On 31/1/22 12:10 pm, Stephen Loosley wrote: >> And so, with smarter gov sci-tech investments, we can expect free >> electricity? > > So South Australia can get by for a week on ‘free’ solar & wind power? Then > if the > Government owns the necessary infrastructure (which is surely mostly paid for > by > now) then free electricity is a no-brainer. Imagine the rush to migrate and > to build > industry in South Australia when this was announced. Come on, Aussie .. come > on!! Great as all of these developments are, it's best not to lapse into marketing-spruik.
It *might* be zero-marginal-cost. But I'd be surprised if there aren't a few variable costs in there. And of course original investment in infrastructure has to be 'paid off' in one sense or another, and that means that there are fixed interest costs to be contributed to. And there's physical and electronic wear-and-tear resulting in progressive infrastructure deterioration and hence the need for depreciation / amortisation to be funded. And the infrastructure needs to be maintained, which means a workforce plus contractors plus parts. -- Roger Clarke mailto:[email protected] T: +61 2 6288 6916 http://www.xamax.com.au http://www.rogerclarke.com Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law University of N.S.W. Visiting Professor in Computer Science Australian National University _______________________________________________ Link mailing list [email protected] https://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
