Is the AEMO also lying to us ?

In an earlier post, I asked the question Why is the CSIRO lying to us? It covered the very significant shortcomings fothe CSIRO's Gencost report, especially it bias against Nuclear in favour of renewables. 

Today I am asking a similar question; Is the AEMO (Australia's Energy Market Operator) also lying to us?

It seems so.  In a rather detailed YouTube presentation, Aiden Morrison explores  AEMO's Integrated System Plan (ISP) for transforming Australia's energy grid towards Net Zero. The video titled "Unravelling AEMO's Integrated System Plan: World-class, incompetent, or corrupt? is well worth it, if you have the time and a fair amount of technical savvy. 

If not, spoiler alert, Yes it seems the ISP has serious flaws which all work to underestimate the costs of renewables and substantially overstate the cost of nuclear. 

So both the CSIRO and AEMO are producing biased reports to support the government's chosen options. This is a betrayal of their role as independent bodies whose role is to provide the best solutions for Australia.

Why is the CSIRO lying to us?

Our ever-zealous Minister for Climate Change, Mr Chris Bowen, is incessantly reminding us that Nuclear is the most expensive source of energy. Is this possibly true? Well, it seems not. A recent short YouTube video titled More misinformation from CSIRO on Nuclear calls out the lie, or should I just call it 'disinformation'. 

Chris Bowen's justification relies on the CSIRO's Annual Gencost report that does indeed claim Nuclear is the most expensive form of energy. The problem is that the CSIRO did NOT investigate the nuclear option with the same objective analysis it provided for Wind and Solar. It based its costings on a single SMR (Small Modular Reactor) with a large development cost. However, it did not consider full-scale Nuclear or indeed small-scale Nuclear, which has many implementations around the world. Tried and true technology, available and with predictable costing. In fact, CSIRO did not even explore the nuclear option with experts in the field. They relied on input from renewable energy providers and even government bureaucrats. 

If that weren't enough, the CSIRO has also been caught 'misinforming' us about the costs of the pumped hydro technology. This time understating the cost of such technologies.

Again a short video of the senate hearing provides the background. The video is titled CSIRO’s GenCost is Just a Wind and Solar Fairy-tale! and covers the incisive questions by Senator Roberts. Thank you senator for speaking up.

So there you are. It seems our CSIRO is no longer a respectable objective presenter of scientific research, but an advocate of a preferred technology and willing to tilt the objective truth to push an agenda. Shame! Shame!