In estimates the energy department was caught out confusing pricing and costing.
Just because renewable energy is sold in the middle of the day for nothing or below zero doesn’t make it cheaper.
The only reason energy companies sell energy for nothing is that they are forced to because of the renewable energy target (RET) that forces them to sell 32TW of renewable energy into the grid each year.
But just because renewable is sold for zero dollars in the middle of the day, that doesn’t make it cheaper to produce. The cost of extra construction, transmission, storage, recycling remains the same.
These costs are recouped through the sale of coal powered energy supplied when the sun isn’t the shining etc through higher pricing.
In other words coal fired energy has to pick up the costs of renewable energy and therein lies the rub of the lie that renewable energy is cheaper.
