Will Indonesia export coal to Australia !

Will Indonesia export coal to Australia ! [Posted 15 Aug 2014, 285 views, 11 likes, 1 comment]

Extracted from “Energy Industry Today” 15 Aug 2014:-

A WA government has prepared a discussion paper prepared by the Electricity Market Review that says more than $1 billion has been spent on its controversial capacity mechanism, and as Renew Economy reported last year, much of this has been spent on fossil fuel plants that have never been switched on. The discussion paper says the current high cost of electricity in the WA market is the major reason why Western Australian electricity tariffs are so high. The report says that wholesale prices in the state – often decided through bilateral contracts rather than the open market – average $180/MWh. This is twice the average of the eastern states. But the capacity mechanism subsidy favours the development of fossil fuel generators. So what do they think might be the solution? They come up with this truly incredible suggestion. The report notes that the state has plenty of coal, it’s just that it is lying in ever deeper seams and is getting increasingly expensive to extract. “If prices need to increase significantly (to make generation profitable) it may be that other coal resources become competitive or, more likely for power stations in the region of the Collie mine, there is the possibility of coal imports from countries such as Indonesia. This would provide an effective cap for domestic prices at import parity levels.”