Thread: Renewable energy exploding

Originally Posted by Eevo

sounds good. you paying for them?

Community battery banks are under trial in WA by Western Power without upfront costs to the customer.

Bank from your own PV system during the day and redraw up to 8kWh of power / day any time after 3pm. Cost is $1/day. No idea how that compares with the cost of conventionally generated and delivered power.

PowerBank trial to revolutionise bulk battery storage in WA homes

Sounds good. I expect eventually there will be battery banks in every electricity sub-station. It should really stabilise the network.
I think the way forward is to decentralise generation and storage while connecting the networks better so power can be moved around as required.

Originally Posted by Ferret

without upfront costs to the customer.

no such thing. user always pays. the cost is just hidden.

Lets wait to see how the trial goes first.

Of course I have no doubt if it is not a success the advocates will say the trail is flawed and if it is a success the detractors will say the trial is flawed.

The Tesla battery in SA is already a success and being copied.

Originally Posted by DiscoMick

Battery banks should be in every suburb and town to store locally generated power locally, which would prevent blackouts.

Yep, localised storage and generation would improve overall grid reliability no end. It's being looked at by most players at the moment. Cost is a factor as mentioned - you can't just bung them in without considering overall cost of the entire grid and maintenance, etc. it will happen though. Like anything in this field slower than we'd all like.

Originally Posted by DiscoMick

The Tesla battery in SA is already a success and being copied.

The business model behind the WA trial is different. To get anything out of the WA bank you personally have to put something in. Don't believe you can get out more than what you put in. Your 1$ buys you storage capacity, not power. At least that's the way I understand it, could be wrong.

The UK may be in a mess over Brexit, but at least it's government is moving ahead with offshore wind power.
Government throws its weight behind offshore wind power expansion

Government throws its weight behind offshore wind power expansion | Environment | The Guardian