The future of energy generation and storage

[Smurf1976]

Coal plant running is Bluewaters 1, Bluewaters 2, Muja 6 (aka C station unit 2) and Muja 8 (aka D station unit 2). Available coal plant has run at constant full load for the past 3 days as above.

Coal not running is Collie and Muja 7 (aka D station unit 1).

The wind has come to a halt as per the chart.

 

[sptrawler]

View attachment 158039

Coal plant running is Bluewaters 1, Bluewaters 2, Muja 6 (aka C station unit 2) and Muja 8 (aka D station unit 2). Available coal plant has run at constant full load for the past 3 days as above.

Coal not running is Collie and Muja 7 (aka D station unit 1).

The wind has come to a halt as per the chart.

These are the times you keep mentioning @Smurf1976 , when renewables fail on the solar and the wind front and the times that the greens for some reason wont accept can happen.
What we don't know with global warming is, are these times are going to increase in duration or frequency and if so how we are going to address it. Batteries as they stand ATM, wont be able to fill long duration holes in renewable generation IMO.

 

[basilio]

Another clever way that solar farms and traditional farming complement each other.
Very practical, well proven

Here’s why sheep grazing on this Ohio solar farm is a no-brainer​

Michelle Lewis | May 30 2023 - 11:00 am PT

27 Comments

Up to 200 sheep will be grazing at Oberlin College’s 2.7 megawatt (MW) solar farm this summer, ending the need for mowing – and creating a lot of other wins as well.

Oberlin College’s ground crew have complained about how difficult and expensive it was to maintain the field upon which the 13-year-old solar farm sits. So the college’s campus energy and resource manager, Joel Baetens, decided to try agrivoltaics – pairing solar power with agriculture – by bringing in sheep to graze and aerate the grass growing around the solar farm.

On May 24, around 70 sheep were delivered from a farm to Oberlin’s fenced-in, 10-acre solar farm north of the campus. Two border collies helped to settle the first delivery of sheep in at their temporary home, and the sheep will be brought to Oberlin’s solar farm a couple times in the summer to graze. More sheep drops will soon up the numbers to around 200.

Solar and sheep are a great pair: Solar panels provide shade and shelter for the sheep, and the sheep trim the grass – and eat for free. Plus, the shade the panels create reduces heat and light underneath, thus helping to conserve water.
The cost of the sheep is just a fraction of the $30,000 it would cost to mow Oberlin’s solar farm, and they’ll reduce the carbon impact of maintaining the solar fields.

Here's why sheep grazing on this Ohio solar farm is a no-brainer

Up to 200 sheep will graze at Oberlin College's 2.7 MW solar farm this summer, ending the need for mowing – and creating loads of other wins.

electrek.co

 

[IFocus]

@Smurf1976 followed the line from Mount Isa to Richmond QLD assume it goes to Townville was thinking of you when I saw it

Any idea of the voltage looked like 132kv but insulators looked less?

 

[Smurf1976]

@Smurf1976 followed the line from Mount Isa to Richmond QLD assume it goes to Townville was thinking of you when I saw it

Any idea of the voltage looked like 132kv but insulators looked less?

Not certain about that, Mt Isa and anything else supplied from there isn't on the main grid it's a completely standalone system, but a lot of it's at 66kV so quite likely that's the answer.

There is a plan to ultimately connect it to the rest of the grid but at present it's a separate system.

 

[SirRumpole]

Is geothermal power dead ?

Not quite according to some.

John's town was a geothermal hub until it failed, but one company thinks it will be different

Greenvale Energy hopes a geothermal plant, using hot rocks technology, could be up and running by 2026, with others to follow suit.

www.abc.net.au

 

[IFocus]

Not certain about that, Mt Isa and anything else supplied from there isn't on the main grid it's a completely standalone system, but a lot of it's at 66kV so quite likely that's the answer.

There is a plan to ultimately connect it to the rest of the grid but at present it's a separate system.

Townsville side of Richmond the line looks like 132kv which doesn’t add up maybe I need better glasses ?

 

[Smurf1976]

Townsville side of Richmond the line looks like 132kv which doesn’t add up maybe I need better glasses ?

Mt Isa system's the only grid that I don't have access to maps for. Never had anything to do with it, haven't even been there as a tourist.

Not sure why the information isn't on the general maps though given that even the private lines owned by BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue are on the same map as everything else. The North West Power System (NWPS), not to be confused with the North West Interconnected System in WA, stands alone in that regard.

So far as Richmond's concerned, there's a 66kV line to Hughenden which is fed from Millchester which then goes back to Townsville at 132kV. I'd assume supply to Richmond is fed from there and is thus on the NEM not the NWPS.

Further south, 132kV from the east through to Barcaldine then 66kV to Longreach. That's also on the NEM.

In terms of visual appearance, that can be deceiving since it's not unknown that towers are built with a future voltage increase in mind. Eg put up 330kV towers but only run it at 220 or 110 for now. Etc.

For a rather extreme case of "aspirational" towers though, well there's always this line in Tasmania:

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

No your eyes don't deceive you, a baby transmission tower almost hidden in the bush yes. There's actually two sets of them side by side, two circuits on each so four circuits in total, and they're carrying the output of the Lake Margaret scheme which comes to a grand total of 11.6MW between the Upper (8.4MW) and Lower (3.2MW) power stations. Voltage is just 11kV and historically was 6.6kV

Definitely haven't seen any smaller towers than those.

In the background there's also a 110kV and separate 220kV line further away from the road on normal size towers.

 

[IFocus]

Mt Isa system's the only grid that I don't have access to maps for. Never had anything to do with it, haven't even been there as a tourist

Mount Isa was a blast from the past industrial town right next to active stacks punching out plume the drive from Isa to Cloncurry through the range was really good but apparently Mount Isa has the highest crime rate in QLD ??

 

[sptrawler]

Mount Isa was a blast from the past industrial town right next to active stacks punching out plume the drive from Isa to Cloncurry through the range was really good but apparently Mount Isa has the highest crime rate in QLD ??

Yes Mt Isa is like the old Wittenoom mine, they make iconic photo's.

 

[wayneL]

The Greens' wet dream of people living in caves, shivering around a single candle a step closer:

https://www.news.com.au/finance/money/budgeting/aussies-feeling-the-pinch-urged-not-to-use-heaters-as-cold-weather-sets-in/news-story/0130f836f34579f2388194563bee6c8c

 

[moXJO]

With all the renewable projects around, why isn't electricity getting cheaper?
Did it get cheaper in Germany?
Or NZ?

 

[macca]

The Greens' wet dream of people living in caves, shivering around a single candle a step closer:

https://www.news.com.au/finance/money/budgeting/aussies-feeling-the-pinch-urged-not-to-use-heaters-as-cold-weather-sets-in/news-story/0130f836f34579f2388194563bee6c8c

I really have to wonder on all this BS, who would have thought that if we use our heaters for less time it will lower our heating costs, truly amazing

Quite funny actually, we have all this renewable stuff going on to reduce pollution but if we take a drive through an older suburb that still has chimneys or a newer acreage estate with pot belly stove heaters and the air in winter is like a smog.

Around here we can't hang washing out overnight or even early in the morning as the whole valley reeks with woodsmoke until the winds get out of bed.

 

[IFocus]

With all the renewable projects around, why isn't electricity getting cheaper?
Did it get cheaper in Germany?
Or NZ?

You live in the wrong state I haven't paid a electricity bill for a couple of years and when I do rarely over $50.

 

[Smurf1976]

Yes Mt Isa is like the old Wittenoom mine, they make iconic photo's.

Although Mt Isa is a fair bit safer I assume.....

 

[sptrawler]

Although Mt Isa is a fair bit safer I assume.....

Time will tell.
Wittenoom town has been completely removed recently, I'm not sure about the mine, it was their last time I was up there probably 20 years ago. It was just like the day it was closed still had cable drums behind the workshops. The mine was a couple of km down the gorge, away from the town, but they used tailings to cover the roads and oval etc, so you didn't escape the dust.

 

[sptrawler]

View attachment 158039

Coal plant running is Bluewaters 1, Bluewaters 2, Muja 6 (aka C station unit 2) and Muja 8 (aka D station unit 2). Available coal plant has run at constant full load for the past 3 days as above.

Coal not running is Collie and Muja 7 (aka D station unit 1).

The wind has come to a halt as per the chart.

Maybe we are starting to see the reason behind McGowan walking away, the energy transition is getting shakier and shakier, as the coal fired plant falls into disrepair.
This is starting to get uglier and uglier by the day IMO, the 2030 line in the sand, is fast becoming a noose around the Govts neck, time will tell.

Australia's energy woes shift west as state's power and gas prices head skywards

A supposed exemplar of energy security and prescience just last year, Western Australia is now facing calls for a shake-up of its policies amid soaring prices and supply strains.

www.abc.net.au

From the article:

Beware the long-term risks​

Mr Kerr said although recent cold weather had undoubtedly made matters worse, there were bigger forces at work.

Key among these was the declining reliability of WA's ageing coal-fired power stations which have traditionally supplied more than a third of the energy used in the state's main grid.

Last year, then-premier Mark McGowan unveiled ambitious plans to close the state's two remaining coal plants by 2029 in a bid to accelerate the transition to renewable energy.

But Mr Kerr said those plans were looking increasingly shaky given the amount of wind, solar, and battery power that still needed to be built.
In any case, he said keeping the system in balance would be a high-wire act.

"You've also got some challenges with the coal supply, some of the coal plants that would normally be on at this time of the year are actually out," he said.

"That means we're burning more gas.

"And it's probably the one time of the year where there's not enough renewables in the system.

 

[Smurf1976]

Maybe we are starting to see the reason behind McGowan walking away, the energy transition is getting shakier and shakier, as the coal fired plant falls into disrepair.

There's a gas shortage heading WA's way too according to AEMO's figures.

 

[sptrawler]

There's a gas shortage heading WA's way too according to AEMO's figures.

Yes it has been a long time since I ever thought about picking up a cheap 3kva generator, but it is starting to cross my mind again. ?

 

[sptrawler]

I did say AGL were perfectly positioned to take the low hanging fruit. LOL

Top emitter AGL sets targets for replacing coal with cleaner power

AGL is confident the bumpiest year of the green energy transition is now behind it as higher wholesale power prices help it return to profit.

www.theage.com.au

AGL is confident the bumpiest year of the green energy transition is now behind it as higher wholesale power prices help it return to profit, and the power giant beds down details of its multibillion-dollar plan to replace its coal-fired generators with backed-up renewables.
The nation’s biggest electricity supplier faced a chaotic year in 2022 after billionaire shareholder Mike Cannon-Brookes forced it to abandon a long-held demerger plan, dump its chairman and chief executive, and accelerate the closures of its coal-fired power stations, which are Australia’s largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions.