Thread: 100% Renewable energy in Australia by 2020, apparently it is possible.

Originally Posted by hgsuzuki

The best solution, at least for Victoria is to build some more dams and utilise hydro-electric generation. What's that, increase water storage as well, building for the future? The Greens wont have it, and its political suicide to suggest it.

We need to have consistent rainfall to make hydro-electricity viable.

Just think up until the last 12 months, the Snowy Scheme has had the lowest dam levels since the scheme was finished in the 1970's, you could walk down the streets of towns like old Adaminaby, which was never supposed to be exposed again. This last year the Wimmera in Western Victoria has had water in it's lakes for the first time in more than a decade so building more dams is a waste of money if there's no rain to fill them. You cant generate electricity by getting air to spill out of a dam and spin turbines, unless its a wind turbine!

Diana

You can STORE power by pumping up during times of low demand and that is done now by SMEG and release to generate at peak rates.

However the pumping is currently done at night when Coal fired power sells for almost nothing , as illustrtaed by the latest NSW report that shows that the average generator price for coal fired power decreased in NSW last year by 16% to 3.5 cents per KWh while the retail price increased by 16%. So the Snowy scheme must have paid something below this.
The report specifically cites this but how much will it cost if baseload is vastly more expensive as wind generators can be idled at any time and IMHO a rational supplier will look for at least cost. I have no experience in the base costs of wind farms but My guess is in excess of 20c per Kwh and maybe twice that..
Regards Philip A

Originally Posted by PhilipA

You can STORE power by pumping up during times of low demand and that is done now by SMEG and release to generate at peak rates.

...
Regards Philip A

Quite correct, you can efficiently use hydro for peaking but you need topography to do it. You need two dams with a decent fall between them.

Now that Tallowa Dam in the Kangaroo Valley (Shoalhaven River) is no longer topping up the Sydney Catchment, Tallowa Dam and it's two associated power and pumping stations are used for daily peak supply and uses the excess power in the grid from base load over night to pump the water back up to the Bendeela Pondage and Fitzroy Falls Reservoir (total 607 metres) to be ready for the next peak.

Diana

Originally Posted by rovercare

Large turbines, not little windfarms, which you can't manually control RPM's, they need to be driven, Hazelwood currently has the contract for frequency control, flogging turbines for extra cash, you imagine 200(220) MW turbines trying to be under or overdriven...

Voltage issues are again to due irregular increases and decreases due to change on weather etc.....PV is molesting the grid voltages

Losses are massive, how do you step up from central australia to southern victoria viably? and with losses come instability, frequency and voltage...

Speaking of PV, better go and finish my own system

Can you explain in a way numbty's can understand what this actually means?. Pat

Originally Posted by rovercare

I remember supervising a civil crew concreting cap banks all over western Vic (subby to powercor) pretty sure we did charlton, outdoor sub, little town..

Yep, little town. Interestingly enough, it was the cap bank at the Charlton Zone sub that went under water first during last years floods, and dropped the 66kv out. When you put it in, you should have put it on little stilts . About 12" more and it would have made it...

We had a couple of gensets in the yard when that happened, and they got thier feet wet, but the high water mark cam up to just under the main alternator, so we were very lucky to find there was minimal damage to them.

Originally Posted by PAT303

Can you explain in a way numbty's can understand what this actually means?. Pat

Foof, which part Pat?

A generator spins "in phase" with all other generators hooked to the grid, most turbines spin at 3000rpms creating an ac frequency of 50HZ, unless of course they have more poles in the generator, hydros I've seen spin at 150 rpm

It means this has to be regulated, a small turbine is locked to the grid, if it fails to "generate" it then becomes a motor, they've motored a few large turbines by hooking to the grid, it will lift a 60 ton turbine off it's pedestal with catastrophic results, think 60t still trying to instantaneously spin at 3000rpm, boom! Solid state stuff merely monitors the frequency and recreates it with no influence as such

But I guess to answer your question.....


No

Matt,
you could have been gentle and just said "chit runs down hill"
oooorgh crap thats plumbercrack talk...

maybe just "sparks bite".

btw I need you up here, when you coming?

Steve

Originally Posted by roverrescue

Matt,
you could have been gentle and just said "chit runs down hill"
oooorgh crap thats plumbercrack talk...

maybe just "sparks bite".

btw I need you up here, when you coming?

Steve

Plumbing 101, **** flows down hill, pay day is Thursday

Steve, 20 years, all travel is on hold as I'm now the proud owner of a 7 week old baby girl, kinda changed all the roaming plans