5 ms·

https://opennem.org.au/energy/sa1/ https://opennem.org.au/energy/sa1/ is the one-stop-shop for current energy situation in Australia. Anecdotal: SA was pushing

https://opennem.org.au/energy/sa1/ https://opennem.org.au/energy/sa1/ is the one-stop-shop for current energy situation in Australia. Anecdotal: SA was pushing towards clean energy notably before the battery came in, but in turn, had a very unstable grid, and the things like energy trading et al. were tied up in international ownership iirc (needing authorization to do a large energy trade required someone from France giving approval, timezones didn't match up, and the grid fully shut down for a significant period of time) After the battery was put in and operational, (noting that other things may also have been happening that I'm not aware of), the grid ended up being a lot more stable. Almost a night-and-day feeling to the change. Overall the local sentiment about it is "electricity is too expensive", https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-15/australian-energy-regulator-default-market-offer/102094290 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-15/australian-energy-reg... A very hot topic.

movedx 4y ago
Awesome link, thanks. Can you recommend a good way to find a better electrical supplier offering decent prices? What's your go to method/service? I've just realised that I haven't shopped around for quite some time.
- albastru 4y ago
  I think the official one is: https://www.energymadeeasy.gov.au/ https://www.energymadeeasy.gov.au/
mbo 4y ago
Side note: OpenNEM has some of the most beautiful data presentation I've seen in a very long time. Particularly great typography and mobile performance / responsiveness as well. Open source too https://github.com/opennem/opennem-fe https://github.com/opennem/opennem-fe
- somedude895 4y ago
  I actually found it quite awful on mobile. It's really hard to scroll through because you accidentally interact with the graphs. There should be more whitespace to use for scrolling, or the graphs should be tap to interact or something. I'm not a web designer, but as a layman it was more frustrating than anything.
AdamJacobMuller 4y ago
Really great visualization. Seems to disprove the title of the article to me though. Battery has a .1% grid contribution (point 1 percent, not one percent). Coal is a massive 62% of power generation in Australia! Seems improbable to me that the major driver of reducing 60+% electricity contribution is something producing .1%. Seems more like Australia is "quitting coal in records" purely because it's using so much of it and battery contribution is incidental.
- femto 4y ago
  The battery is absorbing or providing short bursts of energy, thus providing grid stability, rather than than providing significant net energy. This then allows the use of renewables which might have short term variations int their output. The big energy producer is the huge number of rooftop solar installations which everyday Australians have been putting on the roofs of their houses and wind. There are periods in summer when South Australia has surpassed 100% solar generation [1], the excess being exported to the East. These periods will continue to become more frequent, until they merge and South Australia is 100% renewable. They are the leaders, but the rest of the country is following. By happy coincidence the most southern state and least sunny, Tasmania, is already 100% renewable due to abundant hydro, but they also have lots of wind being near the Southern Ocean. [1] https://reneweconomy.com.au/south-australias-remarkable-100-per-cent-renewables-run-extends-to-over-10-days/ https://reneweconomy.com.au/south-australias-remarkable-100-...
- jacquesm 4y ago
  A very small capacitor can stabilize a much larger supply. I totally believe that .1% fast response source and drain could have a stabilizing effect that is measurable. For example: a battery that large could easily absorb a voltage spike that would cause a grid fault or brownout. Those tend to cascade and not having them immediately has a large effect on grid stability.
- m463 4y ago
  I can just imagine that getting a reliable power grid without batteries would mean you would have to supply extra power at all times to account for any shortfall. Now you just have to provide power until some natural gas generators can spool up.

movedx 4y ago

Awesome link, thanks. Can you recommend a good way to find a better electrical supplier offering decent prices? What's your go to method/service? I've just realised that I haven't shopped around for quite some time.

albastru 4y ago
I think the official one is: https://www.energymadeeasy.gov.au/ https://www.energymadeeasy.gov.au/

mbo 4y ago

Side note: OpenNEM has some of the most beautiful data presentation I've seen in a very long time. Particularly great typography and mobile performance / responsiveness as well. Open source too https://github.com/opennem/opennem-fe https://github.com/opennem/opennem-fe

somedude895 4y ago
I actually found it quite awful on mobile. It's really hard to scroll through because you accidentally interact with the graphs. There should be more whitespace to use for scrolling, or the graphs should be tap to interact or something. I'm not a web designer, but as a layman it was more frustrating than anything.

AdamJacobMuller 4y ago

Really great visualization. Seems to disprove the title of the article to me though. Battery has a .1% grid contribution (point 1 percent, not one percent). Coal is a massive 62% of power generation in Australia! Seems improbable to me that the major driver of reducing 60+% electricity contribution is something producing .1%. Seems more like Australia is "quitting coal in records" purely because it's using so much of it and battery contribution is incidental.

femto 4y ago
The battery is absorbing or providing short bursts of energy, thus providing grid stability, rather than than providing significant net energy. This then allows the use of renewables which might have short term variations int their output. The big energy producer is the huge number of rooftop solar installations which everyday Australians have been putting on the roofs of their houses and wind. There are periods in summer when South Australia has surpassed 100% solar generation [1], the excess being exported to the East. These periods will continue to become more frequent, until they merge and South Australia is 100% renewable. They are the leaders, but the rest of the country is following. By happy coincidence the most southern state and least sunny, Tasmania, is already 100% renewable due to abundant hydro, but they also have lots of wind being near the Southern Ocean. [1] https://reneweconomy.com.au/south-australias-remarkable-100-per-cent-renewables-run-extends-to-over-10-days/ https://reneweconomy.com.au/south-australias-remarkable-100-...
jacquesm 4y ago
A very small capacitor can stabilize a much larger supply. I totally believe that .1% fast response source and drain could have a stabilizing effect that is measurable. For example: a battery that large could easily absorb a voltage spike that would cause a grid fault or brownout. Those tend to cascade and not having them immediately has a large effect on grid stability.
m463 4y ago
I can just imagine that getting a reliable power grid without batteries would mean you would have to supply extra power at all times to account for any shortfall. Now you just have to provide power until some natural gas generators can spool up.