News & Discussion: Electricity Infrastructure

[mattblack]

and storage .......

Bowen says first battery storage tender is “massively oversubscribed” with 19,000 MW of projects

The first large scale auction of dispatchable capacity in Australia’s new Capacity Investment Scheme has been 32 times oversubscribed by a massive pipeline of battery storage projects.

The auction, launched last December, is seeking 600 megawatts of new dispatchable capacity, with the equivalent of four hours of storage, or 2,400 MWh, in Victoria and South Australia.

But federal climate and energy minister Chris Bowen says that more than 19,000 MW of capacity was bid into the first stage of the auction process, or 32 times more than is being sought.

“The market response for this was huge. Massively oversubscribed,” Bowen said in comments released by his office ahead of a speech due to be delivered in Melbourne on Wednesday.

The result augers well for the federal government’s newly enlarged Capacity Investment Scheme, agreed by state and federal ministers last year, which will now seek 32 GW of new capacity, comprising 23 GW of wind and solar and 9 GW (and 36 GWh) of dispatchable capacity, or storage.

It is the key policy mechanism to get the country close to its target of 82 per cent renewables by 2030, which Bowen insists, as he told Renew Economy’s Energy Insiders podcast last week, is ambitious and achievable.

Bowen says that AEMO Services, which is conducting the CIS tenders across the country, has drawn up a list of shortlisted projects, which will be invited to submit financial offers before the end of May.

It is understood that the bulk, if not all, of the projects put forward in the auction are battery storage projects, as gas generators are excluded and winning projects must be operational by the end of 2027, making other storage technologies less able to compete.

It is the first, apart from an earlier expanded tender kicked off initially by the NSW government last year, of the newly enlarged CIS, and will be followed by an auction for six gigawatts of wind and solar capacity that will be launched in May, and then twice-yearly auctions of both renewable and dispatchable capacity.

The first auction focuses on Victoria and South Australia, with 200 MW and 800 MWh of capacity reserved for each state, and the remaining 200 MW and 800 MWh to go to the next best projects, in whichever state they are located.

South Australia is keen for more storage capacity as it seeks to move from its current level of 75 per cent wind and solar to its newly accelerated target of net 100 per cent renewables by 2027.

It currently hosts four operating big battery projects, with three under construction of commissioning, and needs more to replace the ageing gas plants that were built decades ago to back up coal.

Victoria has its own target of 95 per cent renewables by 2035, which will require finding the capacity to replace its three remaining coal fired power stations, Yallourn, Loy Yang A and Loy Yang B. Yallourn is due to close in 2028, and Loy Yang A by 2035.

The auction for dispatchable capacity is to be extended to Western Australian later this year, with about 500 MW to be on offer.

However, that state is already contracting more big battery projects – indeed the biggest in the country – to do a more specific task of time shifting the output of rooftop solar from the middle of the day to the evening peaks.

The success of that strategy of time shifting solar is already being seen in California, where battery storage has newly emerged as the often the biggest supplier of power in the evening peaks for periods of two and a half hours or more, with peak battery outputs of more than 6.6 GW being recorded in recent days.

Bowen says the short-listed projects in Victoria and South Australia have been chosen under “merit criteria” that focuses on the ability to provide significant system benefits, strengthen local supply chains, and promoting an efficient energysystem.

“We expect that projects will demonstrate benefits for local industry, communities, jobs and First Nations, as well as for the broader energy system and users,” he says in the speech.

“As well as delivering these benefits, it is worth noting the Capacity Investment Scheme is specifically designed to provide enough support to allow projects to operate sustainably in an environment of low energy prices.”

Bowen said more details will be released in a market brief for the tender that the department of climate change and energy will release in the coming week.

https://reneweconomy.com.au/bowen-says- ... -projects/

[Nort]

It's wild how quickly that market has developed, when it was only a few years ago the former Federal government was dismissing the entire concept of battery storage as unrealistic in any form.

[abc]

You didn't highlight the preceding two words "one of". Specifically Callide C which is only 20 years old - it's one of Australia's newest coal fired power stations, and yet according to the report behind the link in that article, Callide C has failed multiple times and is identified as one of the contributors to price spikes.

Tell me why you think the Chinese are investing in coal plants...

Many of these are actually not in accordance with government policy. So, in a word: Corruption. Not a surprise. But hardly an endorsement of coal.

source?

[abc]

This came accross my feed yesterday: re how China is tracking with renewable energy.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ianpalmer/ ... -backflip/

As said above, coal is something that plugs a short term gap when the longer term play for renewables takes longer to roll out. Nuclear has a role, but can't fill that particular role of being a crack filler because it just takes too long to build one.

My main concerns are the USA and India. China is the biggest emitter, but they're turning that ship around. It may look slow, but it's a damned freaking huge ship.

this sounds like something I'd read in The Guardian written by some spotty upstart. Emotional words which mean nothing and add nothing.

Ian Palmer is also an activist, not providing a dispassionate assessment of reality.

[rubberman]

Tell me why you think the Chinese are investing in coal plants...

Many of these are actually not in accordance with government policy. So, in a word: Corruption. Not a surprise. But hardly an endorsement of coal.

source?

It was in the eia report linked.

[Algernon]

This came accross my feed yesterday: re how China is tracking with renewable energy.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ianpalmer/ ... -backflip/

As said above, coal is something that plugs a short term gap when the longer term play for renewables takes longer to roll out. Nuclear has a role, but can't fill that particular role of being a crack filler because it just takes too long to build one.

My main concerns are the USA and India. China is the biggest emitter, but they're turning that ship around. It may look slow, but it's a damned freaking huge ship.

this sounds like something I'd read in The Guardian written by some spotty upstart. Emotional words which mean nothing and add nothing.

Ian Palmer is also an activist, not providing a dispassionate assessment of reality.

On this topic and any other you comment on, you sound like somebody with no actual interest in the topic, only seizing an opportunity to express anger and hatred.if you pissed your life away, don't take it out on literally everyone here with dull rage.

[abc]

This came accross my feed yesterday: re how China is tracking with renewable energy.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ianpalmer/ ... -backflip/

As said above, coal is something that plugs a short term gap when the longer term play for renewables takes longer to roll out. Nuclear has a role, but can't fill that particular role of being a crack filler because it just takes too long to build one.

My main concerns are the USA and India. China is the biggest emitter, but they're turning that ship around. It may look slow, but it's a damned freaking huge ship.

this sounds like something I'd read in The Guardian written by some spotty upstart. Emotional words which mean nothing and add nothing.

Ian Palmer is also an activist, not providing a dispassionate assessment of reality.

On this topic and any other you comment on, you sound like somebody with no actual interest in the topic, only seizing an opportunity to express anger and hatred.if you pissed your life away, don't take it out on literally everyone here with dull rage.

Self awareness lacking in you again... you are full of hate and anger. As a Malthusian your ideology is by definition hateful.

[rubberman]

https://reneweconomy.com.au/bowen-says- ... -projects/

Looks like things are progressing nicely.

EDIT

In a similar vein, here's an article, with data, showing even more peak load being taken by batteries overseas, confirming that the government is on the right track.

https://reneweconomy.com.au/batteries-s ... est-grids/

I imagine that those who were previously scoffing about how batteries couldn't possibly help renewables replace fossil fuel plants, are at the very least starting to admit the possibility that they were wrong. Plus, of course, at the rate of progress demonstrated, it's making nuclear look even less realistic.

[abc]

this bodes well

[Algernon]

https://reneweconomy.com.au/bowen-says- ... -projects/

Looks like things are progressing nicely.

EDIT

In a similar vein, here's an article, with data, showing even more peak load being taken by batteries overseas, confirming that the government is on the right track.

https://reneweconomy.com.au/batteries-s ... est-grids/

I imagine that those who were previously scoffing about how batteries couldn't possibly help renewables replace fossil fuel plants, are at the very least starting to admit the possibility that they were wrong. Plus, of course, at the rate of progress demonstrated, it's making nuclear look even less realistic.

Dare I say, considering all the time and effort and expense that went into drilling a hole to get a bucket of oil to power a car that about 50 people in the world could afford to buy, I think there were a few horse owners scoffing at the ridiculous exercise of converting society to combustion engines. You know, comapred to a bucket of water and some hay.

[mattblack]

https://reneweconomy.com.au/bowen-says- ... -projects/

Looks like things are progressing nicely.

EDIT

In a similar vein, here's an article, with data, showing even more peak load being taken by batteries overseas, confirming that the government is on the right track.

https://reneweconomy.com.au/batteries-s ... est-grids/

I imagine that those who were previously scoffing about how batteries couldn't possibly help renewables replace fossil fuel plants, are at the very least starting to admit the possibility that they were wrong. Plus, of course, at the rate of progress demonstrated, it's making nuclear look even less realistic.

Dare I say, considering all the time and effort and expense that went into drilling a hole to get a bucket of oil to power a car that about 50 people in the world could afford to buy, I think there were a few horse owners scoffing at the ridiculous exercise of converting society to combustion engines. You know, comapred to a bucket of water and some hay.

Point is that there is now a mirade of options already in production to power our energy requirements, something that some dude with a horse and cart never had.

[SBD]

this bodes well

So California had more expensive electricity, and now it has even more expensive electricity. Do we know what the cost drivers are?

Wikipedia says "Texas, with 28,843 MW of capacity, about 16.8% of the state's electricity usage, had the most installed wind power capacity of any U.S. state at the end of 2019. Texas also had more under construction than any other state had installed. The state generating the highest percentage of energy from wind power is Iowa at over 57% of total energy production, while North Dakota has the most per capita wind generation."

Those three states all have retail prices below the USA average, so something else is going on in California too. The bit.ly link in the image resolved to https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/br ... rse=0&pin= which shows why they shortened it.

[NTRabbit]

It's almost like something is leaning on the scales to keep the retail price of electricity to consumers high and climbing, independent of what technology is used to generate it, and that no matter how often someone in government claims something will make it cheaper, the only solution that will actually work involves structural change and an old form of French justice.

[SBD]

It's almost like something is leaning on the scales to keep the retail price of electricity to consumers high and climbing, independent of what technology is used to generate it, and that no matter how often someone in government claims something will make it cheaper, the only solution that will actually work involves structural change and an old form of French justice.

What I haven't worked out is why some electricity companies/plans "offer" to charge more to ensure they are using renewable energy. I can't even work out what that means, and I've just put solar panels on my roof and get paid a pittance for my excess daytime generation compared to what I pay to top it up at night.

[rubberman]

It's almost like something is leaning on the scales to keep the retail price of electricity to consumers high and climbing, independent of what technology is used to generate it, and that no matter how often someone in government claims something will make it cheaper, the only solution that will actually work involves structural change and an old form of French justice.

What I haven't worked out is why some electricity companies/plans "offer" to charge more to ensure they are using renewable energy. I can't even work out what that means, and I've just put solar panels on my roof and get paid a pittance for my excess daytime generation compared to what I pay to top it up at night.

The AEMO quoted price at midday is predicted as being less than 3c/kWH tomorrow. So, you aren't going to get more than that, realistically at that time of day. However, at night, there's no solar, and the price goes up. You are selling when the price is low and buying when it's high.