The Finkel Fantasy
I was asked by number of stakeholders to comment on “Finkel Report” (here after Finkel). So here is the first level review. The report is so poor that it does not merit a deeper review.
This is an extraordinary dereliction of duty by our representatives. Access to reliable & secure energy is one of the fundamental pillars of an advanced civilisation. This report fails not only the taxpayers (who funded this graduate level exercise) but also the nation.
Let’s start with the “Outcomes” listed on page eight (8) of the report. Access i.e. affordability is not an outcome desired by this report but surprisingly demand management is. Whilst the reliable & secure part is an objective (albeit from gird perspective only) the fact that access to affordable power is not even mentioned as an aside” is a grotesque injustice and can only foster inequity in society (presumably to be addressed by higher taxation and expansion of the bureaucratic elite in the bubble we call Canberra).
Further laughably “emissions” is an outcome of energy policy and Finkel. Let me paint a picture for the readers. This type of outcome analysis is the same as an emergency department of a hospital having “emission” as its outcome but not treatment of patients arriving at the emergency department on a timely manner. How cute.
On page twelve (12) of Finkel you see the expansion of bureaucracy under the guise of “governance”. Now a new body funded by taxpayer will sit above AEMO this new government department will be called “Energy Security Board” and here you see a perfunctory mention of “affordable supply”. This is command and control North Korea style. You must look at the satellite pictures of night over Korean peninsula to realise how effective this bureaucratic monstrosity will be.
On page fourteen (14) Finkel outlines how taxpayer funded tour, across Europe and US, but note not to countries with poor access to energy, informed the so called “Blue Print”. Well nothing beats a holiday in Europe/US (I do it myself every year with my family but with our own money) and specially if some poor single mother working two jobs a day to support her family is paying for it. Well another glass of wine with the dinner please!
From Page sixteen (16) to page twenty three (23) you cannot find the word affordable. Incidentally this section is called “Recommendations”. As you might have guessed this section does call for a new bureaucracy to be set up (mentioned above – Energy Security Board”).
The main aspect to note from Page twenty four (24) to page thirty three (33) is this “A small delegation from the Panel met with policy makers, market operators and regulators for power systems across Europe and the United States – specifically, in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany, New York State, the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland Interconnect, Texas and California. The delegation also met with the International Energy Agency, the European Commission, the European Consumer Organisation, the Department of Energy and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in the United States, and a small number of energy technology companies.”
Note the holiday you paid for! None of these countries or states have a grid structure or topography of Australia, but why stop a good holiday for real work. Australia is an isolated grid (like Japan but note this esteemed panel did not go there) with limited capacity of Hydro power (note no visit to Hydro deficient regions but then again Sudan is not a good place to imbibe in good wine (I sympathise with it)).
You wonder why all these tours, when one could read about transition history of energy systems in scientific literature. For e.g. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030142151630595X but see that would mean you have to apply your mind and not spend taxpayer money but then again this is our bureaucratic elite so why “buy a wheel when you can invent one new”. Reading 30 odd peer reviewed science papers and making informed policy always comes second to grandstanding, tax payer funded jamborees and opportunity to expand the misery of taxpayers!
Re-invent the Wheel at a Grand Scale
Page thirty five (35) to Page forty one (41) is simply a cut and paste of the job description of AEMO but hey we can reinvent the wheel!
Page forty three (43) to Page sixty six (66), well I am sure you know by now, continues the reinvention- this time telling AEMO how to suck eggs i.e. maintain and plan for grid security.
Page sixty seven (67) to page ninety four (94) I must say has a semblance of work. It quotes two (peer reviewed) science papers. Never the less it is a graduate level analysis. It misses all the scientific literature that address transition, security, right to know, scalability, sociotechnical issues, variations in the use of low carbon system in energy, contemporary energy transitions et al. This section in real world would have been a comprehensive review of peer reviewed scientific literature providing us true insights into what, how and why of our own plans and aims, but no instead we get Finkel.
Page ninety five (95) to page hundred and eight (108) is about one fuel source – gas. It is a custard made of various previous government reports, “push” reports by activists and motherhood statements. No comprehensive case study from anywhere in the world is presented when there are many that could have been considered ( e.g. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629614001091 to lay the groundwork or this to provide background https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/aeo/data/browser/#release=IEO2011&subject=0-IEO2011&table=6-IEO2011®ion=0-0&cases=Reference-0504a_1630 or this to cover risk analysis https://www.ucsusa.org/climate-risks-overreliance-natural-gas-electricity-2013#.WYfIEVEjHic ) but again we are left with Finkel.
Page hundred and nine (109) to Page hundred and twenty three (123), well I am sure you know by now, continues the reinvention- this time telling AEMO how to do its job i.e. forecasting primarily. You would be happy to know that the form of Finkel is good, still no use of published peer reviewed scientific work to develop this section. But hey we do not like reading science do we, we just like calling people “deniers”.
Page hundred and twenty four (124) to Page hundred and forty one (141), well finally we poor taxpayers get some leftovers from the fancy meals. Thank you Finkel but not one recommendation out of ten (10) in this section is about affordability. It is about how we the great unwashed to reduce demand. Listen you cretin do not use the heater in the winter just die!
Page hundred and forty two (142) and hundred and sixty seven (167), a full 25 pages of insult to taxpayers, devoted to setting up a new bureaucracy and expansion of blood suckling leeches – our flawless bureaucrats and retired politicians. Final low blow to the taxpayers by Finkel.
Page hundred sixty eight (168) to page hundred and eighty (180) is a school essay, the other day my two (2) year old son wrote it with his crayons.
Finkel Fantasy – The End.