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Post by David B. Benson on Apr 13, 2019 17:48:28 GMT 9.5
The Australian grid extends from Queensland to New South Wales to Victoria to South Australia picking up an underwater connection to Tasmania along the way. For scale, South Australia alone is about the same size as Texas plus Oklahoma but only has around 1.7 million inhabitants.
The physical size for only about 22 million people, mostly concentrated in a few urban areas, creates special problems for the grid. The current emphasis on solar power but also wind power adds more. So this is a thread for references, links and comments regarding the Australian grid.
As a start
National grid has more immediate challenges than electric cars Peter Hannam & Cole Latimer 2019 Apr 13 The Sydney Morning Herald
describes an industry workshop centered around the influx of private solar panels, stated to be the equivalent of a new coal-fired power station a season. I take it that the concensus was to the effect that regulations and pricing changes are required by 2025.
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Post by David B. Benson on Apr 14, 2019 8:07:26 GMT 9.5
2018 August 25 was an exciting day for the Australian grid:
How the Tesla big battery kept the lights on in South Australia Giles Parkinson 2019 Mar 18 RenewEconomy
hits the hilights. Or should I state lolights?
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Post by David B. Benson on Apr 23, 2019 14:15:55 GMT 9.5
Australian mining group asks government to repeal nuclear power ban 2019 Apr 22 MINING.com
I gather that the Australian uranium mines would like to sell locally rather than 100% export.
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Post by engineerpoet on Apr 23, 2019 23:41:43 GMT 9.5
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Post by Roger Clifton on Apr 24, 2019 7:41:00 GMT 9.5
The Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) is calling for the removal of federal and state legislation that bans exploration, mining, processing and exporting of uranium and installing nuclear reactors for electricity. Various laws were put in place in the 1970s, when the Left thought that uranium was incredibly rare and only Australia had it. Banning uranium thus saved the world from nuclear war. They believed that banning Australia from having nuclear reactors made sure that Australia couldn't have bombs either. Coincidentally the bans strengthen the world markets for Australia's coal and gas, so neither the Left or Right are motivated to remove them. The laws are still in place and as far as I know Australia remains the only country where nuclear electricity is illegal. The MCA is motivated to legalise nuclear electricity on its members' remote mine sites. The greatest costs for these mines are power and water. The power is either diesel with expensively trucked diesel fuel, or gas with expensive long gas pipelines. They are thus vulnerable to a carbon tax. Water is invariably groundwater, often hundreds of years of old and slow to refill. Other users compete for it including the local ecology. Once the legal obstructions are removed, the many Australian remote mines represent a market to manufacturers of factory-built small reactors that can be trucked into place. The intermittent power demands of the minesite (mainly crushers) can be alternated with a desalination plant, drawing on brine that commonly sits underneath the sweet groundwater. When a mine is closed, the valuable reactor can be lifted back out of its well and trucked out to the next minesite. (The Toshiba 4S requires two years of cool-down before being moved). The world's uranium miners are having a lean time in a uranium market that has been flooded for years, even before the 2011 hysteria in Japan closed down its noncarbon generators. Uranium is common in all landscapes and although there is plenty in Australia, the richest deposits were deposited by glaciers and are found in Canada. Australia's uranium miners foresee the possibility of global decarbonisation and a mass rollout of nukes, so want the right to explore in all States for reserves to be ready for when demand surges. They comply with the IAEA non-proliferation rules, currently supplying only to a few established nuclear countries including Japan and South Korea. www.mining.com/australian-mining-group-asks-government-repeal-nuclear-power-ban/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshiba_4S
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Post by David B. Benson on Apr 26, 2019 13:06:59 GMT 9.5
Renewable energy investment looks to be going from boom to bust as prices collapse Stephen Letts 2019 Apr 26 ABC, Australia
In my opinion, Australia would benefit from a well-thought energy only day ahead market, similar to that in ERCOT Texas.
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Post by David B. Benson on Apr 29, 2019 14:55:50 GMT 9.5
Energy transmission lines and laws of physics drive big, 'unfair' losses for SA businesses Nadia Isa & Sowaibah Hanifie 2019 Apr 29 ABC, Australia
The question is how to account for transmission line losses in the vicinity of the main Victoria interconnect. What is a fair allocation?
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Post by engineerpoet on Apr 29, 2019 21:06:41 GMT 9.5
www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-29/sa-businesses-cop-the-cost-of-energy-lost-leaving-the-state/11051718That is a very badly-written article. The authors hint at the problem without ever getting to the point of who is paying for what. ABC should fire the editor and re-assign the reporters to something they are competent to cover. From their names, that should probably be Middle East or Pakistani politics... on location. I could speculate about the actual matter but given the complete worthlessness of the article as a source of information I will refrain from opining in ignorance.
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Post by David B. Benson on Apr 30, 2019 9:00:29 GMT 9.5
engineer-poet, the reporters are from the district affected, Riverland. They went out to learn what the grape grower had to say. But, in common with most reporters, they know little about the operation and economics of the power grid. At least they mentioned the laws of physics.
If there is blame for the article, blaim the spokesperson from the Australian grid operator. I am sure that the reporters quoted accurately a poor explanation.
However, even grid operators may not understand the economic consequences of established policies.
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Post by engineerpoet on May 1, 2019 1:19:21 GMT 9.5
If there is blame for the article, blaim the spokesperson from the Australian grid operator. I am sure that the reporters quoted accurately a poor explanation. I doubt that. Most reporters are total scientific illiterates. Even given a full and complete explanation it's all but certain that they would either fail to be able to incorporate it into an article, or feel it not worth the effort. It's certain that the grid operators understand that losses accrue to power that is "just passing through" and that charging that lost power to the locals instead of the actual users is grossly unfair. This has to be why the phrase about expanding the Riverland billing district wound up in the article, to dilute the mis-allocation of the cost. However, no actual explanation got past the ignorance of the reporters. I could write that in a few sentences, but they could not write it at all. If you believe they're not 100% scientific illiterates, tell me how that article would be different if they were?
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Post by David B. Benson on May 2, 2019 19:16:17 GMT 9.5
South Australia solar farms switch off as prices fall below zero Giles Parkinson 2019 May 02 RenewEconomy
Since there is nothing similar to a production tax credit, the solar farms stop. I suppose that this avoids using up the inverter.
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Post by David B. Benson on May 8, 2019 18:25:54 GMT 9.5
Federal Election 2019: You Ask, We Answer your energy questions Jarrod Whittaker 2019 May 08 ABC, Australia
The last question is the most interesting to me. It seems that only the tiny United Australia party has interest in nuclear power, but not even enough so to offer a plan.
In any case, the Aussies are not well informed regarding electricity.
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Post by David B. Benson on May 20, 2019 18:18:19 GMT 9.5
Morrison win sparks sharp lift in wholesale electricity prices Cole Latimer 2019 May 20 The Sydney Morning Herald
These are futures prices to lock in rates now to avoid the spot prices in future years. Clearly the market doubts the ability of the government to lower wholesale rates.
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Post by Roger Clifton on May 22, 2019 9:36:36 GMT 9.5
[Australian election] win sparks sharp lift in wholesale electricity prices. These are futures prices to lock in rates now to avoid the spot prices in future years. In the last few years, NIMBYism against fracking has restricted supply of gas near the east coast (where most Australians live and work). The shortfall raised the price of electricity significantly, so the Conservative government threatened to "take a big stick" to the electricity retailers. In the lead up to the current/recent election, the reformist party promised to produce 50% of Australia's electricity from renewables. Any significant attempt in this direction would have massively increased supply – and lowered prices. However the Conservatives were elected in so the futures in electricity prices have gone up instead of down.
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Post by David B. Benson on May 29, 2019 19:13:33 GMT 9.5
Release of solar panel dataset helps cities make power grid more safe, reliable 2019 May 28 Phys.org
The data is from 1,287 residential solar panel installations in 3 Australian cities for 6 months. This will surely help understand power flows.
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Post by David B. Benson on Jun 6, 2019 20:56:13 GMT 9.5
Firefighters worry cheap heaters risking lives in attempt to dodge high electricity prices Ainslie Drewett-Smith 2019 Jun 06 ABC Australia
Story from New South Wales mentions several dangerous practices. The idea of wool next to the skin doesn't seem to occur to Australians.
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Post by David B. Benson on Jun 21, 2019 12:14:37 GMT 9.5
Australians urged to adopt nuclear power 2019 Jun 20 World Nuclear News
The Australian Nuclear Association urges turning off coal burners and turning on nuclear power plants. As the Australian grid is about 75% powered by coal and the burners are growing quite aged, possibly some will listen.
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Post by David B. Benson on Jun 22, 2019 18:26:03 GMT 9.5
Australia's energy future: the real power is not where you'd think Katharine Murphy 2019 Jun 21 The Guardian
On the politics of electricity along the Australian grid, mostly at the ends.
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Post by huon on Jun 23, 2019 14:57:12 GMT 9.5
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Post by David B. Benson on Jun 26, 2019 18:12:51 GMT 9.5
Industry super urges Australia to consider the nuclear power option Peter Ryan 2019 Jun 25 ABC ---Australia
I take it that this is akin to some mainstream support
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Post by Roger Clifton on Jun 27, 2019 15:39:45 GMT 9.5
Industry Super urges Australia to consider the nuclear power option. I take it that this is akin to some mainstream support. This is the voice of the chief economist of the Industry Superannuation Australia, speaking on a radio interview to the ABC. His perspective is from a need for superannuation to conservatively invest in infrastructure. However equivocation on the part of the federal government is clouding the future for energy infrastructure investment, hence his comment. He goes on to articulate sensible arguments to include nuclear. Interestingly, he argues for the establishment of what amounts to a training centre for nuclear operators and engineers, complete with a teaching power reactor, so that a future expansion into nuclear would have trained workers available. However the ABC is also a conservative organisation, attempting to reflect mainstream (popular) Australian opinion. This means it tends to host antinuclear opinions and rolls out the red carpet for spokesmen for the popular renewables industry. It fails to pass on warnings about our escalating commitment to natural gas. I rather suspect it hosted this nuclear-tolerant spokesman as a token heretic, rather than as a mainstream educator. Summary: www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-26/industry-super-funds-consider-the-nuclear-option/11248202Audio: www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/worldtoday/australia-should-consider-nuclear-energy/11247620
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Post by David B. Benson on Jul 9, 2019 20:19:45 GMT 9.5
Australia's emissions reach highest on record, driven by electricity sector Lisa Cox 2019 Jul 08 The Guardian
Contentions abound but it does appear that solar panels and wind turbines are having little effect, averaged overall.
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Post by David B. Benson on Jul 12, 2019 21:04:08 GMT 9.5
AGL holds off plans to mothball Torrens Island Power Station ahead of summer Tom Fedorowytsch 2019 Jul 12 ABC, Australia
The state of Victoria has a creaking old coal burner which they sort of keep operating, but depend upon other generating stations at the other end of long interties.
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Post by David B. Benson on Jul 18, 2019 18:21:36 GMT 9.5
Households get less in landmark demand response decisions that will cut power bills Greg Memery & Anna Livsey, opinion 2019 Jul 18 ABC, Australia
So just industrial and commercial users reap benefits while the power retailers to households decline to participate.
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Post by David B. Benson on Jul 23, 2019 15:34:55 GMT 9.5
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Post by David B. Benson on Jul 29, 2019 16:52:29 GMT 9.5
Nuclear power should be considered for Australia: Minerals Council chair Hellen Coonan Peter Ryan 2019 Jul 29 ABC, Australia www.google.com/amp/s/amp.abc.net.au/article/11359998So it 'should' but as the discussion soon turned to Australia's mainstay, coal, it probably won't. Edited to add: I was wrong; see the following post.
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Post by David B. Benson on Aug 3, 2019 12:40:28 GMT 9.5
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Post by David B. Benson on Aug 3, 2019 14:49:41 GMT 9.5
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Post by David B. Benson on Aug 7, 2019 17:49:03 GMT 9.5
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Post by David B. Benson on Aug 8, 2019 19:02:44 GMT 9.5
Tallawara power station expansion hits turbulence in setback for NSW energy security Patrick Bell 2019 Aug 08 ABC, Australia mobile.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-08/tallawarra-power-station-expansion-hits-turbulence/11396108?pfmredir=smSo the Australian grid grows ever more decrepid and unreliable... Meanwhile, there is just talk about nuclear power plants. Huon posted the latest, about Nuscale for Australia, on the SMR thread. I'll not copy it here although I do wonder about the Aussie politics of that ABC political correspondent piece.
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