Re,
"And if it is the case that coal plants are threatening the grid, why don't they just get shut down right now?
This is why ...According to Energy Minister Chris Bowen, Australia needs to be building 40 wind turbines every month until 2030 (plus a whole lot of solar panels and transmission lines) to meet his government's ambitious renewable energy target.
Given he said this towards the end of 2022, that's approximately 3840 turbines in eight years.
Putting aside the fact that this will require vast amounts of steel, concrete – and workers – it's also about where these turbines will be built.
And here's where the maths of the climate challenge is defied by politics.
It's not easy to find precise data on the number of turbines under construction. But according to the Clean Energy Council, only three wind farms with a total of 115 turbines were commissioned and connected to grid across Australia last year.
*** New analysis has found that, for the last five years, the average approval time frame in NSW was 3488 days for wind projects. (ABC News: Charles Brice)Approval time frames:
- 3488 days for wind projects (9.5 years)
- 705 days for solar projects (2.5 years)
- 530 days for battery projects (1.5 years)
On any given day, roughly 60 per cent of Australia's power comes from black and brown coal and about 32 per cent from wind, solar and hydro. Within six years, the government wants to dramatically increase the share of renewables to 82 per cent, more than doubling the current clean generation capacity.
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