I’ve been asked by many people if this video is true. Like a lot of things it’s a question of degree.
I can’t say for certain that every turbine gets $600,000. It is true that nearly all the parts used in renewables come from offshore.
As of 2021 the following Federal government schemes were in place. This has probably increased since then but I haven’t had time to see by how much. On top of this there are State government subsidies as well which are also substantial. Note also renewables like wind and solar farms don’t have to put down environmental bonds like mines do.
• $10b – CEFC
• $5.0b – Snowy 2.0
• $3.5b – Climate Solutions Package
• $2.5b – Emissions Reduction Fund
• $1.5b – ARENA
• $1.0b – Grid Reliability Fund
• $0.5b – National Hydrogen Strategy
I suspect a lot more schemes have been added since then. One such one is the safeguard mechanism which forces companies into using renewable energy (or buy offsets) at great expense. For example Rio just wrote $1.2 billion off their Aluminium division. Let’s hope they don’t close down Gladstone.
The other big subsidy is the Renewable Energy Target that forces 33 Terawatt hours of renewable energy to be sold into the energy grid every year.
I suspect this is where the $600,000 per turbine comes into play as early turbine owners would have been paid a premium for renewable energy.
As more and more turbines are built, there will be less of a premium for renewable energy due to greater supply.
Obviously this will vary on a case by case basis and the energy markets themselves.
As for turbines needing power to start up this may be true but my understanding it’s not a lot of energy. Having said that the fact they need back up power from time to time proves they can’t operate on their own unlike base load energy.
Whether or not the farmer has to bear liability depends on the contract with the energy provider but the onus is on the farmer to ensure that the clean up is paid for by the renewable energy provider.
What I do know is that renewables aren’t cheaper, more reliable or good for the environment.
