The future of energy generation and storage

[Value Collector]

Another example of government negligence and "market" politics.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-07/australia-has-limited-emergency-fuel-stocks-left/9734164

Another good argument for increasing the ratio of electric vehicles in the national transport fleet.

 

[SirRumpole]

Another good argument for increasing the ratio of electric vehicles in the national transport fleet.

Yes you can do that as well, but they aren't here yet and millions of liquid fuel cars, trucks, aircraft, buses and ships are.

 

[Smurf1976]

Another example of government negligence and "market" politics.

Hopefully the fact that a few people in the military have started publicly speaking out on this one will be sufficient to put enough pressure on government to do something.

They can ignore engineers, environmentalists, economists and so on but it's a bit harder to ignore when your own defence forces are saying you'd better be doing something.

My own view is very firmly that we ought to maintain the 90 days' stockpile that we are bound by international agreement to do and should not be looking for ways to cheat (like a former PM arguing that coal in the ground should be counted the same as petrol or diesel in storage tanks - yes seriously!).

Australia is at present the only OECD country not doing what was agreed so it's time to get our act together.

 

[Value Collector]

My own view is very firmly that we ought to maintain the 90 days' stockpile that we are bound by international agreement to do and should not be looking for ways to cheat (like a former PM arguing that coal in the ground should be counted the same as petrol or diesel in storage tanks - yes seriously!).
together.

Is that 90 days of business as usual or 90 days of rationing?

Also, who's job is it to maintain this stock pile? does the government need to organise to store and hold it, or should they provide incentives to the industry to keep more stock on hand?

If they are going to legislate that private energy companies need to hold 90days of stock, that is a whole lot of capital, they would probably need to be paid at least 4% on that capital to make it worth while for them.

 

[SirRumpole]

If they are going to legislate that private energy companies need to hold 90days of stock, that is a whole lot of capital, they would probably need to be paid at least 4% on that capital to make it worth while for them.

It's a national security issue and companies should be expected to tow the line regardless of whether there is anything in it for them.

 

[Smurf1976]

It’s 90 days of net imports “business as usual”.

EVERY other OECD country already does it and so do most others so it’s no big deal in that sense. Plus we agreed 40 years ago that we’d do it too and until a few years ago we did so.

The actual means could be either privately owned or a government owned stockpile. Other countries use both approaches although private is the more common way.

 

[Value Collector]

It's a national security issue and companies should be expected to tow the line regardless of whether there is anything in it for them.

If a company only needs 30 days supply to maintain the functioning of their business, but the government wants 90 days for some national security purpose, I think the government needs to build the infrastructure for holding that additional 60 days supply and outlay the capital for buying the excess stock.

If it is truly for the "national good" then the nation needs to cover the additional expense, it would be unfair to expect the share holders of the company to take a dividend cut or have their company take on more debt just to hold an additional 60 days of stock that just sits there, without getting any incentive for doing that.

otherwise the cost of the insurance policy is being lumped on a couple companies, when the beneficiaries of the insurance policy are the whole nation.

------------
In the USA the national oil reserve is run by the government, the government owns the storage infrastructure and owns all the oil.

 

[sptrawler]

It’s 90 days of net imports “business as usual”.

EVERY other OECD country already does it and so do most others so it’s no big deal in that sense. Plus we agreed 40 years ago that we’d do it too and until a few years ago we did so.

The actual means could be either privately owned or a government owned stockpile. Other countries use both approaches although private is the more common way.

It is like everything else in this Country, no one wants the holding costs, no one wants to make the hard calls.
Eventually, avoiding the hard decisions, will be our downfall and I'm not just taking about fuel reserves. lol

 

[basilio]

So how about a simple, cheap way to produce endless non polluting Hydrogen as a fuel ? Can we just do it ?

Exeter electrode harvests hydrogen by splitting water with light
30th April 2018 10:48 am
A team from Exeter University has made a significant hydrogen energy breakthrough, developing an electrode that splits water using only light.

The photo-electrode, made from nanoparticles of lanthanum, iron and oxygen, absorbs light before initialising electrochemical transformations to extract the hydrogen from water (H20). According to the Exeter team, the LaFeO3 device is not only cheap to produce but can also be recreated on a larger scale for mass use. Hydrogen energy produced using the photo-electrode would be free from carbon emissions and virtually limitless. The work is published in the journal Scientific Reports.

“We have shown that our LaFeO3 photo-electrode has ideal band alignments needed to split water into its constituents (H2 and O2) spontaneously, without the need of an external bias,” said lead author Govinder Pawar, who works at the university’s Environment and Sustainability Institute in Cornwall.

“Moreover, our material has excellent stability where after 21 hours of testing it does not degrade, ideal for water splitting purpose. We are currently working on further improving our material to make it more efficient to produce more hydrogen.”

Water splitting was first demonstrated by Fujishima and Honda using a titanium dioxide electrode. Since then, scientists have been on the hunt for the ideal material to perform the task. While many semiconductor materials have been found to be capable, none have been both abundant enough and functional in the visible part of the light spectrum to be considered practical for mass industrial use.

https://www.theengineer.co.uk/exeter-electrode-harvests-hydogen/

 

[basilio]

Another breakthrough in Li-Ion performance. Will have implications for electric vehicle capacities.
Short story.

Test Results - Performance benefits over reference anode graphite
• 20% higher capacity (total energy)
• 20% higher power (fast charge/discharge)
• No capacity fade after 300 cycles (>99% energy retention) See test results to compare with reference anodes.
• 94% first cycle efficiency
• Successful scale up - from half coin cells to commercial size pouch cell

Cost and other efficiencies over current commercial anode graphite
• No micronisation
• No spheronisation
• No milling losses (high yield)
• No coating
• Potentially less waste, energy and environmental impacts

http://www.talgaresources.com/irm/PDF/2226_0/TALGABREAKTHROUGHINLIIONBATTERYPERFORMANCE

 

[Value Collector]

This is what they were talking about when they said the Tesla Battery in SA was saving the State money by supplying the frequency balancing service on top of the peak demand supply service.

 

[sptrawler]

So how about a simple, cheap way to produce endless non polluting Hydrogen as a fuel ? Can we just do it ?

Exeter electrode harvests hydrogen by splitting water with light
30th April 2018 10:48 am
A team from Exeter University has made a significant hydrogen energy breakthrough, developing an electrode that splits water using only light.

The photo-electrode, made from nanoparticles of lanthanum, iron and oxygen, absorbs light before initialising electrochemical transformations to extract the hydrogen from water (H20). According to the Exeter team, the LaFeO3 device is not only cheap to produce but can also be recreated on a larger scale for mass use. Hydrogen energy produced using the photo-electrode would be free from carbon emissions and virtually limitless. The work is published in the journal Scientific Reports.

“We have shown that our LaFeO3 photo-electrode has ideal band alignments needed to split water into its constituents (H2 and O2) spontaneously, without the need of an external bias,” said lead author Govinder Pawar, who works at the university’s Environment and Sustainability Institute in Cornwall.

“Moreover, our material has excellent stability where after 21 hours of testing it does not degrade, ideal for water splitting purpose. We are currently working on further improving our material to make it more efficient to produce more hydrogen.”

Water splitting was first demonstrated by Fujishima and Honda using a titanium dioxide electrode. Since then, scientists have been on the hunt for the ideal material to perform the task. While many semiconductor materials have been found to be capable, none have been both abundant enough and functional in the visible part of the light spectrum to be considered practical for mass industrial use.

https://www.theengineer.co.uk/exeter-electrode-harvests-hydogen/

The momentum toward hydrogen is ever increasing, as it is the answer, to clean fuel.

https://thewest.com.au/business/energy/woodside-eyes-hydrogen-supply-for-japan-ng-b88836800z

 

[basilio]

The momentum toward hydrogen is ever increasing, as it is the answer, to clean fuel.

https://thewest.com.au/business/energy/woodside-eyes-hydrogen-supply-for-japan-ng-b88836800z

And yet... If Woodside(or anyone else) has a look at the Exeter electrode process there is no need to even consider the problem of leftover carbon. A different, cleaner process.

I suspect Woodside is trying to reform its LNG assets and there are a number of promising new leads in that area apart from the most obvious one of reforming methane in the traditional way.

https://www.vox.com/energy-and-envi...drogen-fuel-technology-economy-hytech-storage
https://arstechnica.com/science/201...gas-to-hydrogen-without-any-carbon-emissions/
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-...uld-fuel-renewable-energy-export-boom/8518916

 

[basilio]

The Greatest Love Story of the 21st Century meandered out of their wedding into the sunset

Naturally, being English they tottled off in .... a silver blue open head E Type Jag.

Naturally, being environmentalists... it was in fact running on lots of little Li Ion batteries. Cute.


Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Drove a Vintage Jaguar E-Type to Their Wedding Reception

It was first produced in 1968 and has been converted to run on electric power.

By Sam Dangremond
May 20, 2018
691

When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle left the luncheon after their wedding at Windsor Castle, the newlyweds hopped into a snazzy vintage Jaguar that looked straight out of a James Bond movie.

Looking like James Bond himself, Prince Harry helps his new bride into the Jaguar before the drive to Frogmore House.

The silver blue Jaguar E-Type was first manufactured in 1968, but last year Jaguar Land Rover revealed it had electrified the vehicle to create what it called the E-Type Concept Zero, a zero-emissions version of what Enzo Ferrari once dubbed “the most beautiful car in the world.”

The electric model is quicker than the original E-Type—going from 0 10 100 kilometers per hour (62 miles per hour) takes just 5.5 seconds, about one second faster than a Series 1 E-Type.
https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/a20759902/royal-wedding-car-vintage-jaguar-e-type/

 

[SirRumpole]

Bond never drove an E-Type, only Aston Martins and the occasional BMW.

The electrified Jag is a great idea though, it's not going to overheat and cost a fortune to fix.

 

[Darc Knight]

AGL announces it won't sell Liddell power station, wants to close it down.

http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-21/agl-knocks-back-offer-for-liddell-coal-plant/9782252

Trying to keep the competition for it's Solar and Wind generators out???

 

[SirRumpole]

Trying to keep the competition for it's Solar and Wind generators out???

I think that would be a reasonable assumption.

If the Fed govt want it so much they could put a heritage order on it and buy it themselves.

 

[SirRumpole]

More pumped hydro coming.



http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-07/how-does-pumped-hydro-power-work/9843804

 

[Country Lad]

More pumped hydro coming.

Chicken or the egg?

The feasibility study is important in developing decisions on the interconnector," Mr Frydneberg said, when asked about possible funding sources.

A second interconnector has proposed for a long time, but would likely cost $1 billion, and there is no resolution on who would pay for it. It might be prudent for a decision first and then spend the money on feasibility studies for pumped hydro sites.

 

[Joules MM1]

local company ASX : POW in the battery game

they own 50% of the resource required https://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20180417/pdf/43t89sh2z61tkl.pdf