Date: February 7, 2024Author: Editor, cairnsnews 39 Comments
THE Labor-Liberal-Green “transition to net zero” was exposed for the delusion it is at the Canberra Reckless Renewables Rally this week.
Dr Michael Feneley from the Central Coast told the Canberra rally that billions of dollars worth of planned wind farms off the coast of New South Wales will have to float, because there is no continental shelf.
“How many floating wind turbines are there in the world?” Dr Feneley asked those gathered. “The biggest wind farm that floats was opened in August (in Norway) last year and there are 11 turbines. How many turbines does (Energy Minister) Chris Bowen’s projects require? One thousand!”
Dr Feneley, a medical professor and one of Australia’s leading cardiologists, said the east coast of NSW was the worst possible place for a wind farm and Bowen’s decision to proceed with the plan had shown him to be incompetent.
“The fact that Chris Bowen, the most incompetent minister in Labor’s history, really thought to try this on just shows you how he doesn’t know his job. The problem is you can’t put any windfarm off the coast of NSW with existing technology.”
Dr Feneley said it took Norway seven years to build the 11 floating turbines is because the idea is so hugely impossible to do on any scale “and certainly it’s going to cost a bomb”.
“But let me just tell you one memorable fact: Because these projects were initially meant to be 350 metres high and now have been reduced to 260 metres, to float just 20 of these turbines, one fiftieth of the requirement by 2030, requires the entire world steel chain production for one year.”Dr Feneley told the rally “don’t let anyone tell you that nuclear is not feasible when Bowen is doing a project that will take 50 years of the world’s steel chain supply to float his boat. You’ve got to tell this guy that Captain Bowen is dreaming. If he thinks he can float turbines off NSW it’s a crazy idea, and you need to get angry about it.”
Dr Feneley, a former Liberal Party candidate for the seat of Dobell around Port Stephens area, said it didn’t matter who the opposition was at the moment or what party you belonged to, because a campaign to get rid of the turbines proposed for Nora Head was defeated by people power.
“We did it because we had everyone in the community on our side, including I might say, the Greens. Everybody with any blood in their veins who understands how dumb this project is should get angry and go after these guys with some facts, just the facts.”
Dr Feneley proposed a slogan on the spot: “Bugger off Bowen, the wind farms are goin’!”
Ironically, Dr Feneley was defeated in the federal seat by Emma McBride, the Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention.
The Federal Government announced on July 12 last year that the offshore wind zone – the second officially declared in Australia – would now stretch over 1800km2 between Swansea and Port Stephens.
The Government said the final area was declared after two months of “public consultation” with a smaller footprint than the originally proposed zone – balancing the views of the local community, local industry and sea users.
The revised zone will also be located 20km offshore after previously being planned 10km out from the coastline. Interestingly the government said the “offshore infrastructure” will also be limited to a height of 260 metres “to address aviation safety”.
Bowen said the project could create over 3000 construction jobs and another 1560 “ongoing jobs” but didn’t mention the likely staggering cost and how it would be repaid. The answer is obvious – yet more staggering debt in the trillions and consumers paying horrendously high electricity prices.
The stupidity of Bowen and Albo, and the failure of the Liberal-National Party and media to expose this folly, it certainly reason for a widespread protest.
The rally also heard that a wind turnbine needed to be installed every 18 hours and 22,000 solar panels every day to reach the 2050 net zero goal and prime agricultural land was where these were most likely to be placed. Liberal Party says it is supporting nuclear power but have yet to disown the net zero initiative that was originally launched by them.
Typical of the media’s continued infantile drooling over anything carrying the label “renewable energy” was the ABC’s report in 2022 when the federal government announced Australia’s first six offshore wind energy zones. Somewhat telling were the comments of a “climate energy market analyst” Tim Buckley who said the announcement “was a step forward, but all levels of government would need to work together.”
“Energy Minister Chris Bowen is right to open offshore wind for public consultation,” he said. “Offshore wind development is going to need a high degree of policy support and forward planning because of the complex supply chains that would have to be developed in Australia and higher costs of construction.”
You’re right on that count Mr Buckley, because when more people begin to see the horrendously expensive nature of Bowen’s net zero delusions there could well be a serious public support issue to deal with.
“We need to weigh up the additional costs related to offshore wind construction and see where it makes the most economic sense. We need to value the balancing or base-load nature of the generation, to support the sometimes intermittent nature of onshore wind and solar.”
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