april commissioning of habanero-4, page-8

If Abbott wins, I don't see his wanting to get rid of the carbon tax as a negative.

There's 2 views;

1) The current view is that we need lots of highly subsidised wind & alternative energy sources to help cut CO2 emissions - and a carbon tax to raise the cost of carbon emitting and to raise cash to throw at the bad-value renewables sector - mostly wind & other "clean-as-Pferd-Scheiße" energy dead ends.

2) the other not so politically correct view is that a big carbon tax is not needed if you arn't going to
a) bribe people with the compo monies and
b) need to raise lots of cash to subsidise the growth in these turd "green" energy sectors such as wind.

In this view, a carbon free clean energy generation method that when built to scale has a MW/h cost not far off the cost of coal generation ( i.e Geodynamics Cooper Basin Project in outback Australia ) would look reasonable to a new coalition PM ( as it already does to competent Labour ministers like Martin Ferguson )or a replacement labour PM
(one of the old school with brains who sticks needles in Bob Brown dolls casue he hates how the greens shaft jobs for the working man)

If Abbott holds this second view, then it ought occur to him that for all the government money thats been thrown at "renewables" they might as well build the transmission lines out to the Cooper Basin to kick start the Geothermal power developments out that way...maybe in co-operation with the SA Govt who desperately needs more regional development to counter the disappearance of Olympic Dam.

He might even throw a bone to Alcan's Gove operation in NT - currently losing $100 mill a year and paying shitloads of money to run diesel generators - there's talk of the Feds underwriting $500 mill cost for building a natural gas line out to the site; How about underwriting the construction of the Geodynamics joint venture geothermal power plant - clean power for the smelter - REAL economic benefits to the local indigenous people - it might look like a win-win...and there won't be a single a crappy wind power turbine in sight!

Okay, who knows, and maybe I'm dreamin, maybe hopin, maybe smokin some weed, but surely this project makes good sense, and not just to us shareholders?

Its not that I want govt money spent purely to benefit Geodynamic (okay; in view of the share price - YES I DO) but when govt money in all its forms is being thrown at all the other useless "clean" energy projects, it drags along the interest of private investors as well who are well aware of how project funding has become harder to get since the GFC and look to where government "favour" might protect them against risk.

Maybe rather than committing the $90 mill toward the first demo power plant, they could have made a commitment based on the demo plant being built by GDY & Origin funding & the concept proven ready to scale up. The commitment would be to build the long distance power transmission lines out to the site.

Rather than doing the "whens it all gonna end" PMT dummy spit, that kind of plan would have kept Origin dropping as many Naprogesic as required to remain focused on completing the demo plant...precisely because it would then trigger the transmission line build.


(Sigh)...I reckon if all had gone well in 2005 like its going now, they'd would already have at least a 5o megawatts power station c/w transmission lines out to the site, and be currently expanding to hundred of MW

Fecking 2005-idiots who couldnt drill a hole to save their a$$!

Fecking GFC in 2008 that hoovered up investment money to feck knows where - maybe into windmills?

Fecking windmills!