In 2018, the city council of Broken Hill in New South Wales, Australia, had hoped to become the country’s first carbon-free city by 2030. About $415 million USD was invested in solar, wind and battery projects within 15 miles of the town of 19,000. These generators were supposed to supply enough electricity to power 117,000 homes. 

Then in October, a storm hit the region, destroying power lines connecting the town to dispatchable power from the New South Wales grid, and the entire town was plunged into rolling blackouts. While things gradually returned to normal over a few weeks, the region was hit with another blackout this month. 

The disaster highlights the fact that there’s never been a grid in the world, even for a small population, powered entirely by wind, solar and batteries, despite global goals to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

Renewable demonstration project

Francis Menton, author of the “Manhattan Contrarian” blog, proposed that if we’re going to spend trillions of dollars to create an energy transition free of energy from fossil fuels, a “renewable demonstration project” would go a long way to show that it will actually work. Menton proposes that a small town of about 20,000 people run its entire electricity grid 100% on wind, solar and batteries throughout the year, without any backup from fossil fuels. 

Menton is a free-market proponent who had a career in law spanning more than 40 years, including 31 years as a partner at the white-shoe law firm of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP. To date, he’s never found a single town that meets the standard of his demonstration project. 

The island of El Hierro, nestled in the Canary Islands off the west coast of Africa, embarked on a quest to become powered 100% by wind and pumped storage. The island has approximately 11,000 people, and while it didn’t set out to demonstrate that an energy transition away from fossil fuels is possible, it did promote itself as a 100% renewable energy island. To date, the island has never managed to power its grid for a full year or longer without backup from its diesel generators.

Such a demonstration, if it were ever successful, would be a very low bar to reach in terms of net zero visions. Electricity is only about 20% of the total energy the globe consumes. The bulk of energy consumption is for industry and transportation. Likewise, a town of 20,000 people reaching 100% renewable achieves for 0.0000025% of the Earth’s population what renewable energy proponents want for all 8 billion people on the planet.

As a reverse proposal, Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., had challenged Boulder, Colorado, to become a fossil fuel-free city. The progressive, anti-fossil fuel town of just over 100,000 residents filed one of the first climate suits against oil companies in the nation. The Boulder City Council has considered bans on natural gas hookups in new construction, and it passed aggressive emissions reduction targets. The town plans to reduce emissions by 70% from where they were in 2018 by 2030, and it plans to reach net-zero by 2035 — nine more years. Part of that goal is moving to 100% renewable electricity by 2030 — six years from now. The town actually plans to be carbon positive — meaning it reduces more emissions than it emits — by 2040.

When asked if he’d consider Hageman’s proposal, Boulder City Councilman Mark Wallach told Wyofile that he’s not behind Hageman’s proposal. 

“Nobody on the Boulder Council suggested we can do without all the fossil fuels at this point. We make efforts to do better — to recognize that climate change is real and we do things we can do to combat it,” Wallach said. Why the councilman believes that Hageman’s “ridiculous” proposal will become completely reasonable in six years is unclear. 

Live like mushrooms

Australia's Broken Hill seemed poised to be the world’s first fully functioning renewable energy demonstration project. The remote town in the Australian outback had a 36 megawatt load, which includes nearby mines, so it was also powering one industry. It had 200 megawatts of wind, 53 megawatts of solar power, and 50 megawatts of battery storage backup. These were supplemented with diesel generators, but these were poorly maintained, and one was offline for maintenance when the storm hit. 

The average household in New South Wales 5,662 kilowatt hours per year. For comparison, the average American household uses 10,788 kilowatt hours per year. In Broken Hill, the summers are hot, the winters are cold and windy, and it is dry and mostly clear year-round. Over the course of the year, the temperature typically varies from 39°F to 94°F and is rarely below 34°F or above 105°F.

On Oct. 17, the town’s position as a renewable energy demonstration project came to an abrupt close. A severe storm, possibly a tornado, destroyed transmission lines, plunging Broken Hill and other communities in the region into darkness. According to The Australian, the people of Broken Hill were “left to live like mushrooms.” 

Australian political commentator and climate skeptic Jo Nova reported that refrigerators in pharmacies failed, which destroyed medications, and emergency replacements were brought in. Schools were closed, and grocery store freezers couldn't operate, spoiling large amounts of food. Emergency food supplies had to be trucked in.

A network of fossil fuel-powered generators were fired up to provide power while the transmission lines were repaired, and Broken Hill, along with other impacted communities in the region, had its power restored by November 1. 

Not giving up

Despite the setbacks, Broken Hill hasn’t been deterred from pursuing its net zero by 2030 goal. To help stabilize the town’s grid, it’s building a 200-megawatt battery facility. According to the supplier, that will provide eight hours of power for the town. The facility is meant to replace the diesel-powered generators that currently provide its backup power. 

Menton predicts that the town will not reach its net-zero goals and will either keep its diesel generators or experience more blackouts. 

“I would say there is zero chance that a wind, solar battery system can ever work without dispatchable backup. It's going to have regular blackouts. Anybody who can do arithmetic can see that. And this is just another illustration,” Menton told Just the News.