Thread: Big storm and no power in SA

Originally Posted by bee utey

Yes, updating costs money. Propping up old coal plants is ongoing, not just a single payment. And what about the dwindling coal reserves at Leigh creek? Got any spare coal to show-and-tell?

running a gas plant is an ongoing cost. not to mention the shortage of gas. i've not heard anything about dwindling reserves. only the low quality.

Originally Posted by bee utey

You say that like no-one has ever noticed that before and worked out a scenario to deal with it.

its worked out well so far...

Originally Posted by bee utey

Once again you fail to grasp the speed at which storage is becoming the go to tool for grid management.

all hypothetical.
and the current plan is too little, too late, too expensive.

So here's two Australian companies which are well advanced on plans to build a solar farm with 100 MW of battery storage in SA in time for next summer for about $100 million, which is less than the SA Government has allocated. Battery storage charged by solar means the stored power is always available, day or night, wind or no wind. And obviously wind can also charge batteries. Plus the gas plant will mean SA no longer needs an interconnector to the eastern states. Game over, I would say.
SA power: Elon Musk's Tesla proposal for battery storage has rival in Zen Energy - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Solar power battery storage would solve SA's electricity problems, company says - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Elon Musk's offer to halve Tesla's battery price for SA a game changer, says Mike Cannon-Brookes - RN - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Start looking for the queue to form of other state governments wanting to copy SA's solutions to its power reliability.
Meanwhile, the Turnbull federal government has no idea - asleep at the wheel.

BTW there is NO shortage of gas, we have huge amounts of the stuff. The problem is a regulatory failure by some state governments has allowed two problems to affect the domestic supply:
1. NSW and Victorian State governments caving in to scare campaigns to stop responsible gas extraction
2. Failure to reserve part of the gas supply for domestic demand

SA can copy Queensland and reserve part of the gas field for domestic supply. Problem solved.

Originally Posted by Eevo

and the current plan is too little, too late, too expensive.

The plan is interim, subject to change and re-evaluation as prices of key technologies drop. It is also a plan that is supported by a majority of people according to latest surveys.

The Energy Situation - What Australians Think - Energy Matters

(article contains pdf link to the actual survey)

And I always giggle when people complain about cost on a website dedicated to spending lotsa money on techno toys barely more useful than the first Land Rover.

Originally Posted by bee utey

The plan is interim, subject to change and re-evaluation as prices of key technologies drop.

and not required.

do it once, do it right,

not some half arsed, overpriced band-aid solution to a problem that never should have exited in the first place.

to make this work,
another 4000-5000MW of wind will need to be installed.
more costs.

Originally Posted by Eevo

and not required.

do it once, do it right,

not some half arsed, overpriced band-aid solution to a problem that never should have exited in the first place.

I gather you have a betterer cheaperer and shinier detailed plan you can bludgeon the premier with and win the hearts of the sa population with its brilliance. One that has a trivial once off build cost and requires zero running cost. No? oh, let someone else do something then.

to make this work,
another 4000-5000MW of wind will need to be installed.
more costs.

And of course you realise that new (not yet currently available) storage technologies will arise to take advantage of such large amounts of intermittent but ridiculously cheap energy, such as E2G and E2L (electricity to gas and liquids) to power transport that can't use batteries.

Link

See? Once again another potential storage tech that could make fossil fuels as popular as scabies.

Originally Posted by bee utey

I gather you have a betterer cheaperer and shinier detailed plan you can bludgeon the premier with and win the hearts of the sa population with its brilliance. One that has a trivial once off build cost and requires zero running cost. No? oh, let someone else do something then.

yes i do.

Turnbull to gas industry: give the local market more supply
South Australia makes a fresh power play in its bid to end the blackouts

The horse has bolted and Turnbull is now chasing after it.