I refer to the editorials in the 8 September issue by Arthur Gorrie and Llew O’Brien regarding our power supplies.
Australia has taken a do or die approach to decarbonising our environment over an extremely short time frame without addressing all the issues of so-called renewable power and the ongoing costs that come with them.
We have also been fed the lie that renewables will lower our power bills, but as I see, no other country has achieved that outcome.
All the solar farms that have been installed recently have an effective life of 20 to 30 years which means that when 2050 comes around all these solar panels with be 27 years old and up for replacement.
Who pays for that?
You and me. (Woolooga Solar farm covers approx. 500 to 600 hectares and has around 400000 solar panels)
Twenty-five plus years later another lot to replace, and can they all be recycled? We will see.
We are not told of the carbon footprint or environmental damage done to install all the systems.
I talked to a person involved with the McIntyre wind farm who said that they are using around 1,000,000 litres (million) of diesel a fortnight to construct roads and tower bases and these towers have a 15 to 20 year life expectancy which means they will also need replacing by 2043, well before the 2050 deadline.
Do we hear about the roads cutting through the forests on these mountains or the huge changes to the eco system when they fill in large and small gullies to build a road suitable for the huge trucks required to cart the massive systems to the tops of these ranges?
No.
What will be the legacy we leave?
They will also use thousands of litres of oil per year servicing the tower generators and gearboxes.
The government has promised many jobs in these generating systems but in reality, the jobs are short lived and only limited maintenance crews will be employed.
I have heard that a lot of the construction employees are foreigners brought in by the suppliers of the equipment.
With all the ongoing costs for replacements and maintenance there is no such thing as free power from renewables.
We will forever pay for these costs including the profits that big business will expect to recoup on their investment.
As with most big businesses I expect that a greater portion of the profits will go overseas.
I know we need to do things better than what we have done before but as a business person I know that if you need to upgrade your infrastructure you need to research with an open mind, plan, budget and it must be a benefit to both your bottom line and supply a better outcome for your customers.
The approach we are taking at this time is only beneficial to big business, not us or the environment.
– R Chalmers
Gympie
