#Official Energy Thread

[Aidan]

Windfarms are only built to give us a warm and fuzzy feeling

In some places that's true, but SA isn't one of them. According to Wikipedia we have an installed capacity of 810 megawatts (MW) and rising (expected to reach 1,500-2,000 MW by 2015). And perhaps more importantly, about 20% of our actual electricity used is generated from wind.

I'm guessing it has more to do with the "reach" of electricity, the wind farms are much more suited to power local regional towns.

I don't think so. They're all on the grid, and as far as I know there's no shortage of grid capacity.

All the new wind power capacity is very nice, but it'd only take a few new factories of the right kind to wipe away any surpluses.

If by factories of the right kind you mean aluminium smelters, you're right - but last time I looked we didn't have any of those.

[JamesXander]

I like how they say Wind power will never contribute anything. But if those stats are correct, thats a massive amount. Not only that, but technology will progress. Wind power will become more effiecent and cost effective.


Wind, Solar & Geothermal is the sustainable future.

[Splashmo]

I do like it how when there's a new wind farm, the government is all about energy sustainability, the environment and global warming. But when the fossil fuel power plant gets expanded, it's energy security and power in heat waves. Yikes.

[fabricator]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009 ... 735440.htm

Federal boost for geothermal projects
Two South Australian renewable energy projects will receive grants from a federal investment program.

Petratherm will receive almost $63 million to help develop its 30-megawatt Paralana geothermal energy project near the Beverley uranium mine.

Geodynamics will receive $90 million for its 25-megawatt hot-rocks project in the Cooper Basin.

Federal Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson says the Geodynamics project could become a major generator of emissions-free power.

"This project will be the world's first multi-well hot fractured rock power project," he said.

"In essence, in terms of geothermal we are testing two different technologies. I must say in terms of potential base load-reliable power, geothermal has great opportunities."

[Vee]

I'm in agreement with James re our energy future.

Wind, Solar & Geothermal is the sustainable future.

South Australia has an abundance of solar energy. Let's take the lead on this like we have on recycling.
Green, high tech, innovative industries and energy efficient public transport will make SA a better place to live, work and play.

Good to see two SOUTH Australian geothermal explorers getting Federal Government funding.
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/stor ... 55,00.html

Splashmo, you do have a point on the mixed messages coming from the state govt. on this issue!

[Omicron]

I'm surprised by that 20% figure, actually - that's higher than I thought.

Dare I hope that for eight hundred million, I'll never have to reset all the flashing clocks in the house ever again?

[Wayno]

In some places that's true, but SA isn't one of them. According to Wikipedia we have an installed capacity of 810 megawatts (MW) and rising (expected to reach 1,500-2,000 MW by 2015). And perhaps more importantly, about 20% of our actual electricity used is generated from wind.

This is blatantly wrong and makes us appear as the "goody two shoes" state. I would not be surprised if the govt wrote that wiki article as propaganda. Yes, we do have an impressive grid-connected wind generation capacity, but most power is purchased by environmentally conscious individuals and company's interstate.

There's absolutely no way SA sources 20% of it's power from wind, and i'll run nude down Rundle Mall at noon if that goal is achieved within the next decade. Shamefully, wikipedia's official reference for the '20% usage' figure is an AdelaideNow story *sigh*. However, AdelaideNow is closer to the truth than wikipedia in this case. Nowhere in the AdelaideNow story does it mention we USE the power, instead it correctly says we are reaching our goal of 20% power GENERATION!

Individuals in SA have the choice of buying dirty or clean power, and clean costs more. There's no way 20% of South Aussies will pay more, and that's just our domestic power needs. What about our businesses and energy intensive factories - are 20% of them purchasing green power too? doubt it...

I do believe the Desal Plant will use wind power. So at least that's good news...

[rhino]

It would be good if the new electric trains source their power from renewable sources too.

Wayno, I think you may be surprised at the number of people who are willing to pay a little more to use green energy. Having said that, of course the major users of power are big companies, and I doubt that they are willing to pay the extra, so what you say with regard to percentage of power used is true.

[AtD]

Individuals in SA have the choice of buying dirty or clean power, and clean costs more. There's no way 20% of South Aussies will pay more, and that's just our domestic power needs. What about our businesses and energy intensive factories - are 20% of them purchasing green power too? doubt it....

I am under the impression that people who pay extra for green energy are being fooled, unfortunately. "Voluntary demand" for renewable generated energy was 2,400 GWh in 2008, but under the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target (MRET), generators, by law, must pump in 9,500 GWh of renewable energy per year and 45,000 GWh per year by 2020, regardless of how many households subscribe. I do not understand what ticking the box and paying the extra few dollars actually achieves.

Tomato sauce:
http://www.orer.gov.au/publications/pub ... s-0709.pdf

[Aidan]

There's absolutely no way SA sources 20% of it's power from wind, and i'll run nude down Rundle Mall at noon if that goal is achieved within the next decade. Shamefully, wikipedia's official reference for the '20% usage' figure is an AdelaideNow story *sigh*. However, AdelaideNow is closer to the truth than wikipedia in this case. Nowhere in the AdelaideNow story does it mention we USE the power, instead it correctly says we are reaching our goal of 20% power GENERATION!

From an economic viewpoint you have a good point, and I'm sure you're right about most of the wind power we generate being used interstate. But from a technical viewpoint, the electricity gets used as near as possible to where it's generated - and that's why I'm surprised we need the new gas turbines on Torrens Island.

[Mr.Frodo]

I was having a bit of a surf on the aemo site www.aemo.com.au and found this. Hopefully there might be some better statistics around of wind generation output, if we are lucky, but certainly at this point, we were actually generating over 33% of our states's power requirement from wind.

Monday, 9 November 2009

Market Outcomes: South Australia experienced negative energy prices for five Trading Intervals (TIs) on 9 November 2009 with a minimum of -$530.13/MWh at TI 06:00hrs. The sum of all FCAS services was $422.84 and $1035.16 respectively for TIs 05:30hrs and 06:00hrs. Energy and FCAS prices for the other NEM regions were not affected.

Principal Contributors: Approximately 1600MW of South Australian generation capacity was offered in bands priced at less than $0/MWh in the early hours when the regional demand was low (1467MW at 02:00hrs). Wind generation peaked at approximately 515MW at 02:00hrs.

Between DIs 05:10hrs and 05:55hrs, the Heywood interconnector flow from South Australia to Victoria was reduced from 300MW to less than 150MW to manage the planned outage of the Heywood to Moorabool No.1 500kV line. The constraint set invoked to manage the outage resulted in an increase in FCAS Lower contingency services to cover the loss of the No.2 line. The South Australian regional prices returned to typical values after generation capacity was offered in higher priced bands and the local demand increased.

Market Performance: Outcomes appear to be consistent with the dispatch offers and power system conditions during the event.

[Mr.Frodo]

So Wayno, referring to my post above, on that day, we were generating more than 33% of our power from wind generation, maybe no-one is actually on Green Power plans, but the fact was, 33% of the electricity used in the state, was generated from wind. Now obviously, on some days, the wind generation might be very low, but what proof do we need to show we generate 20% of power from wind sources, so we can see you run down the mall nude? I certainly agree with you that 99% of the content on Adelaidenow is dribble, but in this case, they MAY be actually correct, or at least, not too far off the mark.

EDIT : Too many wines, I thought I had written 1500Mw of Wind generation...

[rhino]

From Adelaide Now:

'Major milestone' for Paralana hot rocks
SARAH MARTIN
December 14, 2009 11:30pm

PETRATHERM says it has successfully completed a drilling campaign at Paralana, taking the hot-rocks project "almost half way" to proof-of-concept stage.
The company announced yesterday that its Paralana 2 deep well, which is a joint venture project with Beach Energy and TRUenergy Geothermal, was successfully cased and cemented to a depth of 3725m.
Petratherm managing director Terry Kallis said the finished well represented a ``major milestone'' for the company.
"It is critical for us. We are only the second company in Australia to have drilled a test well at depth,'' he said.
"It is a major milestone for us and it gets us a little less than half way towards proving concept.''
The company said the drilling campaign achieved its planned safety and environmental targets, and had exceeded the targeted minimum depth of 3600m.
In another positive for the project, Mr Kallis said no ``nasty'' gases, such as hydrogen sulfide or carbon dioxide, had been encountered during the drilling campaign.
The next step for the company is to take temperature measurements from the well, which will occur in mid to late January, before a fracture stimulation program in the first quarter of the year.
"Once we have done that, then a lot of the risk in what we are doing is taken out of the company and the project,'' Mr Kallis said.
He said the company was aiming for proof of concept to be achieved within 12 months. The completion of drilling at Paralana frees-up the Weatherford International rig for drilling at Panax's project in the South East.
Panax yesterday said the rig would begin arriving on site at Penola today.
Other South Australian hot rocks' companies Torrens Energy and Geodynamics also received a boost yesterday, each receiving $7 million grants through the Federal Government's $50 million geothermal drilling program.
Torrens Energy said it would use the funding to accelerate the company's Parachilna geothermal project in the Flinders Ranges.

[Wayno]

Another 13 Wind Turbines...

3 Mega Watts per turbine

From ABC Online

Wind farm expands

wind-farm.JPG (13.61 KiB) Viewed 5173 times

Approval has been given for an expansion of the Lake Bonney wind farm near Tantanoola in the state's south east.

The Essential Services Commission has allowed an extra 13 wind turbines to be erected at the wind farm.

The extra turbines will increase its power generation capacity by 39 megawatts.

[Pistol]

If anyone is interested, you can see these lying down on the ground at the Islington Workshops off Churchill Road.
Gives you an appreciation of the sheer size of these windmills.

http://www.nearmap.com/?ll=-34.866497,1 ... d=20091226