#Official Energy Thread

[rhino]

From today's Business Spectator:

Gillard's uranium revolution Robert Gottliebsen

Published 7:40 AM, 15 Nov 2011 Last update 10:35 AM, 15 Nov 2011


In a few short words advocating selling uranium to India, Prime Minister Julia Gillard heralded the beginning of a new phase of the minerals boom in Australia. Because Indian demand for our uranium (and coal) is going to be big – very big.


She also transformed the economics of the development of the world’s richest mineral deposit – BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam.


With BHP dominating Australian investment portfolios, Australian superannuation savers have every reason to cheer Julia Gillard, who now understands that the Indian uranium declaration means she faces a gruelling time from anti-uranium forces in her party and among the Greens.


Gillard has also ushered in a new wave of Indian investment in Australia and confirmed the hopes of the Australian mineral bulls who say that when China starts to flatten out India will take up the growth curve.

When you look what is happening in Indian power generation, you suddenly see why India is desperate for our coal as well as our uranium.

Electricity demand in India is increasing rapidly, and the 830 billion kilowatt hours produced in 2008 was triple the 1990 output. But the Indian electricity industry has problems. There are huge losses in transmitting power over long distances. Coal provides around 68 per cent of Indian electricity but reserves are limited and can’t support the planned enormous power expansion projects.

Gas provides about 8 per of Indian power and hydro 14 per cent, while nuclear is currently around 4 per cent, because India has had problems accessing world nuclear technology. In the longer-term that technology freeze looks like being a blessing for India, because when the Western world turned its back on nuclear, India did extensive research work developing nuclear power technology.

But that’s all changing. Not only does India expect to double per capita electricity consumption by 2020, but huge rises in power generation are expected in the following decades.

While there is considerable community debate in India, the 2050 broad plan is to generate 25 per cent of this greatly expanded electricity requirement via nuclear power.

At the same time, China has also decided that nuclear is a key mechanism to reduce its carbon footprint. You can see why China is looking around the world at buying companies with uranium reserves.

The global community has extensive debates over nuclear energy but India and China can see no other way to lift the standard of living of their people and contain carbon. Students of history know what happens to countries that have vast resources and refuse to sell them. Thanks to the Gillard policy, Australia is not in that situation.

[fabricator]

I hear a crap load about Geothermal

just don't seem to see the results.

The trial power station (In Northern SA) is still being worked on, they had some issues with the bore liner being weakened by effects from the water. They just drilled another well while they pondered how to fix it. The other companies involved are simply watching to see what lessons are learned from the experiment, so they can copy the process for their own claims/power stations.

perhaps this helps (I know there is more on their site somewhere)
http://www.petratherm.com.au/Literature ... x?ID=69988

Late 2011/early 2012
Begin construction of power plant

The plant will be near the wellhead and we would look to install a low voltage line to our customer, the Beverley mine, which is only 10km away.

How many wells will be required to produce
the 30MW?
Our calculations suggest each production well may generate approximately 3.75 MWe net power. It is currently envisaged, that we will require one injection well for every two production wells. Given these assumptions a 30MW plant will require 8 production wells and 4 injection wells.

Those are really deep wells they are drilling, takes time to simply drill each one. I recall reading that once the 30MW plant is online, work will start on building a major power station and well. Its all down to things like the share market, once they have something working it will be easier to raise the money needed for construction/more deep drilling machines. Not to mention some of that 30MW is to run their own equipment to do away with the diesel power.

[Waewick]

thanks for that.

[Wayno]

a good project, but why place a wind turbine in the middle of a road?

A 105-turbine wind farm which is to be built in the mid-north will become the state's largest.

323884-windfarms.jpg (68.65 KiB) Viewed 13153 times

FINAL State Government approval has been given for the construction of a $900 million, 105-turbine wind farm in the state's mid-north.

The 315 megawatt Hornsdale wind farm, to be built 15km from Jamestown, would be the state's largest, with the capacity to generate 1,050,000 megawatt hours of electricity a year.

The Development Assessment Commission gave provisional approval to the development in May, with Planning Minister John Rau yesterday giving developer Investec Bank Australia the green light to begin the development.

Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis said the project would create up to 250 construction jobs locally.

[rev]

Not the biggest news, or one of the bigger energy companies, but still, the more head offices that come to Adelaide the better.
And it's come at Perth's expense so that should make some people happy

Gas prospects bring Cooper back home

Chief Business Reporter Cameron England
August 20, 2012 10:00PM

Hector and David

Cooper Energy managing director David Maxwell (r) and executive director Hector Gordon. Picture: Simon Cross

COOPER Energy is coming home, moving its head office back to Adelaide from Perth as it refocuses on its gas prospects.

While South Australia has a sad history of companies moving head offices out of the state, Cooper managing director David Maxwell says Adelaide is the place to be for the mid-tier energy company.

Cooper will be the tenth largest Adelaide company by market capitalisation, valued at about $170 million.

The company already has an office here, but will expand its local presence from 6 to 15-20 over the next year.

"Strategically it's the right thing to do, we're close to our partners, close to the government, close to our customers . . . cost is also a factor," Mr Maxwell said.

"The thing that's probably more important than anything is this is the right gene pool for us.

"Western Australia has a very big offshore focus whereas here there's a bigger onshore focus and the skills and capabilities that we need, particularly from a technical perspective are more readily available."

Mr Maxwell said the company was attracting good staff by linking remuneration with performance.

"If the shareholders are doing well the employees are doing well. That attracts people who want skin in the game," he says.

"It's about the right skills, quality people."

Cooper this year merged with Adelaide company Somerton Energy, which is headed up by former Beach Energy executive Hector Gordon. Mr Maxwell and Mr Gordon worked together at Santos many years ago, with their careers diverging - Mr Maxwell pursuing a career in gas commercialisation while Mr Gordon honed his technical and exploration skills.

The two say their complementary management skills are a good fit to drive Cooper's growth, which will be increasingly gas focussed.

"We've very much got complementary skills," Mr Gordon says.

"We'll challenge each other without stepping on each other's toes."

The company is currently a Cooper Basin-focused oil producer, generating 517,186 barrels of oil in the Basin, with a small contribution from Indonesia, in the past financial year.

The acquisition of Somerton brings in a suite of Otway Basin gas-focused exploration assets, situated in South Australia's south-east and over the border in Victoria.

Cooper also recently increased its stake in Bass Strait Oil to 16.7 per cent (and up to 19.9 per cent depending on a current rights issue), opening the company up to gas opportunities in the Otway Basin and offshore in the Gippsland Basin off the Victorian coast.

"We're in a transition phase at the moment," Mr Maxwell says.

"The business was focussed on taking the good profit oil business out of Australia and reinvesting that money internationally," he says.

"What we're focussed on now is growing where we're strong, the Cooper Basin, the Otway Basin, the Gippsland Basin, with a view to building a good oil and gas business."

Mr Maxwell said the gas business would be particularly important in the future.

"In two or three years time we'd like to think there'd be a material increase in oil production, that there were gas developments underway and we've got a portfolio of gas buyers.

"The combination of the Gippsland, the Otway and the Cooper is ideal from a gas portfolio point of view."

Cooper will not be ignoring its oil program however, with a drilling program of up to 10 wells in the western flank of the Cooper Basin planned for this financial year, with a mix of exploration, appraisal and development being considered.

Cooper Energy will retain a small exploration office in Perth to manage its Tunisian assets.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/business/ ... 6454360736

[Waewick]

199-turbine wind farm for Yorke Peninsula would pave way for early NBN, developers say

Business Editor Christopher Russell
January 07, 2013 10:00PM
27 comments

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wind turbine

Wind turbines at Starfish Hill Wind Farm near Cape Jervis on the Fleurieu Peninsula.

TELL US: Would a $1.3 billion wind farm help SA?
Rate the state of our environment - take our survey

A HUGE wind farm on the Yorke Peninsula will inject about $8 million a year into the district and pave the way for the National Broadband Network to be rolled out years ahead of schedule, project developers say.

The $1.3 billion Ceres project, with 199 wind turbines, would be the biggest in Australia and drive down electricity prices, developer REpower said.

The project has reached a critical milestone - a 1600-page development application has been lodged with the State Government and a series of public forums will begin on Sunday.

REpower's head of development, Peter Sgardelis, said the application included consultants' reports on noise and aerial impacts, the environment, marine and cultural heritage.

"This is one of the most comprehensive development applications for a wind farm anywhere in Australia," Mr Sgardelis said.

REPower, backed by Indian renewable energy giant Suzlon, proposes erecting the turbines over 18,000 ha west of Black Point, about halfway down the peninsula.

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The 36 landholders in the project would earn rent likely to be in the tens of thousands of dollars a year.

More than 500 workers would be needed during construction and 50 permanent jobs created.

Acting Energy Minister Michael O'Brien said while it was too early to say whether the project would get the green light from the State Government, it would bring in valuable investment.

"If the project achieves the necessary approvals it will make a positive contribution to the state's clean-energy future and provide a boost to the local economy," he said.

The project would generate up to 600MW of electricity - about half as much again as South Australia's total wind power capacity or enough to power 225,000 homes.

A co-located 20MW biomass plant using straw from up to 150 farms also is being considered.

An undersea cable would be drilled under the reefs off Port Julia and laid through to St Kilda and on to Parafield Gardens West to link into the Adelaide power grid.

Cables would be undergrounded in the wind farm and all towers would be at least 1.3km from existing residences, 300m further away than legally required.

The project would require fibre-optic cable to be laid alongside the high-voltage direct current power undersea cable to control the sophisticated electronics.

The developers are sounding out the NBN to lay its own fibre-optic cable alongside theirs, greatly speeding up the broadband rollout on the peninsula. The NBN currently has only a few points on the Yorke Peninsula scheduled for connection, with most of the rollout not due until 2017-18.

The Ceres project could connect the centre of the peninsula into the NBN by 2015, opening up opportunities for local business.

These would include data centres which require large amounts of electricity and cheap land which is amenable to high security.

"We'd encourage that sort of development," Mr Sgardelis said.

REpower has signed a memorandum about power supply to Rex Minerals which aims to develop a copper mine near Ardrossan.

"This will help both of us," Mr Sgardelis said.

Wind strength testing on the site has shown that maximum output from the turbines would roughly coincide with the daily peak demand in SA, from afternoon to early evening.

This, plus the fact Ceres would pay for its own infrastructure and link directly into the grid without the need for extra overhead lines, would help consumers.

"It puts downward pressure on prices," Mr Sgardelis said.

Since the project was first made public in August 2011, some landholders have been concerned that aerial crop spraying and fire-fighting would be impeded.

For the development application, consultants Parsons Brinckerhoff conducted a fire-risk assessment which suggested measures such as firebreaks, training and inspection regimes.

It noted the Country Fire Service position that wind towers do not stop aerial water bombing.

Consultants Ambidji Group concluded there would be a small impact on crop spraying.

REpower has undertaken to pay $150,000 a year into a local community fund. This scheme is still being formulated.

SA is well established as the nation's leader in wind-farm capacity, with Lake Bonney, at 159MW, the biggest in the state.

The Development Assessment Commission will make the full application available and call for public comment in the near future.

REpower hopes to have development approval by mid-year with financing finalised by the third quarter and construction commencing before Christmas.

It aims to have the project operational by the end of 2015.

Projects of a similar size to Ceres have been mooted for Tasmania's King Island and Penshurst in Victoria, but lag several years behind.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/business/ ... 6549159077


Seems like fantastic news to me - any sustainable regional development is worth investing in IMO

for a laugh, read the comments, we even have a link to Wittenoon recorded. honestly people.

[SRW]

I'm quite personally familiar with the area, and I understand a number of locals are concerned. But it honestly seems like a good proposition, so here's hoping it's all smooth-sailing.

[Waewick]

I'm quite personally familiar with the area, and I understand a number of locals are concerned. But it honestly seems like a good proposition, so here's hoping it's all smooth-sailing.

I read a report somewhere that suggests that people who get sick from windfarms actually get sick from the worry of getting sick from windfarms.

so there is no physical link between wind farms and sickness, only the mental link driven by peoples belief they will get sick.

[[Shuz]]

I'm quite personally familiar with the area, and I understand a number of locals are concerned. But it honestly seems like a good proposition, so here's hoping it's all smooth-sailing.

I read a report somewhere that suggests that people who get sick from windfarms actually get sick from the worry of getting sick from windfarms.

so there is no physical link between wind farms and sickness, only the mental link driven by peoples belief they will get sick.

Sense. This makes heaps of sense.

[Will]

I'm quite personally familiar with the area, and I understand a number of locals are concerned. But it honestly seems like a good proposition, so here's hoping it's all smooth-sailing.

I read a report somewhere that suggests that people who get sick from windfarms actually get sick from the worry of getting sick from windfarms.

so there is no physical link between wind farms and sickness, only the mental link driven by peoples belief they will get sick.

Yes, that seems to be the case. There is no scientific evidence to indicate wind farms are harmful.

This effect is called the 'nocebo' effect.

People, can read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocebo

[metro]

It's not just the sickness thing, some people genuinely believe that wind power turbines look ugly and ruin the countryside

They must prefer more of this:

[Reb-L]

They must prefer more of this:

[/quote]

Great shot! (doesn't mean I want to live next to wherever it's from).

[Aidan]

I'm quite personally familiar with the area, and I understand a number of locals are concerned. But it honestly seems like a good proposition, so here's hoping it's all smooth-sailing.

I read a report somewhere that suggests that people who get sick from windfarms actually get sick from the worry of getting sick from windfarms.

so there is no physical link between wind farms and sickness, only the mental link driven by peoples belief they will get sick.

Yes, that seems to be the case. There is no scientific evidence to indicate wind farms are harmful.

Wind farms can produce significant amount of infrasound as well as audible sound. And prolonged exposure to significant amounts of that can be harmful. The sound from wind turbines can cause some buildings to resonate. This doesn't mean wind farms shouldn't be built, but it is a serious problem that shouldn't be ignored.

This effect is called the 'nocebo' effect.

People, can read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocebo

...and it explains most of the sickness associated with wind farms, but not all of it. Some people were initially supportive of wind farms and never thought they'd get sick as a result, but they did.

[neoballmon]

This effect is called the 'nocebo' effect.

People, can read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocebo

...and it explains most of the sickness associated with wind farms, but not all of it. Some people were initially supportive of wind farms and never thought they'd get sick as a result, but they did.

I would assume the people that are pro wind farm have still heard the theory that the turbines can cause sickness, so no matter how for it they are, the idea of getting sick could still resonate in their mind and they could fall ill as easily as someone against the project from day one.

[monotonehell]

Wind farms can produce significant amount of infrasound as well as audible sound. And prolonged exposure to significant amounts of that can be harmful. The sound from wind turbines can cause some buildings to resonate. This doesn't mean wind farms shouldn't be built, but it is a serious problem that shouldn't be ignored.

I'm going to have to ask you for a reference for that assertion. The only time I've seen this idea come up was in non-peer-reviewed paper by one person.