26 July

That 'minimum demand' note on the graph is another way to counter the myths of 'baseload power'. Australia is swimming in home-grown electricity, growing exponentially, and at that minimum point the grid itself will fall over if nothing is done. That's what 'baseload' has always meant, the minimum amount of energy people have to USE to stop the grid failing. It's not a supply thing, it's a demand thing. The previous government knew this, it had this graph from AEMO. To call for new coal power stations once you look at the actual data is so beyond stupid that I can't think of a word for it. There was not going to be any shortage of electricity, exactly the opposite. What did the new government do immediately? What AEMO said needed doing, new distribution lines and storage, to deal with this enormous existing supply of electricity.