Thread by @simonahac

#judithsloan's opinion piece in today's oz is disingenuous, full of errors & can be safely ignored. here's why: 1/
theaustralian.com.au/news/inquirer/…

sloan likens RE sector to ponzi schemes, enron, subprime etc.
unlike her examples, 🇦🇺's RE sector operates within laws & ethics. 2/

sloan says "long-suffering" taxpayers shouldn't hold their breath waiting for a return from the @CEFCAus… 3/

the CEFC has been excellently managed & has returned a profit to government ever since its first full year of operation, FY2014. 4/

renewable "reverse auctions", far from being dubious, have enabled australia to build some of the cheapest renewables in the world. 5/

as for subsidies, alcoa portland has received more support than the entire australian wind industry, ever. 6/

sloan compares subsidies for car industry (acceptable?) with RE (bad?), not explaining why assistance to RE has been less beneficial. 7/

claiming germany’s energiewende is a failure because by 2020 it’ll have only reduced emissions by 32% (against 40% target) is asinine. 8/

intermittency only “plagues” renewables in the minds of those who don’t understand energy system, but feel need to opine on it. 9/

sloan claims latest offshore wind farm agreement were for more than £100/MWh. this is BS — last offshore PPA struck at £57.50. 10/

perhaps sloan is confused with the hinkley C nuclear plant, built with ~£100/MWh PPA? (hinkley to be operational in 10 years earliest.) 11/

her estimate of more than $2bn a year for renewable energy certificates is overstated, but also disingenuous… 12/

sloan completely glosses over the fact (perhaps she doesn't know?) that subsidies for large-scale 🇦🇺n RE is rapidly approaching $0. 13/

one need look no further than stockyard hill & coopers gap to see 1 GW of wind energy with effectively $0 subsidy. solar close. 14/14