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We've just finished bulding a new 2x230MW coal fired plant here in WA.
One needs to remember :
1. Coal fired - fuel can be stockpiled which increases supply security by at least an order of magnitude. You can't do that with gas.
2. Coal fired generation is electrically very stable and provides the Grid with the stability it needs. Most wind turbines need a synchronous generator on the grid to even work.
4. Coal is proven, safe and stable.
3. Wind and solar are inherently noisy from a wattage point of view. There is no strict grid connection requirement for small machines so there is no voltage/frequency biasing to prevent instabilities.
I think the future (20-50yrs) is in reducing coal fired (and still build new coal fired but using supercritical technology and not subcritical at the moment) and the rest made up of distributed renewables concentrating on solar and wind with the technology CSIRO are doing with short term "battery" storage to smooth out the fluctuations generated by wind. This has big potential in providing grid stable renewable generation and then would allow us to concentrate on a fair dinkum long term alternative (reliable and cost effective) to send coal to the museum exhibits after say 2050.
But personally, I believe deforestation is the single biggest short term impact on our climate - not CO2 which is why I think our politicians are barking up the wrong tree. It has a direct and immediate impact on temperature and altering humidity much more harshly than CO2.
Darrin...
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