Sunset for Solar Subsidies

The sun never set on Queen Victoria’s Empire.

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But it does set on those solar panels that subsidies have plastered onto Australian roofs. Solar farms produce for about six hours per cloudless day. But when demand peaks, about 6.30pm in winter, solar panels contribute zero electricity. Billions have been spent researching ways to store massive amounts of electricity to cover the eighteen hours per day of solar deficit. Many things work in the lab, but once real engineers take over from green dreamers, their fanciful energy storage schemes become horrendously expensive. But nature has provided us with the answer - the solar energy of yesteryear is stored in concentrated form in prodigious quantities as COAL. So abundant and cheap is this stored sunshine, that even green Europe is rediscovering it. Seventeen coal-fired power stations are being built in Germany, the solar panel capital of the world. China, the world’s biggest exporter of solar panels, is building 363 coal-fired plants. Green energy subsidies have bloated electricity costs and deficits for EU countries, with zero benefits for the climate. Subsidised solar panels are good for harvesting votes, but hopeless for generating grid power. Consumers who choose solar panels must pay full costs. Viv Forbes, Rosewood, Qld Australia

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