Grid can go 75% renewable

Off peak hot water loads have dropped considerably over the last decade but still account for a massive use of energy when they kick in.

We see this a lot when we have to run large towns on generators over night - day time loads can be around half that of the night time peak - we generally have to double installation capacity if we need to do an overnight job anywhere. And even though the time clocks are all a bit out to each other the load comes on hard over only a few minutes - if we lose a machine between 11pm and 1am it will generally cause the whole site to go out through lack of capacity.

Not sure where to post this. More just to have a record of the damage at the Callide power plant. That's the turbine end that threw a wobbly.


Photo reveals 'catastrophic' damage to Callide Power Station that blacked out Queensland


Photo reveals 'catastrophic' damage to Callide Power Station that blacked out Queensland - ABC News


Attachment 171331

it will buff out.

That’s a big woopsy....

Worked at plenty of power stations - can’t imagine what it would have been like to be anywhere near that when it went off.

For that matter I can’t think what would cause a fault like with the turbine.

Yes, its interesting. I read that plant is not that old and had $60m in maintenance spent on it last year, so it should have been reliable.

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Originally Posted by DiscoMick

Yes, its interesting. I read that plant is not that old and had $60m in maintenance spent on it last year, so it should have been reliable.

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You think $60mil is a lot?

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Originally Posted by Homestar

That’s a big woopsy....

Worked at plenty of power stations - can’t imagine what it would have been like to be anywhere near that when it went off.

For that matter I can’t think what would cause a fault like with the turbine.

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It has been suggested that there was a hydrogen explosion. I am not up with these new fangled machines, but evidently the generator is hydrogen cooled. But I rather think that it was a massive failure on the turbine, and any explosion a secondary occurrence. Love to know just what that big piece is sticking out of the floor in the foreground!

It was mentioned somewhere that I cannot find just now that an operator was concerned that the unit was not "right". Probably just as well that he was not standing alongside of it when it let go!

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Originally Posted by Old Farang

................. Love to know just what that big piece is sticking out of the floor in the foreground!....................

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According to the news this morning that OOPS (out of place shrapnel) is a piece of the turbine shaft, some 40cm in dia.

DL

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Originally Posted by Homestar

That’s a big woopsy....

Worked at plenty of power stations - can’t imagine what it would have been like to be anywhere near that when it went off.

For that matter I can’t think what would cause a fault like with the turbine.

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I thought the same looking inside my disco engine when it tossed a bit and went into into demolition mode a short time ago[bigsad]

2000 odd failure points in moving bits. torque nut right on a single bolt, balance a bit of centre, wear, Metal fatigue ( that bit me in my titanium reinforced tibia [biggrin])

Suspect we all know big or small turbines have failures. That 300kg blade spinning at how many RPM is a wow. One failure at high speed is seldom going to be pretty. Glad no one was hurt. I wonder if the millions spend recently on it has a warranty? Doubt that [bigwhistle]

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Originally Posted by 350RRC

According to the news this morning that OOPS (out of place shrapnel) is a piece of the turbine shaft, some 40cm in dia. DL

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Yes, it is fairly obvious that it is part of a shaft, or coupling, just not clear from whence it came!