3 ms·

I think it is definitely interesting, but doesn't South Australia have a particularly screwed up electricity system (and I say that as an Ontarian)?

by drpgq 8y ago

Reason077 8y ago
Ontario has one of the best and cleanest grids in North America, if not the world. Coal was completely phased out years ago, and dependence on gas-fired peakers is low. South Australia has the cleanest grid in Australia (except Tasmania), with extensive wind generation, but does not have the nuclear and hydro resources that somewhere like Ontario can call on. Thus it depends, at times, on dirty, lignite-fired imports from neighbouring Victoria for balancing. By building more solar and battery storage over time, SA can reduce the need for imports (and expensive gas-fired peakers), making their grid even cleaner.
- drpgq 8y ago
  As an Ontarian, sure we have a decent amount of hydro and nuclear, but there's been a lot of problems. Fair Hydro for one.
  - martythemaniak 8y ago
    As an Ontarian, no one has been able to explain to me what our problems are. We have moderately priced electricity that is very clean and reliable. If the rest of the industrialized world looked like Ontario electricity-wise, we'd be decades ahead of where we are in fighting climate change.
    - Scoundreller 8y ago
      Politicized cancellations of power plant projects, instead building them far from demand and beefing up the grid because of the new distance. Wind and solar subsidy policies based on ??? Other than “wind and solar are good, we should pay whatever it costs, locked in for decades, to switch to it”.
      - Scoundreller 8y ago
        I’ll also add mandatory submetering for apartments/condos. So now I pay a $37/month fixed fee on top of my $17 in actual electricity use. Historically, an entire building would pay one delivery fee. Albeit higher, but still less than every unit paying its own monthly fee. A stupid way to encourage conservation (by the lowest electricity users anyway) when they have to pay more in new monthly fees than they could ever save by conservation.
    - bryanlarsen 8y ago
      Our problem is that we compare ourselves against Quebec. Quebec gets 95% of their power from green hydro at a cost well under half of what Ontario pays.
giarc 8y ago
Check out Ontario from the map linked a few times in this thread. https://www.electricitymap.org/?page=country&solar=false&remote=true&wind=false&countryCode=CA-ON https://www.electricitymap.org/?page=country&solar=false&rem...

I think it is definitely interesting, but doesn't South Australia have a particularly screwed up electricity system (and I say that as an Ontarian)?

by drpgq 8y ago

I think it is definitely interesting, but doesn't South Australia have a particularly screwed up electricity system (and I say that as an Ontarian)?

Reason077 8y ago

Ontario has one of the best and cleanest grids in North America, if not the world. Coal was completely phased out years ago, and dependence on gas-fired peakers is low. South Australia has the cleanest grid in Australia (except Tasmania), with extensive wind generation, but does not have the nuclear and hydro resources that somewhere like Ontario can call on. Thus it depends, at times, on dirty, lignite-fired imports from neighbouring Victoria for balancing. By building more solar and battery storage over time, SA can reduce the need for imports (and expensive gas-fired peakers), making their grid even cleaner.

drpgq 8y ago
As an Ontarian, sure we have a decent amount of hydro and nuclear, but there's been a lot of problems. Fair Hydro for one.
- martythemaniak 8y ago
  As an Ontarian, no one has been able to explain to me what our problems are. We have moderately priced electricity that is very clean and reliable. If the rest of the industrialized world looked like Ontario electricity-wise, we'd be decades ahead of where we are in fighting climate change.
  - Scoundreller 8y ago
    Politicized cancellations of power plant projects, instead building them far from demand and beefing up the grid because of the new distance. Wind and solar subsidy policies based on ??? Other than “wind and solar are good, we should pay whatever it costs, locked in for decades, to switch to it”.
    - Scoundreller 8y ago
      I’ll also add mandatory submetering for apartments/condos. So now I pay a $37/month fixed fee on top of my $17 in actual electricity use. Historically, an entire building would pay one delivery fee. Albeit higher, but still less than every unit paying its own monthly fee. A stupid way to encourage conservation (by the lowest electricity users anyway) when they have to pay more in new monthly fees than they could ever save by conservation.
  - bryanlarsen 8y ago
    Our problem is that we compare ourselves against Quebec. Quebec gets 95% of their power from green hydro at a cost well under half of what Ontario pays.

giarc 8y ago

Check out Ontario from the map linked a few times in this thread. https://www.electricitymap.org/?page=country&solar=false&remote=true&wind=false&countryCode=CA-ON https://www.electricitymap.org/?page=country&solar=false&rem...