wind farms are the answer!, page-11

Nimbinboy - the absolute stand out fact is that NSW gas contracts finish from 2015 to 2017. It takes at least three years to develop a gas field so NSW has already run out of gas.

We use gas for ALOT more than power generation. In fact the NSW power grid has the lowest penetration of gas fired power in Australia. (Making it the most coal fired intensive state in Australia and one of the most carbon intensive power grids in the world).

The BIG issue is that households and businesses use gas for heating and cooking and manufacturers use gas in their factories. When the gas runs out or starts to be rationed, the 5.3 million people living in Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong will be screaming at the politicians in 2 years time to DO SOMETHING!!!!!! People with gas hot water systems, gas cookers and gas heating will be furious. Manufacturers in western sydney, wollongong and newcastle who are using gas in their boilers and other processes will have to either switch over to imported bottled gas at 10x the cost, switch to coal for their boilers or switch to mains power. This transition will have a massive impact on employment in those areas with increased costs to businesses who are already stressed, significant job losses and a wider negative economic impact for the state and the country. This is likely to be the biggest energy supply crisis Australia has faced as it is not a temporary failure of equipment like the recent disruptions in Darwin, Perth and Melbourne, but a fundamental failure of policy and planning.

This crisis is now so far advanced that it cant be stopped from happening. Even if 50% of households decide to spend $5-10k+ to take out all of their gas appliances and replace them with mains power that will add at least 2000 MW of demand to the power grid. While that might solve the excess power supply issue in the general market its likely that the market will simply not have adequate capacity at peak times, so rationing might have to be introduced during the peak. I wonder what Canberra residents will think of only being able to turn their gas heaters on after 8.00pm during winter?

Your lack of knowledge about the energy industry comes through in everything you write. LNG has never been supplied by mains distribution in Australia. Where is the LNG import terminal? The Illawarra has been supplied with distributed natural gas (ie methane) for decades. The key reason that we have excess electricity supply is because the Kurri Kurri aluminium smelter in the Hunter closed down because of the carbon tax and high aussie dollar and it represented around 25% of the NSW power load.

Natural gas and especially CSG is NOT the enemy of renewable energy. Gas and renewables go together because we need something to continue to supply reliable power when the sun's not shining and the wind's not blowing. If the gas industry doesnt get off the ground in NSW the big winner will be the coal industry - keeping further renewable energy development out of NSW for decades.