{"id":15758,"date":"2017-10-10T12:00:11","date_gmt":"2017-10-10T01:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=15758"},"modified":"2017-10-10T12:00:11","modified_gmt":"2017-10-10T01:30:11","slug":"tony-abbott-renewables-speech-mb0244","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/tony-abbott-renewables-speech-mb0244\/","title":{"rendered":"Tony Abbott : Solar And Wind “Intermittent And Unreliable Power”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Tony

Tony Abbott painted an interesting picture in his speech | Image via Facebook<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

In his speech to the Global Warming Policy Foundation in London, Australia’s ex-Prime Minister Tony Abbott expressed little love for renewables again – particularly wind and solar power.<\/p>\n

The Global Warming Policy Foundation<\/a> is an organisation that claims to be open-minded on the “contested” science of global warming. The Foundation states it is concerned with the costs and other implications of many of the policies currently being advocated to address climate change.<\/p>\n

In his speech, Mr. Abbott bemoaned Australia’s progress on renewable energy, appearing to suggest it was the primary culprit for power price rises. He also said due to “green ideology”, Australia can\u2019t be sure of keeping the lights on this summer.<\/p>\n

“Hydro aside, renewable energy should properly be referred to as intermittent and unreliable power,” said Mr. Abbott. “When the wind doesn\u2019t blow and the sun doesn\u2019t shine, the power doesn\u2019t flow. Wind and solar power are like sailing ships; cheaper than powered boats, to be sure, but we\u2019ve stopped using sail for transport because it couldn\u2019t be trusted to turn up on time.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, he did make fleeting reference to batteries, an option becoming increasingly common in supporting renewables due to plummeting cost of energy storage. There’s also the prospect of economical pumped hydro storage for non-hydro renewables, with 22,000+ potential sites across Australia recently identified<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As for power price rises, RenewEconomy stated in July<\/a> an Australian Council Of Social Services (ACOSS) report found a decade of energy policy instability has been a significant contributor, with a major driver of wholesale electricity price increases being the Abbott Coalition government\u2019s winding back of Australia’s Renewable Energy Target and repeal of the national carbon price.<\/p>\n

In a speech<\/a> delivered at the National Press Club in September, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Chairman Rod Sims said the drivers of increased retail electricity prices have been:<\/p>\n