3 ms·

Mostly it's because of renewables integration difficulties. Look at the grid problems South Australia has experienced in recent years: cheap solar has caused co

by 323454 7y ago

Mostly it's because of renewables integration difficulties. Look at the grid problems South Australia has experienced in recent years: cheap solar has caused coal generators to go out of business, with the result that periods of low solar and high load (like a hot summer night) can trigger blackouts. This problem needs to be solved before we can increase renewables generation.

phillc73 7y ago
I'd say it's mostly about vested interests. Mining is a huge industry in Australia. Big business have politicians in their pocket. To some extent it's also about jobs. Where I grew up, in the Hunter Valley, coal mining is a major employer. The export boom in commodities fueled the economy and lifestyle of tens of thousands. Shut down that industry a lot of people are going to hurt financially. Politicians just won't do it. It's a case of short term electoral thinking at the expense of the environmental future.
FridgeSeal 7y ago
Cheap solar did not cause the south Australian power outages. A poorly maintained grid and a storm bringing down some infrastructure, and then the government steadfastly refusing to bring a power station online in peak demand were the causes of the power outages; renewables had nothing to do with it.
stephen_g 7y ago
That’s not really the case. With dispatchables, curtailment, frequency correction from battery storage, etc. these aren’t really a problem until you get to more like 85-90% renewables across the whole grid. By then hopefully we’ll have enough pumped hydro to deal with shortfalls, and of course there will always be some gas backup just in case. Renewables haven’t actually been the cause of any of our recent blackouts. Even back in the big storm a few years ago when they were blamed by conservative politicians and journalists, the actual reports came back showing it was more to do with the wind downing critical transmission lines, one of the interconnectors being out of service, grid management issues, etc. - that a bunch of wind turbines tripped due to safety settings was basically meaningless given all the actual problems. More recently, coal and gas plant failures have been much more of a problem, like in the recent Victoria when over a GW of fossil fuel generation was out of service. It would been a lot worse without solar and hydro, as well as unexpectedly good wind conditions that took up a lot of the shortfall.

by 323454 7y ago

phillc73 7y ago

I'd say it's mostly about vested interests. Mining is a huge industry in Australia. Big business have politicians in their pocket. To some extent it's also about jobs. Where I grew up, in the Hunter Valley, coal mining is a major employer. The export boom in commodities fueled the economy and lifestyle of tens of thousands. Shut down that industry a lot of people are going to hurt financially. Politicians just won't do it. It's a case of short term electoral thinking at the expense of the environmental future.

FridgeSeal 7y ago

Cheap solar did not cause the south Australian power outages. A poorly maintained grid and a storm bringing down some infrastructure, and then the government steadfastly refusing to bring a power station online in peak demand were the causes of the power outages; renewables had nothing to do with it.

stephen_g 7y ago

That’s not really the case. With dispatchables, curtailment, frequency correction from battery storage, etc. these aren’t really a problem until you get to more like 85-90% renewables across the whole grid. By then hopefully we’ll have enough pumped hydro to deal with shortfalls, and of course there will always be some gas backup just in case. Renewables haven’t actually been the cause of any of our recent blackouts. Even back in the big storm a few years ago when they were blamed by conservative politicians and journalists, the actual reports came back showing it was more to do with the wind downing critical transmission lines, one of the interconnectors being out of service, grid management issues, etc. - that a bunch of wind turbines tripped due to safety settings was basically meaningless given all the actual problems. More recently, coal and gas plant failures have been much more of a problem, like in the recent Victoria when over a GW of fossil fuel generation was out of service. It would been a lot worse without solar and hydro, as well as unexpectedly good wind conditions that took up a lot of the shortfall.