04/30/2024
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/y5Z1aUAREa4fsZak/?mibextid=oFDknk
The Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner, Andrew Dyer, retired from his job at the end of March. He was in a thankless position where he was told of so many horror stories by hosts of wind/solar projects and neighbours affected by visual, noise, vibrations etc., but he had no legislative power to effect any real change on the ground. The tales of woe are going to increase as developers jump on the bandwagon trying to make a quick buck.
"Australia’s random renewable-energy push needs to be overhauled and a
nationwide stocktake is required to determine what should be built and where it
should go, according to the country’s recently retired energy infrastructure
commissioner.
Andrew Dyer, who has been at the forefront of Australia’s renewables transition for
nine years, also said there was merit in examining nuclear power – a position that
will buoy the federal opposition which is ramping up a nuclear energy plan that has
been panned by the government.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Weekend Australian days after his retirement,
Mr Dyer’s assessment of recent progress is blunt: random renewables development
has to stop and an orderly and transparent pipeline of viable projects is required if
the country is to meet the federal government’s ambitious green energy targets to
replace ageing coal power plants.
Mr Dyer stopped short of calling for a pause on the rollout but said a reassessment
was needed to ensure the right solar, wind, transmission and battery projects were
being built in the right locations.
He said the current development pipeline contained projects that might never
progress because they were badly conceived or in the wrong place, causing
unnecessary community unrest, bogging down the planning process and potentially
delaying the race to replace retiring coal assets by 2034. An engineer who has
worked in the nuclear industry in the US, Mr Dyer said that, notwithstanding the
difficulties and time constraints in starting a nuclear industry from scratch, it was
worth examining.
“We need to start looking at it at some point and perhaps now is a good time. If we
are going to look at it this century we should start sooner rather than later.’’...
He stepped down from the independent role months after releasing a critical community-engagement review that recommended weeding out cowboy developers who were terrorising regional communities.
He recommended a voluntary developer rating system to encourage reputable
operators but has gone further to propose an overhaul of the development process.
“Renewable energy has been a non-regulated, non-controlled, open access regime
for a long time,’’ he said....
"Many developers are land speculators, not actual developers of the project. So
they’re looking at it from a very different lens, than say, the person who’s trying to
keep the lights on.’’ ...
"Mr Dyer’s comments will validate concerns in regional communities overrun with
developers scoping out wind and solar farms and country councils worried about
the cumulative impact of proposals and pressure on roads, water, waste and
housing."
The Weekend Australian, 6 April 2024
Photo from the altenergy website that shows all current projects of wind/solar/batteries in Australia (as at 8 April).
