Thread: Big storm and no power in SA

Originally Posted by Eevo

ive read a few articles saying the opposite

That is not saying "the opposite". What that is, is simply ignoring the reality that there is nobody going to spend money even doing a literature search, let alone geophysics or drilling, to locate additional reserves when there is a reserve of 365 years. If usage increases so as to reduce reserves to 17 years, there will be a lot more interest in spending real money to locate and prove reserves, although even this will depend on projections of price rises.

Reserves are, in mining terminology, closely defined, and effectively are the mineral resources that a mining company can reasonably expect a bank to lend them money against. They do not, in any sense represent the total amount of the mineral that exists in mineable locations in the earth's crust. Reserves are usually only defined at the stage where a mining company needs to raise money from either lenders or investors.

Using published reserve figures to extrapolate that there will be a shortage is simply incorrect, and shows that the source either does not understand the meaning of the word, or is deliberately trying to mislead.

John

Originally Posted by JDNSW

That is not saying "the opposite". What that is, is simply ignoring the reality that there is nobody going to spend money even doing a literature search, let alone geophysics or drilling, to locate additional reserves when there is a reserve of 365 years. If usage increases so as to reduce reserves to 17 years, there will be a lot more interest in spending real money to locate and prove reserves, although even this will depend on projections of price rises.

Reserves are, in mining terminology, closely defined, and effectively are the mineral resources that a mining company can reasonably expect a bank to lend them money against. They do not, in any sense represent the total amount of the mineral that exists in mineable locations in the earth's crust. Reserves are usually only defined at the stage where a mining company needs to raise money from either lenders or investors.

Using published reserve figures to extrapolate that there will be a shortage is simply incorrect, and shows that the source either does not understand the meaning of the word, or is deliberately trying to mislead.

John

no and thats a good point.
there are reserves of 365 years at current levels.
but if batteries take off, that 365 years will reduce as more lithium is consumed.
batteries only last 2000 cycles or so.

does 'sustainable population' and too many airconditioners mean anything at all?

Originally Posted by Tombie

Bee Utey.. do you have a link or 2 on those Battery technologies?

Nothing in depth, just the fluff they put out for public consumption:

Redflow:

Redflow Energy Storage Solutions

Urea:

Stanford engineers create a low-cost battery for storing renewable energy | Stanford News

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politi...12-guaxf0.html

I knew that all along Mick, I wonder why they have to put their heads in the sand.

I guess Nikola Tesla would have had some very poor political audiences in his day

Originally Posted by ramblingboy42

I knew that all along Mick, I wonder why they have to put their heads in the sand.

I guess Nikola Tesla would have had some very poor political audiences in his day

I could try to explain that, but not outside CA.

https://www.theguardian.com/environm...analysis-shows
In case you missed it, other states have more price spikes than SA, but have fewer renewables, showing once again that renewables are not responsible for high prices, it's gaming of the system by the coal generators causing the spikes.