Wind turbines

[Flying Binghi]

For those who enjoy a bit of research. How many steps to find the financial connection between Pprune and these Oz wind farms...

 

"Acciona Energy has three wind farms in service in Australia with a total capacity of 302.5 MW. The biggest is Waubra (192 MW), equipped with ACCIONA Windpower turbines. In 2014, ACCIONA Energía built the Royalla photovoltaic plant (24 MWp) for FRV. It was the biggest in the country at the time, and is located near Canberra (TCA). The company is currently building the 132-MW Mt. Gellibrand Wind Farm in Victoria, after having awarded a tender of renewable energy certificates organized by the Victoria's Government..."

 

ACCIONA Energía en Australia

 

 

[Soleair]

Why spend megabucks on macro projects for renewable energy generation when there is a better solution much closer to home?

 

Australia (& Africa) have the highest insolation (solar energy per sq.km) of any country in the world. Literally millions of MWh irradiating us, nearly all of which unused. If the housebuilding industry were required to incorporate solar energy devices into every new build by law, and all existing house-owners were incentivised to retrofit similar devices, we would substantially reduce the need for huge new power stations.

 

Here is the case with my present house, in Northern Victoria. We have lived here since January this year, taking in some very hot weather, when frequently the ducted aircon was on several hors per day. We have all-electric cooking, and two fair-sized freezers + fridge, all running 24/7. And yet since we have been here, we have not paid a cent in electricity bills: at the last account, the electricity supply company owes us some $35.

 

Now, do we have a vast array of PV panels to achieve this? No. We have a 4kW PV array, fitted on part of the shed roof, facing north. We have a solar hot water panel roughly 2.5m x 1.5m on the house roof. Do we get 60c/kWh from the state? No. Our feedin tariff is 11.30c/unit. We pay 17.6c/unit from the grid, plus $32/month for poles & wires.

 

So, with a tiny 4kW PV array, plus modest hot water panel, we are net suppliers to the grid. And we are using maybe 15% of our roofspace. Now, if every house in Australia were fitted with full roof PV/solar water heating, how many thousands of square km of solar array is that? How much zero emission energy would that produce?

 

Of course this doesn't work as well in cities with high rise apartment blocks. But it would certainly work in the suburbs with individual houses. I'm guessing domestic housing could pretty much pay for all its own consumption, leaving only industry needing external power - and some of that could be defrayed with maximum solar use from roof & property space.

 

Thus every house in Australia would go from being a consumer to a mini power station, feeding the grid. True, energy storage facilities would be required, but that problem will undoubtedly be resolved in the future, and surely it's better to spend money storing solar energy rather than building fossil or nuclear power plants?

 

And here's another big pollution-busting bonus: with all that spare power generated from one's own home, your new electric car can be charged for free. Battery pack charged during the day, changed over daily, for example.

 

At present prices PV panels are still expensive, though much cheaper (& more efficient) than the early ones. But if their use was mandatory for all new builds, economies of scale would massively reduce their price. Also, such a large market would drive the industry to innovate. For example, with flexible thin-film panels produced, these could be laminated onto tin roof panels. Tiles could actually be PV panels, saving the cost of the original material. Every square metre of roof is used as a PV generator. With this size of market, you can bet the industry will come up with the goods, at very low prices compared to today.

 

It seems to me axiomatic that it is extremely misguided, not to say just plain foolish, to expend billions of taxpayers' dollars on building power plants that run on a finite supply of fossil fuels. Coal will run out some time, what then? And that is without trying to calculate the monetary, let alone ecological, costs of polluting our poor overloaded planet.

 

The solution is dazzlingly obvious: a great big thermo nuclear fusion reactor, beaming effectively limitless power down on us, 300+ days per year, for free. Come on pollies - we can do this!

 

Bruce

 

 

[Methusala]

I love the way that you think Bruce. The storage problem can most probably be solved using small to medium sized pumped hydro. These can be located reasonably close to population centres ( think the Illawarra escarpment for e.g.). It is a feature of Austalia that much of the population is near to the east coast. The GDR is close to this coast line and so steep changes in elevation are readily available. I think that the day of mega projects, such as the much vaunted Snowy Hydro 2.0 are dinosaurs. Don

 

 

[fly_tornado]

there are apparently 500 odd abandoned mine sites around the country suitable for pumped hydro

 

 

[spacesailor]

You mean like the ROOF INSULATION Scheme ?

 

Had my roof done, only to find years later, when grandson had to go up,

 

that TWO BAGS of insulation were still in there wrapper's.

 

Maybe like the change to the new "fluoro globes" that blew all our dimmable & touch lamps.

 

I can see the rorts & stuff-ups already.

 

spacesailor

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

...I can see the rorts & stuff-ups already.spacesailor

There are rorts and stuff-ups in every industry, Spacey, but which ones make the news? Do we ever hear about the rorts and waste in the coal industry?How does waste in the much-publicised Home Insulation scheme compare with the vast rip-offs now being revealed by the Banking Royal Commission?

 

 

[Marty_d]

How does waste in the much-publicised Home Insulation scheme compare with the vast rip-offs now being revealed by the Banking Royal Commission?

That's criminal. Any other industry charging customers thousands for absolutely nothing would be shut down. Not to mention charging dead people for advice ("medium"-level only, I guess).

[coljones]

You mean like the ROOF INSULATION Scheme ?Had my roof done, only to find years later, when grandson had to go up,that TWO BAGS of insulation were still in there wrapper's.

 

Maybe like the change to the new "fluoro globes" that blew all our dimmable & touch lamps.

 

I can see the rorts & stuff-ups already.

 

spacesailor

Were the bags surplus to requirements (and not worth pulling out of the roof space) or are there holes in the insulation where they should have been placed?

[spacesailor]

WELL

 

One bank did have to get it's $53 million back, that they payed their Exec.

 

They could have just stopped ALL dividend to shareholders. then payed themselves good Christmas bonus. lol

 

spacesailor

 

PS Coljones.the second, never laid one side of the roof.

 

 

[Soleair]

You mean like the ROOF INSULATION Scheme ?I can see the rorts & stuff-ups already.spacesailor

It would be a pity to permit cynicism to obstruct progress, or to stymie potential innovation. Rorts & stuff-ups are almost inevitable in any State funded endeavour. But the alternative (doing nothing, or making the wrong choice) could be a great deal worse.

 

 

[spacesailor]

yes

 

If enough people get away with the "rorts& ripoffs" it would be classed as a huge success, & big profits made to keep the power's that be, Happy, disregard the few casualties strewn along the wayside .

 

Happened before & will happen again no doubt.

 

spacesailor

 

 

[fly_tornado]

I can't believe how gullible some people are, imagine signing off on a contractor's work without doing inspection, don't forget its your taxes not someone else's.

 

 

[coljones]

It would be a pity to permit cynicism to obstruct progress, or to stymie potential innovation. Rorts & stuff-ups are almost inevitable in any State funded endeavour. But the alternative (doing nothing, or making the wrong choice) could be a great deal worse.

"State sponsored endeavour"? Hasn't anyone mentioned the banks and energy companies to you recently?

[kgwilson]

Now, do we have a vast array of PV panels to achieve this? No. We have a 4kW PV array, fitted on part of the shed roof, facing north. We have a solar hot water panel roughly 2.5m x 1.5m on the house roof. Do we get 60c/kWh from the state? No. Our feedin tariff is 11.30c/unit. We pay 17.6c/unit from the grid, plus $32/month for poles & wires.

Wow you get a great rate. In northern NSW the standard peak rate from AGL & Origin is around 50c a unit. I am with Red Energy & get peak at 31.7c & off peak at 18.3c before GST & then a 10% discount for paying on time. My feed in tariff is 11.1c. Not so long ago it was only 6c. Daily supply charge is $1.31 again before GST & discount. I did a recent check & no supplier can match what I am paying. I have a 2kw system and use just over 50% of what I produce. I thought that gross meters had all disappeared. They have in NSW anyway so the retailers can never owe you anything.

[facthunter]

They will try to control the system and we are seeing the consequences of that. Like about 20% being to just put a name on the bill. I don't mind paying a reasonable fee to be connected to the grid for the occasions I need it. I originally had to loan the cost of the transformer on my pole.( Their's actually) and they reapaid me over a number of years That was a bit of an impost added to the usual NEW house building project costs like permits etc. It NEVER was easy to get a house. They are GIANT sized these days by comparison of what was common 40 years ago, and the young want all mod cons straight away. No putting up with second hand stuff... Nev

 

 

[Methusala]

Rip-offs are not the exclusive province of govt funded enterprise. 7/11, Subway, Uber etc, etc. The gig economy has the young and students held to ransom. I remember my first after school job as a grocery packer for J B Youngs in Canberra. I was paid a recognised hourly rate and given meal breaks on Friday night and paid penalty rates on Sat morning. This was in 1965 and I was 14. Of course this was under the SDA Union, same as Bill Shorten worked for. By the way, when I saw him welded to the top of the Beaconsfield mineshaft I thought he would make PM one day. I don't happen to be sucked in by Merdok propaganda and think he is one of the best of the current crop. Don

 

 

[spacesailor]

DON: " and think he is one of the best of the current crop".

 

AND I thought he was alright,

 

Not just the best of a rotten bunch!

 

should I sign this?.

 

spacesailor

 

 

[Marty_d]

Rip-offs are not the exclusive province of govt funded enterprise. 7/11, Subway, Uber etc, etc. The gig economy has the young and students held to ransom. I remember my first after school job as a grocery packer for J B Youngs in Canberra. I was paid a recognised hourly rate and given meal breaks on Friday night and paid penalty rates on Sat morning. This was in 1965 and I was 14. Of course this was under the SDA Union, same as Bill Shorten worked for. By the way, when I saw him welded to the top of the Beaconsfield mineshaft I thought he would make PM one day. I don't happen to be sucked in by Merdok propaganda and think he is one of the best of the current crop. Don

I'm a Labor voter half the time (Greens the other) and I don't think Bill is all that much chop. He's been given a remarkably smooth ride given the shambles that we call the government. Apparently he got to Beaconsfield so quickly because he borrowed Dick Pratt's private jet free of charge to get there.Don't get me wrong, I hope Shorten is our next PM, but I'd much rather it was Albo or even Chris Bowen.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

Kevin's parting shot was to make it so much harder for the ALP to dump a dud leader.

 

Turnbull must be so grateful to his old mate.

 

 

[fly_tornado]

they have overturned that in 2016

 

 

[fly_tornado]

India is walking away from a nuclear future

 

Modi government cuts nuclear power capacity addition target to one-third

 

 

[Flying Binghi]

India is walking away from a nuclear futureModi government cuts nuclear power capacity addition target to one-third

I already linked to that in post 111 - A not so dead stranded asset: India chooses more coal, cancels 57 nuclear plants. « JoNova

India is ramping up coal power..

 

.

 

 

[facthunter]

Already in many parts of India people are living10 years less, due air pollution.. Nev

 

 

[Flying Binghi]

Already in many parts of India people are living10 years less, due air pollution.. Nev

Yes. Burning animal dung to cook the evening meal in a small room is bad for anyone's health. 250 million Indians still don't have access to the clean living supplied by coal power.

.

 

 

[fly_tornado]

India is one of the fastest growing markets for Wind and Solar, the important thing about backing down from nuclear is they have plenty of money to invest