Ciao...seems like he left his reality in shaneos sand pit
"While renewables are growing, fossil fuels, especially costly gas, often set the wholesale price, especially when coal plants break down." So fix them!"
AI Overview
While the idea of simply fixing ageing coal plants to lower electricity prices seems straightforward, the reality is more complex due to the technical and economic limitations of aging infrastructure. In Australia, for instance, many coal plants are over 40 years old, putting them near or beyond their designed operational life. This leads to several issues:
Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA)
Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA)
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Declining Reliability: As they age, coal plants become significantly less reliable, with their availability falling from roughly 81% to 65%.
Unplanned Outages: These plants are prone to frequent, unexpected breakdowns—often during high-demand periods like summer—which trigger price spikes.
High Repair Costs: Repairing and maintaining these "clunkers" is becoming prohibitively expensive, and some maintenance projects have resulted in technical issues and cost overruns.
Investment Challenges: Operators are reluctant to spend heavily on major refurbishments because the plants are nearing retirement, making it difficult to recover the investment.
Economic Reality: Studies have shown that even with maintenance, relying on aging coal can be more expensive than transitioning to new, cheaper renewable energy sources backed by storage.
The Australia Institute
The Australia Institute
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While some operators are investing in maintenance to keep units running longer, these efforts are often plagued by structural issues. Consequently, many analysts argue that focusing on building new, more reliable energy sources (renewables and storage) is a more effective long-term solution than attempting to fix older, unreliable coal-fired power plants.
New research reveals unreliability of Australia's ageing coal plants https://share.google/rjsGBq1F21Rzvscz5
