4 ms·
If you're including regulatory oversight (or lack of) under the 'management' heading, I'd definitely agree. "Since 2009, the electricity networks that own and
by Jedd 9y ago
If you're including regulatory oversight (or lack of) under the 'management' heading, I'd definitely agree.
"Since 2009, the electricity networks that own and manage our “poles and wires” have quietly spent $45 billion on the most expensive project this country has ever seen. Allowed to run virtually unchecked, they’ve spent vast sums on infrastructure we don’t need, and have charged it all to us, with an additional fee attached. The spending was approved by a federal regulator, and yet the federal government didn’t even note it until it was well underway." [1]
> As far as I've been able to tell, we aren't building coal or nuclear because there are outrageous political risks ...
That adjective 'political' is not needed there, and serves to distract from the bigger, actual risks attached to those obsolete technologies. (With my usual caveat that I'm assuming people using the word nuclear mean only fission.)
> .. we aren't building anything else because because the economic option is coal.
Is it technically still an 'option' if you think there's only one?
Anyway, we (Australia(ns)) are not special.
Coal is not a sensible choice -- economic or otherwise -- anywhere on the planet.
Unfortunately many places, including here, haven't comprehended that yet. Or rather, the people that run the country -- both within and outside of the government -- prefer the extant power generation and delivery infrastructure for a variety of fairly obvious reasons.
[1] https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2014/july/1404136800/jess-hill/power-corrupts https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2014/july/1404136800/jes...
- shard972 9y agoNuclear is obsolete to what? As far as I understand, nuclear is the replacement for coal, nothing else comes close to being able to provide a stable constant supply in large quantities. What else can take the role of supplying the bulk of electricity to grids that doesn't also have it's own environmental concerns?
- will_hughes 9y ago> Nuclear is obsolete to what? As far as I understand, nuclear is the replacement for coal, nothing else comes close to being able to provide a stable constant supply in large quantities. The article pretty clearly demonstrates that grid-scale battery storage systems are able to provide very fast reaction times. More battery storage systems, along with other forms of energy storage such as Solar-Thermal and pumped-hydro can take daytime generation and make it usable at night. They're proven workable grid-scale technologies. Large widely distributed deployments of Wind generation can also provide a lot of capacity. For those who claim wind doesn't always blow - well, it's always blowing somewhere. Having a lot more individually smaller generators plus energy storage will inherently permit a more stable grid - one smaller generator tripping offline doesn't cause a massive issue.
- nl 9y agoWhat else can take the role of supplying the bulk of electricity to grids that doesn't also have it's own environmental concerns? Gas fire plants Hydro Pump Solar Liquid salt storage Geothermal Wind + Large Scale Solar + Storage Tidal Decentralized PV solar plus decentralized storage. There are enormous numbers of combinations of solutions which don't involve coal or nuclear. Both coal and nuclear power are slow to respond to changes in demand (or supply problems), and both are very expensive centralized solutions. Much more efficient solutions can be built using smaller numbers of smaller, faster, cheaper power stations (ie, gas fired) plus a diverse combination of other sources.
- JoeAltmaier 9y agoStart a business then! But I think investors may be hard to find - because most of that hasn't proved cost effective.
- nl 9y agoIn Australia? Almost all power companies are already doing combinations of these, while shutting down coal-fired stations - they just aren't economical to run: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-06/electricity-markets-struggling-as-coal-shuts-down-aemo-says/8875874 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-06/electricity-markets-st... They are all have large renewable generation. See here for the mix: https://www.aemo.com.au/Electricity/National-Electricity-Market-NEM/Planning-and-forecasting/Generation-information https://www.aemo.com.au/Electricity/National-Electricity-Mar...
- greglindahl 9y agoDon't forget the price of carbon. There's billions of $ of profitable business done in these areas recently.
- nl 9y agoThere's plenty of investor interest: Pump Hydro in disused mine: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/pumped-hydro-in-queensland-ready-in-2021 https://www.sbs.com.au/news/pumped-hydro-in-queensland-ready... (more details: http://www.genexpower.com.au/the-kidston-pumped-storage-hydro-project-250mw.html http://www.genexpower.com.au/the-kidston-pumped-storage-hydr...) Solar Thermal Generation: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-14/solar-thermal-power-plant-announcement-for-port-augusta/8804628 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-14/solar-thermal-power-pl... Solar/battery combination: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-31/sanjeev-gupta-joins-sa-power-race/9103020 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-31/sanjeev-gupta-joins-sa... Solar/Wind combination: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-03/yorke-peninsula-battery-to-be-installed-by-may/9011788 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-03/yorke-peninsula-batter...
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]