{"id":1603,"date":"2016-11-30T11:02:46","date_gmt":"2016-11-30T11:02:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/sci\/?p=1603"},"modified":"2022-05-20T11:52:15","modified_gmt":"2022-05-20T10:52:15","slug":"renewables-in-south-australia-blame-games-and-framing-battles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/sci\/2016\/11\/30\/renewables-in-south-australia-blame-games-and-framing-battles\/","title":{"rendered":"Renewables in South Australia: Blame games and framing battles"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” fullwidth=”on” next_background_color=”#000000″ global_module=”322″][et_pb_fullwidth_menu global_parent=”322″ _builder_version=”3.0.106″ menu_id=”7″ submenu_direction=”downwards” fullwidth_menu=”off” background_layout=”dark” module_class=”main-navigation” \/][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”off” specialty=”on” prev_background_color=”#000000″ next_background_color=”#1d1d1d”][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ specialty_columns=”2″][et_pb_row_inner locked=”off”][et_pb_column_inner type=”4_4″ saved_specialty_column_type=”2_3″][et_pb_post_title _builder_version=”3.0.106″ title=”on” meta=”on” author=”on” date=”on” categories=”on” comments=”on” featured_image=”on” featured_placement=”above” text_color=”dark” text_background=”off” locked=”on” parent_locked=”off” \/][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.6″ background_layout=”light” parent_locked=”off”]<\/p>\n

Adelaide and energy systems have one thing in common \u2013 they rarely dominate the Australian news. However, twice in the past three months they have been front and centre. With South Australia\u2019s increase in renewables blamed for a blackout caused by high winds, Marc Hudson examines the \u2018framing battles\u2019 taking place in Australia.<\/p>\n

Price spike and blackouts<\/h2>\n

In July\u00a0spot prices<\/a>\u00a0for electricity in South Australia briefly went through the roof. While some\u00a0media and commentators were extremely quick\u00a0<\/a>to blame this on the high levels of renewable energy generation in Australia, the truth was\u00a0later reported<\/a>\u00a0to be otherwise. As those among us old enough to remember the California electricity crisis 15 years ago,\u00a0there was\u00a0sharp practice afoot.<\/p>\n

Spot prices, however, lack a visceral impact. According to\u00a0Reneweconomy<\/a>, one energy company CEO remarked \u201cthat 99.999 per cent of customers would not have been required to pay the higher electricity prices, and that those who did would do so only as a result of a failure to hedge against the spot market\u201d. But slightly higher electricity bill do not compare to the lights suddenly going out, as they did across South Australia in late September.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0actual cause of this blackout has been explained by a variety of experts<\/a>\u00a0asked to comment by the academic-led news publication, The Conversation. Whilst the debate over the price spike was comprised of\u00a0\u201crenewables proponents versus those who would like to slow\/stop\/reverse the use of renewable energy\u201d<\/a>, the blackout battle is more nuanced. Aside from pro-and-anti renewables advocates there are also those who see the event as an opportunity to press for distributed energy.<\/p>\n

Propagating an opinion about any contentious event that has affected people is inevitably tricky. Too soon and the commentator may be accused of \u2018insensitivity\u2019, but too late and the relentless news cycle has moved on. Some people \u2013\u00a0 Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, independent senator Nick Xenophon and State Liberals leader\u00a0Stephen Marshall<\/a>\u2013 were quick off the mark. In their eagerness, they may have\u00a0mistimed it<\/a>.\u00a0 Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten\u00a0made the point<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile a bushfire was underway, if [the Greens] had talked about climate change,\u00a0<\/em>Barnaby Joyce<\/em><\/a>\u00a0would have been all over them like a rash, calling them un-Australian and all the rest of the nonsense\u2026 yet here we have the Conservatives trying to play politics about renewable energy when this is a storm, it is the weather blowing over towers\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

An alternative framing similarly points the finger of blame at extreme weather as the cause of the blackout, but\u00a0still<\/em>\u00a0attempts to mobilise the fear and uncertainty that the blackout caused as part of an attempt to slow down states\u2019 push for renewables. Included in this is the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Environment Minister\u00a0Josh Frydenburg,<\/a>\u00a0who had also been clear on the actual causes of the July price spike. Frydenburg utilised the ensuing media coverage on energy security to remark that some states\u2019 \u201cunrealistic\u201d renewables targets are part of a\u00a0\u201cbigger question \u2026 [on] how \u2026 we can prevent this going forward\u201d<\/a>. Whilst admitting the present crisis is not caused by renewables, the opportunity is taken to try to de-legitimise the states\u2019 renewable energy goals. Prime Minister Turnbull\u2019s position echoes this, despite admitting extreme weather was the immediate cause of the blackout he has nevertheless has identified Queensland\u2019s 50% renewable target (a further 35.5% than present makeup) as part of an unhelpful \u201cpolitical gamesmanship\u201d between states. As he\u00a0remarked<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s the pathway to achieve that? [It\u2019s] very hard to see it. It\u2019s a political or ideological statement\u2026. We\u2019ve got to recognise that energy security is the key priority and targeting lower emissions is very important but it must be consistent with energy security.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

This antipathy to renewables should also be seen in the context of on-going State-Federal government tensions on these issues. In the 2000s, while Liberal Prime Minister John Howard was resolutely blocking action on emissions reductions, Labor-led states began work on a states-based emissions reduction scheme instead. This was part of the pressure that forced Howard into a late-2006 U-turn, with both parties fighting the 2007 Federal election with an emissions trading scheme in their manifestos. A similar dynamic is at play now, with Federal intransigence, along with hostility toward a renewables target beyond 2020, being factors behind ambitious state action on the increase in renewables.<\/p>\n

What is interesting about this blackout though, is that it is also being used by proponents of distributed energy to boost their argument.<\/p>\n

Never let a serious crisis go to waste<\/h2>\n

The use of events to try to shift the narrative about the proper place of technology is hardly new. When something goes \u201cwrong\u201d, there is an opportunity to create a new \u2018norm\u2019. For example, before World War 2, airships looked as if they might challenge heavier than air transport. Unfortunately for the industry, the (hydrogen-based) Hindenburg went up in flames at\u00a0\u201cthe worst possible time to explode\u201d<\/a>\u00a0and so fixed the technology in the public mind as extremely dangerous.<\/p>\n

If a technology does not \u201cfit\u201d with a moral cosmology \u2013 a view of how the world \u2018should be\u2019-its progress is slowed or even stalled.\u00a0Deborah Stone wrote<\/a>\u00a0in 1989,\u00a0\u201c<\/em>bringing a condition under human control often poses a challenge to old hierarchies\u2026\u201d. Stone exemplifies this claim through the case of the hookworm parasite, which afflicted many poorer rural areas in the nineteenth and early twentieth century.\u00a0 The parasite caused its victims to become \u201clistless\u201d and \u201cslow-witted\u201d, contrary to popular belief pinning these symptoms on the \u201claziness and lax moral character\u201d of the poor.\u00a0 So, when Charles Stiles demonstrated in 1902 that the disease had a cheap cure, he was ridiculed and attacked. As Stone argued:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe discovery was resisted because it meant that southern elites had to stop blaming \u201cpoor white trash\u201d for their laziness and stupidity and stop congratulating themselves for their superior ability to work hard and think fast \u2013 a supposed superiority that served to justify the political hierarchy\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Similar battles between technologies are often fought, whether it is over the\u00a0legitimacy of nuclear power in the Netherlands and the UK<\/a>, or the\u00a0introduction of LED lighting and biofuels.<\/a>\u00a0The\u00a0appraisal of technology is not a \u2018neutral\u2019 process.<\/a><\/p>\n

Advocates of the status quo, that is, proponents of large, centralised fossil fuel-based electricity generation are becoming increasingly knee-jerk on blaming problems on insurgent technologies.\u00a0 The recent framing battles surrounding renewables and the Australian blackouts are telling of this. However, as the carbon accumulates in the atmosphere, and the \u20181 in 50 year\u2019 events happen more and more frequently, this transition is becoming ever-more crucial. There is an urgency to negotiate this low-carbon resistance to secure immediate action toward a more sustainable future.<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_nav _builder_version=”3.0.106″ in_same_term=”off” show_prev=”on” show_next=”on” prev_text=”Previous” next_text=”Next” locked=”on” parent_locked=”off” \/][et_pb_comments _builder_version=”3.0.106″ show_avatar=”on” show_reply=”on” show_count=”on” background_layout=”light” header_font_size_tablet=”51″ header_line_height_tablet=”2″ custom_button=”on” button_icon_placement=”right” button_text_color=”#ffffff” button_use_icon=”off” locked=”on” parent_locked=”off” button_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_text_size__hover=”null” button_one_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_text_size__hover=”null” button_two_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_size__hover=”null” button_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_text_color__hover=”null” button_one_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_text_color__hover=”null” button_two_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_color__hover=”null” button_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_border_width__hover=”null” button_one_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_width__hover=”null” button_two_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_width__hover=”null” button_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_border_color__hover=”null” button_one_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_color__hover=”null” button_two_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_color__hover=”null” button_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_border_radius__hover=”null” button_one_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_radius__hover=”null” button_two_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_radius__hover=”null” button_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_letter_spacing__hover=”null” button_one_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_letter_spacing__hover=”null” button_two_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_letter_spacing__hover=”null” button_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_bg_color__hover=”null” button_one_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_bg_color__hover=”null” button_two_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_bg_color__hover=”null” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Related posts” _builder_version=”3.0.106″ background_layout=”light” locked=”on” parent_locked=”off”]<\/p>\n

Related<\/h1>\n

Related posts:<\/h3>
<\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>

Gilets jaunes, Extinction Rebellion and neoliberal climate policy<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a>
<\/div>

Don\u2019t bet on the UN to fix climate change<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a>
<\/div>

A vegan meat revolution is coming to global fast food chains \u2013 and it could help save the planet<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column_inner][\/et_pb_row_inner][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_sidebar _builder_version=”3.0.106″ area=”sidebar-1″ orientation=”left” show_border=”off” background_layout=”light” locked=”on” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Connect Title” custom_padding=”0px||0px|” _builder_version=”3.0.90″ background_color=”#1d1d1d” module_class=”footer-section” prev_background_color=”#ffffff” global_module=”380″][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” global_parent=”380″ locked=”off” allow_player_pause=”off” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on” parallax_1=”off” parallax_method_1=”off” parallax_2=”off” parallax_method_2=”off” parallax_3=”off” parallax_method_3=”off” make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”on” use_custom_gutter=”off” make_equal=”off” module_id=”footer-row” _builder_version=”3.0.89″][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Contact Us Title” global_parent=”380″ background_layout=”dark” text_text_color=”#ffffff” parent_locked=”off” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”]<\/p>\n

Contact Us<\/h4>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Contact Us” global_parent=”380″ text_text_color=”#aaaaaa” parent_locked=”off” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” module_class=”contact-us” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”]<\/p>\n

+44 (0) 161 306 6000<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Find Us Title” global_parent=”380″ background_layout=”dark” text_text_color=”#ffffff” parent_locked=”off” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”]<\/p>\n

Find Us<\/h4>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Address” global_parent=”380″ background_layout=”dark” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” module_id=”address” parent_locked=”off” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”]<\/p>\n

The University of Manchester
Oxford Rd
Manchester
M13 9PL
UK<\/a><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Connect Title” global_parent=”380″ background_layout=”dark” text_text_color=”#ffffff” parent_locked=”off” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”]<\/p>\n

Connect With Us<\/h4>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_code admin_label=”Social Media” global_parent=”380″ parent_locked=”off” _builder_version=”3.17.6″]<\/p>\n