South Australia is doing just that. Several solar panel "farms" already, somewhere round the 40MW size each. And construction is under way for a 130MW solar thermal power station not far from Musk's big battery. These are not big output plants to be sure, but the state's population is only 1.5 million people spread over about a million square km, so needs are not great. (Specially since all the factories closed down in the past decade.) They are going big on wind turbines there too. Meanwhile rooftop solar panels have become so popular they are threatening the whole centralized power generating business model. Once household batteries for overnight use become just a little bit cheaper (inevitable) rooftop solar will become the standard procedure in this part of the world.

Now if only you UK guys could convert rainfall into power…

Edited By Hopper on 29/12/2017 02:56:43

I was watching a show about Tasmania a few days ago and they have plans for a massive wind farm i think it was to be set up on one of the islands . Maybe they do have thier heads screwed on right as every other state seems to be unable to decide on what they want .

We could with the vast empty spaces in the middle of Australia go a long way to supplying all of Australia with green energy and have a handfull of on demand gas power stations as backup – but the government don't really want it as they can't tax the living death out of it like they do now and they don't want to put thier hands in thier pockets to pay for it either .

Ian.

I take it this refers to Hopper's 'Meanwhile rooftop solar panels have become so popular they are threatening the whole centralized power generating business model. Once household batteries for overnight use become just a little bit cheaper (inevitable) rooftop solar will become the standard procedure in this part of the world.'?

Australia being blessed with sunshine and a smallish population, I don't doubt it. Even in cloudy UK renewables are having an impact on the electricity market – nearly 30% of all UK electricity came from renewables between April and June this year (2017). This must be causing serious head-scratching in the industry where to spend money in future. Not only is renewable energy appearing in volume, it's cheap. One obvious casualty is coal generation; in the UK it's gone from being the 20th Century's unassailable best choice to today's least likely option for a new power station.

Mega-batteries are popping up in the UK too. Interestingly, most of the early adopters in the UK seem to be gas turbine generating stations. These can be switched on at short notice to cope with peaks in demand. Not quickly enough it seems; they're adding a big battery to cover the gap whilst the turbines spin up. With a battery, the station has a sub-second response time to a cold-start.

Batteries have a poor reputation for reliability. I wonder if 'they' know something we don't. Mega-batteries are popping up all around the world almost as if the technical problems have been cracked to the satisfaction of the accountants. If so, mass production means the cost of big batteries will soon drop. Added to wind and solar-farms, cheap batteries would extend the time renewable power is available, further unbalancing the business case for conventional power as we understand it today.

Read about mega-batteries in the Guardian.

Dave

You can quote me on it.

Edited By Hopper on 29/12/2017 10:52:46

It is called Hydro Electric & we have been doing it in Scotland for years . Please try to keep up.

Edited By Sam Longley 1 on 29/12/2017 19:15:07

Here in the East Midlands/East Anglia we don’t get enough rainfall to keep the Norfolk broads any more than on an ‘even keel’, let alone make much hydro leccy!

Scope there for a rooftop model, equivalent to our rooftop solar panels. Small turbine in each roof gutter downpipe and away you go: free power 300 days a year or more.

Dinorwig has been generating power that way for fourty odd years. About 9GWh available. Mostly, of course, using cheap night production to fill the reservoir. Most of the solar generation is used to reduce fuelled generation and, usually, only at night (when wind and nuclear are the chief non-greenhouse gas generation) are the generators reconfigured as pumps.

The Swansea tidal lagoon is still hanging on, but government is holding back on giving the green light for starting the project. Hopefully they might get started next year or soon after. The initial project is expensive at around £1.2 billion (I think) but if successful, other sites would be far cheaper to develop.

La Rance, in France, has been operating as tidal generation for over fifty years.

Tidal flow turbines are being tested in Scotland waters. A recent trial produced the target of 10MW, I believe. Bigger ones to come.

Yes i wouldn't want to be a diver sent into the murky depths to free a croc or bull shark that has got itself stuck in the pipework !

A few years ago i was watching a show about some scientist trying to create a fusion reaction in the lab , they succeded but it is not something they could stabilise , i worry that somewhere some day they will create a miniature sun and it will burn its way through the planet ! Dangerous stuff to play with !

Ian.

out of interest, these mega batteries are Lithium……….thought it was in short supply ????????

bit like the world running out of oil next week !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm all for green power, just wish we could get the cost of Solar panels and batteries down to reasonable levals……..over here a 1kw (I think that how they are rated) panel is 1200 pounds…….

all the best for the NEW YEAR….clogs

Here is a linky to typical solar installation costs here in Australia, note the steady decline over the past few years **LINK**

* Danny M *