In yet another public hand-out to fossil energy, NSW Labor has said the ageing Eraring coal-fired power station will stay open until 2027 to ensure a stable power supply. But there are other options, argue聽Zane Alcorn and Pip Hinman.
Energy privatisation
Labor鈥檚 small target strategy offers little to people and further shrinks the already thin political differences between the major parties, argues Peter Boyle.
The blackout that engulfed Puerto Rico when Hurricane聽Fiona聽laid bare the impacts of austerity and privatisation carried under United States fiscal control, reports Barry Sheppard.
While wind farms are touted as climate solutions, profit-hungry companies are actually causing widespread damage, reports Tamara Pearson.
Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in 2017. Then the power grid was privatised in 2020. Now this, reports Jon Queally.
While the energy sector remains in private hands, it will resist any transition away from fossil fuels. Greens MLC Abigail Boyd discusses聽the聽urgent need to take it back into public hands.
The energy crisis we didn鈥檛 need to have has put the question of a publicly-owned energy industry on the table again. Sue Bull argues that is the only way to keep good jobs and energy聽prices down.聽
The suspension of the national electricity market points to the need to learn from the past.聽The whole idea of having an energy market for a commodity that everyone needs聽is a scam, argues Pip Hinman.
As if to dispel any doubts that her privatisation spree was ending,聽Jim McIlroy writes that the NSW Premier has moved to reassure private corporations that it is聽not.
Throughout the intense wildfires that gripped California since July, the media barely mentioned their underlying cause 鈥 climate change and energy company profiteering, writes Barry Sheppard.
In Australia, the National Electricity Market is rapidly becoming dysfunctional, with power shortages, blackouts and soaring prices making headlines.
Private companies are refusing to invest in new fossil fuel generators to replace those that have closed. This 鈥渋nvestment strike鈥 is due partly to uncertainty about carbon pricing and partly to increasingly volatile spot prices received by generators.
Up to 1000 people gathered outside state Parliament on November 15 to protest against plans by the Western Australian Coalition government to sell the state鈥檚 main electricity provider, Western Power.
The protest was organised by the Use your Power Group, headed by the Australian Services Union (ASU) and Electrical Trades Union. There was also strong support from the Maritime Union of Australia, Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, United Voice, Australian Manufacturing Workers Union and State School Teachers Union.
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