough to hold $10 trillion, I guess that can fix all possible problems!
The article also mentions that this proposed battery will provide 8 hours worth of storage but it doesn’t say for what.
Is it 8 hours worth of running Sydney or just the local area of Welington?
140
That’s 8 hours at its rated discharge.
30
Sambar it’s not only the land required for the batteries it’s also the land required for roads and powerlines etc , not aware of any of these boondoggles that also don’t require the removal of native vegetation. And before our greenie friends chime in about the same happens for a new coal fired power plant can I remind them that they are not pretending to be green .
60
Not much “native vegetation” (trees) to remove at Wellington. It’s built on magnificent farmland.
Actually, about Wellington. It’s worth watching. It will be the ideal model to refer to. Minimal site preparation costs and no distribution costs with the existing power lines and substation already in place. They didn’t even have to build an access road.
30
Whoops – A typo there. I mean Blackrock’s 10 trillion dollars of FUM and not 19 trillion dollars of FUM.
40
Here is the website for the battery project.
https://wellingtonbess.com/
It says it has a maximum discharge rate of 500MW and a capacity of 1000MWh not “1600MW” which I assume really means 1600MWh.
Like all such battery projects I assume its main purpose will be electricity price arbitrage (buy cheap, sell expensive as the wind and sun come and go).
101
Maybe the journalist added 1000MWh to 500MW to get 1500MW and didn’t know you couldn’t mix units, LoL, and then added 100 for good measure?
71
Which means it’s only able to provide 2 hours of power at 500MW, so in other words it’s not really storage but load regulation.
80
Well , if it is 1000MWh, then that is all their $1.0 bn budget blown on one installation..
And yes, even that capacity (5x Hornsdale ), is only really useful for FCAS and Arbitrage !
70
“its main purpose will be electricity price arbitrage”
IIRC, the SA battery makes one heck of a lot of income just from frequency stabilisation.
30
ESG banking and investing guidelines are an ideology, which have been snuck in under the pretence of “responsible” policy. The finance industry loved it because it was another way to make money from transactions. But now, these policies are starting to adversely affect a greater proportion of the population through higher energy prices etc.
110
Investors in Fixed Assets, must absolutely LOVE the policies of Central Banks: they get to spend the NEW money before its inflationary wave spreads through the economy.
They really can’t lose. The big players benefit the most — they can’t do anything but grow exponentially.
Check out “The Decade the Rich Won” – a documentary on BBC World about a month ago.
It’s only 25 minutes, a quick recap of the financial meltdown in 2008, (often referred to as the GFC.)
Learn about the main players (like Osborne in Britain); and how they chose ever more Quantitative Easing (printing money), as their policy.
At the end, the Chairman of an investment firm, sums it up: the authorities decided to “support” the people holding assets.
[and that means, logically, the wealthiest asset owners benefited the most].
“Sorry proles, nothing for you this time around… but maybe some crumbs will drop from the Top Table if you wait in the right place!”
P.S. It was news to me that Vodafone got a ‘secret, sweetheart deal’ from British tax collectors, to get away with not paying tax !
70
These batteries last only 10 years and at a huge cost. You can see what’s in store for the energy users down under and once we have moved to this solution we’re locked into Chinese dependency and there is no turning. There is no way poorer 3rd world countries that are driving up emissions could afford these batteries, so we know they will continue to use FF. This is effectively an attack on our democracy and sovereignty.
160
The purveyors of unreliables are making enormous amounts of money now, and will continue to make even more as more unreliables are added.
But at some point, so much wealth will be drained from the economy and into their pockets, electricity will be a luxury item affordable and suitable only for night time lighting and listening to government propaganda broadcasts on the radio or TV.
People will use firewood for heat, probably illegally taken from national parks and state forests.
Then the unreliables will become unprofitable. But by then the economy will have collapsed and be much like Venezuela today.
111
As expected Dr Koonin easily won the debate with Dessler and the swing to him was about 25% at the conclusion.
Amazing what happens when you use proper data and evidence to support your arguments.
Big surprise NOT.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/08/16/the-koonin-dessler-debate/
60
Mark Morano also reports on the Koonin , Dessler debate and the result.
https://www.climatedepot.com/2022/08/16/skeptic-wins-rare-climate-debate-in-new-york-city-its-official-warmist-andrew-dessler-lost-to-physicist-steve-koonin-audience-voted-koonin-the-winner/
60
Look, have we got a deal for you. Just One Billion Dollars for a bunch of grid scale batteries.
Umm, Grid Scale??
Well, yeah, 200MW and an hour’s worth of storage.
Umm, 200MW is zero point six percent of what we need at Peak power time.
Well, we have a few of them.
Umm, they’re nett power consumers.
No they’re not, they deliver 200MW on demand.
Umm, if they’re fully charged.
Well yeah.
Umm, and they’ll need to be fully charged, so that means we either use power from a, umm, real generator or divert the power to charge up the battery, and that’s the energy consuming loss part. You get less power back from the battery than what it takes to charge the battery.
Oh, we don’t talk about that.
Umm, where do we get the power from to charge the batteries.
Oh look, we only supply the batteries. Where the power comes from to charge them up is your problem.
Umm, how long do they last, you know, the lifespan of these batteries.
I’ve heard that it might be as high as maybe seven years.
Umm, each year they’ll lose overall total capacity, so might you tell me how much loss there’ll be.
….. Beautiful plumage!
Tony.
360
As pointed out by a number of other correspondents – batteries are just a profit making vehicle for the investors. They’ll be recharged at the cheapest cost ( ie. when the wind is actually blowing) and then be discharged just as the spot price reaches its zenith. Maximum profit disguised as some modern day wonder in technology. Which they’re not – geez, how long have batteries existed?
100
RoscoKH writes this: (my bolding here)
And if any of you doubt that, it is very easy to prove.
Go to the site at this link. (it’s the OpenNEM)
At the tabs at top left, you’ll see I have it on 1Y and Day, and this indicates the last 365 days of a full year.
In the block at right where you see the power generation sources, look down at the bottom of that, and you’ll see Battery (charging), and in the sources above that you’ll see Battery (Discharging) and now note the costs alongside both and note those costs, and the differential. They are averages, because sometimes, the battery actually delivers power at times other than at the evening Peak, and sadly for those owners of the batteries, the costs they get at those non Peak times are way way way lower than at the Peak when they attempt to make most of their money.
Now, also remember the ‘blurb’ that these such wonderful batteries will be used to help alleviate those Peaks when all that extra power is needed, and (please, this is actually sarcasm here) that can also be proved on those same page.
Note that when discharging, these batteries deliver a monumentally humungously incredibly large ZERO POINT ONE PERCENT of all consumed power.
Now also note the power required to charge the batteries compared to what is actually delivered, and that also shows you the losses incurred with batteries, less power delivered than to charge them up.
Oh, and charging those batteries when the wind blows Huh! Not on your life. They are charged when power is at its cheapest mainly when coal fired power is delivering the most power. You see, they just have to be ready to discharge into the grid at Peak power time when power costs are highest so they can make the most money. There are other times they have to charge that might be when power costs are higher, and that’s mainly panic charging so that they are ready to make the most of the evening Peak high prices, and that panic charging increases that cost of charging a bit.
Oh, and now you’ve done all that, back at those tabs at top left, click on 30D, and when the screen refreshes, you’ll see the most recent 30 days. No, go to the coloured block at far right on the main block, and click your mouse on that vertical line of colours. That now indicates yesterday Tuesday 16 March 2022.
And now look at the costs for charging and discharging and you’ll see exactly what I mean, about charging when low cost and discharging at the Peak when costs are highest.
Batteries are NOTHING whatsoever about alleviating grid needs. They are just to make money for those who own them, and that’s all.
Tony.
211
We need to keep coal so the battery can be charged at low cost.
Isn’t there anyone in government or their highly-overpaid “consultants” who has a clue about any of this?
91
David, I’m sure these geniuses have worked out that the battery charging will take place at night when the generators are looking for something to do, that will evaporate progressively as coal shuts down, at night, all there is is wind and some hydro if we aren’t in a bad drought, so they’ll have to charge the batteries during the day while supplying the grid at the same time.
40
Craig Kelly did but he got cancelled by the “moderates” of the LNP – which means “non-conservatives” – which means pretty much all of the LNP.
31
Using batteries is like going to the money lender for a payday loan , he gives you $1000, you use it for a month and then have to give him back $1500, great, isn’t it ?.
81
Joanne,
Please refer to battery capacity in megawatt-hours (MWh). A lot of punters out there think that they are generators.
Steven
60
Steven, at 3am in the draft post I wrote “8 hours of what” after the Epoch Times quote . But I decided I should email Daniel Teng privately (who is a good guy) and let him know the difference between MW and MWh. I opted not to explain it in the post, because I didn’t have time to look up the project myself and figure out what the “8 hours” meant exactly. I’m hoping someone in comments has done that!
120
I thought this contained some good information on the subject . . . . . maybe it will get through moderation sometime later today . . . .
https://www.globalresearch.ca/more-blackrock-than-you-might-imagine/5748159
50
Here’s a link to the Koonin debate with Dessler and this runs for about 2 hours.
I hope this very important debate doesn’t suffer a disappearing trick from the anti- science, delusional left wing extremists. We can only hope.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbHSpsLDCz8
80
The video has gone
10
“Its largest project is the 1,600 megawatt Orana battery in Wellington, central-west New South Wales, which can provide around eight hours of energy storage.”
Could you possibly make a more meaningless and misleading statement about a battery installation? Its right up there with wind turbines that will “power x thousand homes” Churn out the words, fill the pages, never mind about conveying anything useful or relevant.
150
That’s the CURRENT STATE of journalism, they should be CHARGED and put in a DRY CELL..
100
You are really sparking right now!
70
Shouldn’t the government be asking harder questions before it opens the door to an entity that lobbies like a political activist, serves foreign investors, and shamelessly meddles in national policies?
Those in government these days are far more likely to be shoring up highly paid post politics positions with such organisations than to be doing anything whatsoever in the Australian peoples interests. We have been sold out big time by the disgusting uniparty.
101
The Orana Battery image.
Known as the Orana BESS, it will have a capacity of between 200-400MW and provide up to 8 hours or 1600MWh of energy storage. It will cover an area of approximately 41 hectares adjacent to TransGrid’s 330kV zone substation. The Central West Orana Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) is expected to host 3,000MW of new wind and solar generation.
Estimated Total Cost A$600 million. Expected Construction Commencement 2023 Expected Construction Completion 2024
This is more added costs to those “cheap” “renewables”.
Let’s say of that 3,000 MW of new wind and solar, 1,500 MW is solar, that’s nameplate so average output 350 MW, range zero to say 1,200 MW.
So 1,600 MWhr of storage could be filled by bleeding say 200 MW/hr for 8 hours from the daytime solar output.
And then it could feed 200 MW back into the grid, less losses) for 8 hours, still leaving 8 hours of the 24 hours without power.
70
I wonder how it relates to this site, also seemingly for the same battery?
https://wellingtonbess.com/
41
Same. BlackRock has purchased the original proposer.
Same map. Same hub.
Cheers
Dave B
50
That battery might just work on King Island though.
60
What’s the bet local shires and councils are loving these ” Renewable Energy Zones ” and the moolah flowing in therefrom?
40
Ooow ! …Battery CAPACITY is measured in MWh ..!
..MW is a measure of POWER
It will need more than 200MW for 8 hours to charge it fully ..likely +10%. More.
Dito for discharge, a 1600MWh battery will NEVER deliver 1600MWh either..likely more like 1400MWh ! ( unless they oversize the capacity ?)
Ref Tonys post above and the data from current battery installs which shows them to be less than 75% efficient .
20
You’re dreaming if you think the current occupier of Kirribilly and his allies in parliament, the public sector, the press and the investment world (Simon, Twiggy, Mike, Malcolm, etc) will lift a finger to protect the Australian people here…
61
i don’t understand. Blackrock is wants to invest, but there should be regulatory restrictions? Surely they should be free to do whatever they want. I thought in a capitalist market, it is all about financial freedom, certainly that is the tenor of this blog.
39
A competitive market starts with the currency. We need competition in currencies and interest rates, not a Federal Reserve that sets the price of money and allows a group of selected bank entities to counterfeit the currency legally. Instead we have unaccountable Central Banks, and they have predictably created big inflation by artificially keeping interest rates low, then doing QE x 100. Thus they are feeding (and controlling) the boom and bust cycles that destroy wealth for most people but feed the likes of those who get loans the easiest Eg BlackRock/Facebook/Amazon/Microsoft. Allowing a few kingmakers to to accrue obscenely large sums of money. Given the situation we are in, now that BlackRock manages 7 times as much money as the Australian economy they become a “foreign interest”. Their power to control our national policies through sheer weight of politicized “investment” is a risk, self-evidently.
151
So The Chinese or the Russians or the Indians or the Saudis would love that, and you can make individual deals in any currency you like (via the cross rate system). Although you could also trade iron ore for computer chips, not efficient but it could be done. So there is already currency competition between currencies. Also note that in the Citizens United decision of 2010, the USA now equates money with free speech, which gives black rock a mighty big voice in the land of the free.
35
You have to pay your Australian taxes in A$ and use it at every outlet in AU. Get a grip PF. You can’t use roubles to buy food at woolworths.
Our banks don’t get to set interest rates — The government appointed RBA does. No one can set up a bank in Australia unless the government approves. The Big Four are allowed to profit from counterfeiting Australian dollars but not you or I. Why is that power given to private cartels?
The banks will store anything in safe deposit boxes except … gold… which is the main global currency that competes with fiat currencies and potentially exposes their real value (and what the real inflation rate is). Coincidence?
101
The unreliable energy boom is NOT a capitalist market, it is a taxpayer funded free for all, with the Hells Angels invited in to party on our free beer.
51
Likewise Peter you should be appalled. Are you not anti-corporate ? Big foreign business taking control of the people’s power ?
51
I’m still waiting for a warmist to give me an example of anywhere in the world where more unreliables and Big Batteries have resulted in lower consumer electricity prices.
After all, we keep getting told that wind and solar is the cheapest possible power sources, despite the obvious reality that more W and S means higher prices.
That’s postmodernist thinking for you. They believe that there is no such thing as objective reality.
131
There is only so much wealth you can suck out of a society and the unreliable energy scam will take much of it.
111
Remember, these projects don’t have to make sense for the consumer or any rational person.
They are part of the Energy Starvation agenda.
Think of it that way and it makes perfect sense, for their owners and the Elites. And the slave army of useful idiots of the Left who believe everything their controllers tell them.
91
Who is the bunny who will accept the installation sub-contracts? I understand sub-contractors are waiting for payments for completed work on a solar farm west of Gympie.
Do you take a 10 Trillion Dollar entity to Court for late or non-payment?
70
Hope you’re not holding your breath?
Cheers
Dave B
30
That was meant to be a reply to David M at #36.
My mistake.
Cheers
Dave B
30
I wonder who is going to provide that billion dollar battery? Might it be Tesla? For every person whining about the cost of these investments in renewables and storage, someone else is laughing all the way to the bank. In accounting terms, for every debit there has to be an equal and corresponding credit. Money in equals money out.
The same money is still around. It’s just sitting in someone else’s pocket (or bank account).
I have commented before on who is actually paying for many of these scattered renewables projects, and the biggest local player seems to be PARF – Powering Australian Renewables Fund – which is a joint venture between AGL Limited, the Queensland Investment Corporation, and the Federal government’s Future Fund.
These guys have billions to play with. And they seem determined to spend it on renewables. Following the crowd, I guess. 😄
31
I have long said that rich Asian investors are quietly hoovering up Australia’s coal resources. Their latest acquisition is Stanmore Coal, a once-small Queensland player that catapulted itself into the big time by taking over all of BHP-Mitsui’s Australian coal assets, which are considerable. How considerable? Billions of dollars.
Stanmore was moseying quietly along until a Singaporean company known as GEAR – Golden Energy and Resources Ltd – took a majority stake in it. It took some more internet sleuthing to find out who is behind GEAR. GEAR is controlled by Indonesian company PT Dian Swastatika Sentosa TBK. Ah. And who owns them? That would be the Sinar Mas Group, one of the largest conglomerates in Indonesia.
Sinar Mas was founded by Chinese businessman Eka Tjipta Widjaja, a tycoon who became the third richest person in Indonesia, worth about US$8.6 billion according to Forbes. This is likely an underestimate.
20
These rich Asians are laughing all the way to the bank! Probably a Hong Kong branch of a Swiss bank…
Australia’s super funds will happily invest in more windmills and solar farms, though. Someone told them coal is nasty. Renewables are the future. Maybe it was Chris Bowen. 😄
I meant to add this to my last comment, but by mistake pressed the POST button instead of preview. I’m working on an 8 inch Xiaomi Android tablet and had about 7 Brave tabs open as I tracked down who now controlled Stanmore Coal, which involved flipping through 196 pages of Golden Energy and Resources 2021 Singapore Annual Report.
The things I do in search of facts… 😀
40
Jordan Peterson rips Rudd, err I mean Albo a new one, well earned too.
31
Yes I posted before we have been approached by battery builders to lease land. Big business are now the greens, officially.
Interestingly the land is of exquisite beauty, large hilltops with spectacular views over the river valley to tall blue mountains in the distance. No house exists, completely empty open cleared pasture – the last of any unoccupied views anywhere and without doubt the best of them all. The land is classified class 1 agriculture (which is a lie, more like class 3) land use by green local government, and this is for the distinct purpose of not allowing any house to be built. (I once tried and had a hell of a time and so gave up). And yet now the greens are keen to trash the place with an industrial battery complex. Makes you laugh.
Of course we aren’t interested at all. I’m just waiting for the compulsory acquisition order to come in. Not sure they can do that with power stations like they can with lines and roads. I think not perhaps.
50
The website states they have already accuired the land,..and shows the location plan.
20
Not Blackrock, there are other energy companies getting about looking to get in on the game.
20
Good article. Thanks.
30
Not a lot said on this thread about Black Rock itself. This entity needs close attention. Amongst its many investment initiatives is the purchase of housing estates in the US not for resale or redevelopment, but for rental purposes. A company of this size could conceivably transform house ownership in nations. Since home ownership is substantially conducive to financial independence, one can envisage the loss in citizen status commensurate with the expansion of Black Rock ownership of real estate. “You shall own nothing and be happy” – the mantra of the WEF.
Jo is SO right to printout the following:
Allowing a few kingmakers to to accrue obscenely large sums of money. Given the situation we are in, now that BlackRock manages 7 times as much money as the Australian economy they become a “foreign interest”. Their power to control our national policies through sheer weight of politicized “investment” is a risk, self-evidently.
91
Isn’t it time that corporations are required to disclose the full details of government subsidies they receive. It would be of interest to know what proportion of claimed profit is just gift of our money from governmen.
50
blackrock the the real government (in the sense that what they say, goes).
90
And let’s not forget who blackrock (and associates) really are.
Along with WEF, bill gates, soros, and the rest of these evil mobs, who really owns the world?
There’s many similar videos but this is one link I had saved that I could find.
61
From reading many posts and following links, it seems to me there is a small effect of CO2, long since reached. That is, after the addition of about 25 ppm entered the atmosphere no additional impacts occur. Consider the timing of the Medieval Warm Period and then the Great Famine of 1315-1317 followed by the Black Death and more. See “Crisis of the Late Middle Ages”. It took until 1500 for the European population to regain the levels of 1300. These disasters ebb and the Little Ice Age (LIA) happens.
There would have been large consumption of peat, wood (& charcoal), and coal.
I have not seen a good report on the combination of all these things. However, the famous “Drake’s Well” in western Pennsylvania was drilled in 1859. High-pressure steam double-acting engines were introduced just a little earlier.
I suspect (no proof) that the small CO2 effect was reached before this time by people responding to the cold of the LIA. That effect would have been too little to recognize.
The current use of wood, coal, and petroleum adds CO2 with about half removed by natural systems. This isn’t raising atmospheric temperature, but it is making for better plant growth.
31
I don’t know if this has already been mentioned but Jordan B. Peterson has a few things to say to the likes of Black Rock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=–QS_UyW2SY
Hard to imagine it being one of his best because he has so many really good videos-but it is really good.
21