The future of energy generation and storage

[SirRumpole]

The problem with the ALP as I've said before, they have great big picture ideas, it's the implementation they fall down on.
Seriously, that's why they get voted in and that's why they get voted out, the coalition only get voted in to sort out the mess.
Wash, rinse repeat.
We needed Labor in to bring about change, but as is happening in most aspects at the moment, its imploding, so the conservatives will get voted in to get it all under control, then life gets boring and off we go again. Lol

Labor got it right when they created Infrastructure Australia.

They let experts make the decisions about what infrastructure we needed, then just put up the money.

Abbott politicised it again and Labor appears to have continued down that path.

What they need to do is appoint a committee of experts to plan the whole future grid, and then get on with building it, instead of all the faffing around that's going on now.

 

[Smurf1976]

What they need to do is appoint a committee of experts to plan the whole future grid, and then get on with building it, instead of all the faffing around that's going on now.

That's what was done in the past.

Government had the final approval YES / NO but that's really it, everything was lead by competent people and really just presented to government to sign-off on.

The end result might not have been perfect but it was damn close. Things got done and they worked.

 

[sptrawler]

Labor got it right when they created Infrastructure Australia.

They let experts make the decisions about what infrastructure we needed, then just put up the money.

Abbott politicised it again and Labor appears to have continued down that path.

What they need to do is appoint a committee of experts to plan the whole future grid, and then get on with building it, instead of all the faffing around that's going on now.

These days it is driven by ideology, vested interests and profits.

 

[SirRumpole]

The environment v the environment.

Why the lights may go out thanks to the Greenies.

Victorian wind farm project facing turbulence following 'unworkable' environmental recommendations

The company behind the Willatook Wind Farm project says it looks unlikely to go ahead because state government environmental requirements make it unviable.

www.abc.net.au

 

[sptrawler]

One of the climate activists that blockaded the Woodside CEO's house was interviewed, they asked her what needs doing to have a safe transition to renewables and what would she like to see done first etc. She didn't have a clue, just said ask an expert, yet there they are demanding gas be stopped she was a uni student, we live in a weird world ATM.

The West Australian | Perth, WA, National & World News​

The West Australian
https://thewest.com.au

A young woman who is among Perth's leading eco-fanatics has admitted she cannot answer questions about the transition to renewable energy

 

[Smurf1976]

A young woman who is among Perth's leading eco-fanatics has admitted she cannot answer questions about the transition to renewable energy

The sad thing is the basic concepts are easily understood by anyone who wants to understand.

Put aside the detailed maths but the basic concepts are something anyone can get their mind around:

*Wind and Solar for bulk generation.

*Spread the wind and solar generation over as wide a geographic area as possible.

*On river hydro generation with large storage is extremely valuable to deal with seasonal variation in demand along with wind and solar "droughts" which do occur.

*Storage both shallow (batteries) and deep (hydro).

*A strong network connecting it all together.

*Electricity at the point of use rather than gas, oil, petrol etc.

*So far as practical, smooth out the demand. Eg EV charging overnight and water heaters running during the middle of the day with neither running during the evening peak. This approach being required for both technical and economic reasons.

Leaving out the figures, the basic concept's straightforward.

 

[SirRumpole]

Australia's renewable energy target is in trouble due to red - tape in getting approvals.

What I said before, having projects held in in the Courts by activists means we don't get the projects we need to keep the lights on.

Governments have to bite the bullet and expedite necessary projects.

Analysts say mounting problems mean Australia will fall well short of 2030 renewable energy target

Australia has ambitious plans to generate more than 80 per cent of its power from renewable sources by 2030. But a growing number of experts say the country is way behind where it should be.

www.abc.net.au

 

[sptrawler]

Australia's renewable energy target is in trouble due to red - tape in getting approvals.

What I said before, having projects held in in the Courts by activists means we don't get the projects we need to keep the lights on.

Governments have to bite the bullet and expedite necessary projects.

Analysts say mounting problems mean Australia will fall well short of 2030 renewable energy target

Australia has ambitious plans to generate more than 80 per cent of its power from renewable sources by 2030. But a growing number of experts say the country is way behind where it should be.

www.abc.net.au

Add to those problems the issue of logistics, manpower, gaining access etc and it is just becoming a joke, which wont end in laughter.

Like I said earlier, way too many balls in the air and the Government isn't landing any of them, one hell of a mess coming up IMO.

 

[Smurf1976]

Add to those problems the issue of logistics, manpower, gaining access etc and it is just becoming a joke, which wont end in laughter.

The only question in my view is the detail of how it ends.

Bearing in mind the situation isn't confined to energy or even to utilities in general but applies to rather a lot of things. That being so, the "incident" could be anything - my guess though would be that a "hard landing" recession is likely part of it along with abandonment of "net zero" as a goal.

Regarding the latter, I'll go out on a limb and say that someone looking back however many years from now will observe that "net zero" was in practice already dead as of August 2023, it's just that nobody's actually said it and probably never will.

way too many balls in the air and the Government isn't landing any of them

A good manager delegates.

A dud micro-manages and won't let anything happen without them. Inevitably progress slows and eventually stalls.

There's simply no good reason for politicians to be involved with the detail of any of this. Put competent people in charge, leave them to come up with the plan, the politicians then spend some time formally questioning them about what's proposed and why it's needed before giving it the final approval to proceed.

 

[sptrawler]

Well what we have been saying in this thread is starting to be voiced further up the food chain, the real issue isn't going to be the lack of renewables though, IMO it will be how much the taxpayer has to pay to keep the coal running.

Analysts say mounting problems mean Australia will fall well short of 2030 renewable energy target

Australia has ambitious plans to generate more than 80 per cent of its power from renewable sources by 2030. But a growing number of experts say the country is way behind where it should be.

www.abc.net.au

Plans by the federal government for Australia to generate more than four-fifths of its power from renewable sources by 2030 are coming under pressure amid claims the country is way off track.

Key points:​

• There are increasing suggestions Australia will fall short of its 2030 renewable power target of 82 per cent
• Analysts predict Australia's share of renewable energy is on track to be about 60 per cent at the current rate of progress
• The forecasts come amid mounting opposition to projects such as transmission lines in some parts of Australia

Renewable energy advisory Nexa has joined global analyst Rystad Energy in finding Australia's green energy share is likely to be barely 60 per cent by the end of the decade under the current rate of progress.
According to Mr Wood, delays holding up the construction of high-voltage power lines are at the heart of Australia's slowing progress.

He noted that a key plank of the federal government's renewable energy agenda was its so-called rewiring the nation scheme, which had set aside $20 billion in low-cost loans to help kickstart the development of transmission lines.

However, Mr Wood said the policy looked incapable of solving the underlying problem.

 

[Smurf1976]

the policy looked incapable of solving the underlying problem

My observation is simply that pretty much everything's moving far too slowly.

However long common sense says it ought to take, it's taking far longer than that.

Think in terms of paperwork and decision making taking twice as long as the actual physical work.

 

[Smurf1976]

Think in terms of paperwork and decision making taking twice as long as the actual physical work.

And in many cases the physical not happening at all.

 

[mullokintyre]

Nuclear Fusion will just not go way, despite there being a lot of scepticism about it ever being physically feasible, much less economically feasible.
Now from The Weather network comes some interesting news.

Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory say that they generated energy using nuclear fusion, and in higher amounts than achieved last December. Some believe that nuclear fusion will be a game-changer for the energy sector.
(Reuters) -U.S. scientists have achieved net energy gain in a fusion reaction for the second time since December, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory said on July 30.

Scientists at the California-based lab repeated the fusion ignition breakthrough in an experiment in the National Ignition Facility (NIF) on July 30 that produced a higher energy yield than in December, a Lawrence Livermore spokesperson said.

Final results are still being analyzed, the spokesperson added.

Sometimes, of more importance than a particular discovery, is the ability for it to be replicated independently by others.
The pons Fleischman experiment was a notable failure in that after making headlines around the world on the announcement of the first net positive fusion reaction, no other independent body could replicate the results.
Pons and Fleischmen faded into the history book never to be heard from again, and Nuclear fusion was given a bad rap.
It remains to be seen whether this research joins all the other announcements, or heralds an exciting new era.
Given so many in the world are dead against Nuclear Fission as being a CO2 free energy generation mechanism, Fusion technology may get off the ground.
Mick

 

[SirRumpole]

Nuclear Fusion will just not go way, despite there being a lot of scepticism about it ever being physically feasible, much less economically feasible.
Now from The Weather network comes some interesting news.

Sometimes, of more importance than a particular discovery, is the ability for it to be replicated independently by others.
The pons Fleischman experiment was a notable failure in that after making headlines around the world on the announcement of the first net positive fusion reaction, no other independent body could replicate the results.
Pons and Fleischmen faded into the history book never to be heard from again, and Nuclear fusion was given a bad rap.
It remains to be seen whether this research joins all the other announcements, or heralds an exciting new era.
Given so many in the world are dead against Nuclear Fission as being a CO2 free energy generation mechanism, Fusion technology may get off the ground.
Mick

Fusion will be a game changer if it works.

Progress has been slow but considering the possibilities you would think there would be a lot more investment.

I wonder if vested interests are slowing down progress, or if it's just very difficult to mimic the sun on earth.

 

[basilio]

One option to explore for cost effective mass decarbonisation.

Floating solar on the equator could provide ‘limitless’ energy​

Michelle Lewis | Aug 10 2023 - 9:06 am PT

16 Comments

Vast arrays of floating solar panels near the equator could provide unlimited clean energy to countries in Southeast Asia and West Africa, according to new research.

Floating solar in the equator’s waters​

Engineering professors at Australian National University have published a new paper in which they explain how some regions on the equator would be ideal for floating solar because the waters there don’t have strong winds and large waves. Tropical storms rarely hit those regions.

The researchers assert that floating solar in those waters could generate up to a massive 1 million TWh per year. They note in an article in The Conversation that “that’s about five times more annual energy than is needed for a fully decarbonized global economy supporting 10 billion affluent people.”

The waters are categorized as calm if the waves are smaller than 6 meters and winds are weaker than 15 meters per second. The calmest waters are in and around Indonesia and equatorial West Africa, near Nigeria. So floating panels installed in those waters wouldn’t need strong, costly engineering defenses.

Floating solar on the equator could provide ‘limitless’ energy

Floating solar panels near the equator could provide unlimited clean energy to countries in Southeast Asia and West Africa.

electrek.co

More detail on the idea is developed in The Conversation.

'Limitless' energy: how floating solar panels near the equator could power future population hotspots

New research shows densely populated countries in Southeast Asia and West Africa could harvest effectively unlimited energy from solar panels floating on calm tropical seas near the equator.

theconversation.com

 

[basilio]

Nuclear Fusion will just not go way, despite there being a lot of scepticism about it ever being physically feasible, much less economically feasible.
Now from The Weather network comes some interesting news.

Sometimes, of more importance than a particular discovery, is the ability for it to be replicated independently by others.
The pons Fleischman experiment was a notable failure in that after making headlines around the world on the announcement of the first net positive fusion reaction, no other independent body could replicate the results.
Pons and Fleischmen faded into the history book never to be heard from again, and Nuclear fusion was given a bad rap.
It remains to be seen whether this research joins all the other announcements, or heralds an exciting new era.
Given so many in the world are dead against Nuclear Fission as being a CO2 free energy generation mechanism, Fusion technology may get off the ground.
Mick

Nuclear Fusion might indeed be successful - at some stage in the future. Certainly worth investing in it as a 2040-2050 commercial proposition. If the figures stack up. And it gets past laboratory, prototype, small scale production targets.

And governments pour multi, multi billions into development support and financial backing ie assurances of costs.

But right now we need to rapidly decarbonise industry with current proven cost effective technologies. Solar, wind, batteries hydro .

 

[basilio]

How is this for an elegant energy production project. Cost effective. Proven. Here and now. Replicable across hundreds of locations

133 self-storage rooftops in 3 US states are about to power community solar​

Michelle Lewis | Aug 2 2023 - 11:57 am PT

35 Comments

The US’s largest self-storage company is going to host solar panels on 133 of its storage buildings’ rooftops to power over 10,000 homes with affordable community solar power.

Self-storage and community solar​

Glendale, California-based Public Storage (NYSE: PSA) is working with Asbury Park, New Jersey-headquartered commercial and industrial rooftop solar developer Solar Landscape on a big multi-state project that will see community solar installations on 8 million square feet of its self-storage buildings’ rooftops in Maryland, New Jersey, and Illinois.

The 87.5 megawatt (MW) clean energy portfolio will allow local community residents to subscribe to nearby solar installations on Public Storage’s rooftops. Subscribers will receive discounted electricity, and additional savings for low- and moderate-income (LMI) households will often be offered.

133 self-storage rooftops in 3 US states are about to power community solar

Public Storage is going to host solar panels on 133 of its storage buildings' rooftops to power over 10,000 homes with clean energy.

electrek.co

 

[Smurf1976]

Nuclear Fusion might indeed be successful - at some stage in the future.

It's one of those things that has been "just around the corner" for a very long time now but thus far has failed to materialise.

 

[SirRumpole]

Developments in iron-air batteries.

 

[SirRumpole]

A more efficient hydrogen electrolyser to reduce the cost of steel among other things.

Why this silver cylinder is a 'big deal' for heavy industry emissions

An Australian company is set to begin mass producing what it claims is the world's most efficient hydrogen electrolyser, saying it will be the building blocks for decarbonising heavy industry.

www.abc.net.au