All things Solar (merged threads)

[davenl5l]

Has anyonne heard much about Green NRG Co. Mini power systems they are aussie made and supposedly reasonably priced ?

[CJR09]

Originally Posted by poppa smurf

yep! and it is a beauty and works very well, but with the price of gas it is more expensive to produce energy this way than the grid.....one other benefit from it was it also did your hot water.

many of these units are in use right now all over the place but mainly in larger manufacturing sectors.

this mob (as well as others) are looking very promising http://www.mtt-eu.com but a home, reliable unit is still in the pipeline, won't be long they reckon, along with quite a few others.

Whispergen had this tech available to the residential market in NZ 10+yr ago but were taken out by the CHCH earthquakes and haven't traded since which was a shame as it was a promising & innovative company but had massive levels of debt from all the R&D

[ebxr8240]

Having worked as elect supplier LIneworker I would love to go off grid.. After selling us out like they have .. I'm just waiting to get solar hot water and if it have meters connected ?It will be for night lights only.. Have a new 6KW diesel generator if need be.. To run AC I guess ? When sun goes west... BTW don't trust gov on promises.. I was injured at work and did everything the court and co. said .. Our NSW gov in its wisdom wiped all agreements even though it was a court ruling.. I just don't trust them..

[Mercury Bullet]

Originally Posted by poppa smurf

I wonder where the power is going to come from when the majority of taxpayers go off line.....those that are left behind will have stonking accounts and continuous rolling blackouts I predict.

Haha, have you been to Phnom Penh too?

You know the blackouts are coming as you can hear everyones generator coming online.

[buggerlugs]

Don't know if in other states but in Qld before our ex Premier got the flick a $1.16 per day "Supply Charge" fee is now charged on our bills for the upkeep of our power stations. That could be one of the reasons why my credit has been disappearing ....................

[xisled]

Originally Posted by buggerlugs

Don't know if in other states but in Qld before our ex Premier got the flick a $1.16 per day "Supply Charge" fee is now charged on our bills for the upkeep of our power stations. That could be one of the reasons why my credit has been disappearing ....................

That's about what vic supply charge is at.

[poppa smurf]

well ............heard on the news last night that the A.S.X. futures analyst's are predicting that in the year 2017/2018 we will be buying in power from other states at roughly double the amount that state is selling it to it selves.

also found this

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/s...3b39841b401ce9

great times ahead.

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Originally Posted by poppa smurf

well ............heard on the news last night that the A.S.X. futures analyst's are predicting that in the year 2017/2018 we will be buying in power from other states at roughly double the amount that state is selling it to it selves.

also found this

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/s...3b39841b401ce9

great times ahead.

Try this link as the direct link is subscriber only

[xisled]

Speaking to one of my friends today about the changes that they are trying to get into the Victorian electricity industry.

A big one is that in the next couple years you maybe able to change your distributor as we as your retailer. This would make it very interesting as well as complicated.

[comagutsa]

Originally Posted by wodahs

I had a simular situation with a state gas supplier here in WA

I had paid a bill for gas connection for five years and never used it as I don't have anything to run gas and there is only one bayonet in the house any ways
so I cancel the account
around six months later I recieved a letter stating that they were going to charge me $x.x amount a day for just having it there as it was costing them to have it at my door and was more than just having an account , at which I replied that's more than having an account for something im never going to use , so they informed me they will remove the meter and if I was ever wanting it back the cost was going to ne huge , my answer - meh remove it ill never use it and what ill save till the reinstatement will off set the cost anyways , another six months the meter still hasn't been removed

yeah it sucks doesn't it .. had gas turned off for 6 months as doing renos ..still cost $25 to have it hooked up to house even though we never used any .. no wonder people cant afford **** these days

[poppa smurf]

caught a little bit of the news last night.....there was talk of "micro power stations" possibly nuclear.

anyone know anything or heard anything about this.......first I'd heard of it.

[poppa smurf]

little bit of light reading to ponder that I stumbled across


South Australia signalling the end of base-load generation
By Giles Parkinson, www.reneweconomy.com.au

Last Tuesday marked the three-month anniversary of the closure of the last coal-fired ‘base-load generator’ in the South Australia electricity market, and despite the best efforts of many in the Coalition and the Murdoch media, there is nothing to suggest that other states will not follow suit, in time.

The fossil fuel industry predicted – and possibly hoped for – ‘armageddon’ from the closure of the last coal plant. But all it got was a big jump in wholesale electricity prices, caused not by renewable energy, as federal and local energy ministers have made clear, but by the soaring cost of gas and constraints on the interconnecter.

If anything, the events of the last few weeks have reinforced the point that the electricity market is in the early stages of an unstoppable transition. Coal-fired plants will soon be a thing of the past, and the role of gas-fired generators may all diminish as battery storage and other renewables take more central roles.

The announcement by AGL on Friday of its plans – supported by the South Australian government and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency – for an array of 1,000 batteries in homes and businesses to create a ‘virtual power plant’ to address demand peaks and grid stability, is a foretaste of what is to come.

Indeed, South Australia’s experiment – as premier Jay Weatherill has described it – in pursuing the world’ highest level of wind and solar generation is rapidly evolving into a whole bunch of world-leading projects.

These include AGL’s (described the world’s biggest virtual power plant), South Australia Power Networks’ commitment to a second ‘world leading’ battery storage project that will likely reduce the need for grid investment, and various proposals for large-scale solar with storage (from SolarReserve, Lyon Infrastructure and others) and the creation of suburban and remote town micro-grids that will reduce the need for centralised power and distribution.

The withdrawal of base-load coal generation from the South Australian grid has sparked predictions of economic collapse and soaring prices, but these have simply replicated what used to happen when the state relied entirely on gas for the balance on power, even before the arrival of wind and solar.

The fact that AGL and SAPN are now tapping into the power systems of households and businesses to address the high cost of peaking power and network upgrades is going to help change the way people think about electricity – and pave the way for more renewable energy across the country, according to the Clean Energy Council.

‘What we are seeing is a glimpse of the future as it comes into view over the horizon,’ CEC’s chief executive Kane Thornton says. ‘It is still early days for energy storage technology in Australia, but the idea that we can run a modern society with an affordable, zero-emission power system is gradually becoming reality.’

The graphs included in a presentation by the Australian Energy Market Operator at last month’s Clean Energy Summit illustrate why ‘base-load’ will no longer be needed in South Australia, and why it will be replaced by more renewable energy, and more ‘dispatchable’ generation facilitated by battery and molten salt storage.

The first is the AEMO depiction of the average day in South Australia. Note how the middle of the day – when fossil fuel generators traditionally made most of their money – has been hollowed out by the presence of rooftop solar.

south-australia-average-demandAverage demand has been reduced by 400MW in the middle of the day – energy efficiency has also helped. The main peak has been pushed back into the evening, and its size reduced. Another peak later in the night reflects the load for controlled hot water systems.

This was created to give the Northern and Playford coal-fired power stations ‘something to power’ during the night, but since their closure this demand peak will be removed as the hot water demand is shifted into the ‘solar sponge’ in the middle of the day, as is already happening in Queensland.

This next graph, illustrates why that – and the battery storage trials being conducted by AGL and South Australia Power Networks – are so important.

south-australia-minimum-demandWithin a few years, AEMO predicts, minimum demand in south Australia will fall to near zero, thanks to the proliferation of rooftop solar on households and businesses. By 2026, it suggest, minimum demand will fall into negative territory. This will not happen at night time but in the middle of the day.

Hence the need to store electricity. Hence AGL and SAPN’s trials to shift some of that demand into the day-time and shift some of that solar power in the evening and to deal with unexpected peaks and interruption.

And hence the continued calls for South Australian and federal governments to make good on their promise for solar thermal and storage systems in Port Augusta. A solar tower of the type built by SolarReserve in Nevada and proposed for South Australia could provide power on demand, says the Repower Port Augusta residents group.

In Nevada, the ground breaking plant supplies La Vegas between midday and midnight. In south Australia, it could be calibrated for the needs of the local grid.

Hence, too, the growing interest in storage in other large scale solar projects. Lyon Infrastructure is proposing the world’s largest solar and storage project in the north of the state, on the big line linking Olympic Dam with the rest of the grid.

DP Energy is proposing a solar-wind hybrid that it says will target South Australia’ early evening peaks (due to the nature of the wind resource), and is also considering pumped hydro or battery storage to help it firm up demand.

‘Once we encourage more renewables around the grid – I’d be very worried if I was a base-load generator,’ DP Energy’s David Blake told RenewEconomy.

‘We are in a transition. nothing is going to stop it. I would tend to think that batteries and big solar are going to become the dominant force in the Australian market.’

[Mercury Bullet]

All they need to do now is pay us appropriately for all the power they are currently stealing from us.

[poppa smurf]

yes they keep "encouraging" us then smack us when we do......but if they shut down the coal fired plants as they say is going to happen then what.

[prydey]

So.... No mention of all the dirty power we currently buy off Victoria!

I wonder what would happen if all those with solar systems who currently get no FIT, turned them off for a week or two, what effect that would have on the grid??

[poppa smurf]

Originally Posted by prydey

So.... No mention of all the dirty power we currently buy off Victoria!

I wonder what would happen if all those with solar systems who currently get no FIT, turned them off for a week or two, what effect that would have on the grid??

pandemonium, it will go back to what used to be a regular occurrence throughout South Australia and Victoria, rolling blackouts running rampant once again......Vics. have forgotten about those.

the generators have it in the pipeline that what is occurring in South Australia now is Victoria and NSW's future

[prydey]

to me it should be a federal issue. i don't see the need for one state in one of the smallest islands on the globe, to be some sort of world leader with renewable energy targets.

if australia wants to set targets, and try to reach those targets, then the federal govt should be subsidising the whole shebang, not leaving each state to their own devices, and being funded by the home owner in each state. we are one country after all are we not? it doesn't make sense why one state should be paying such a substantial sum more than the others in electricity costs, esp if other states are eventually going to go down the same path.

currently, wind and solar just don't cut it. they often use more than they produce and are at the mercy of the elements. just sick of living in the guinea pig state, just so some politician can make some grand statement about how 'green' we are while ignoring many of the facts.

[Mooka]

Originally Posted by psychobimbo

Try this link as the direct link is subscriber only

Good reason to go solar & battery storage 👍🏼

[Mooka]

Canberra is also charging forward with solar on government buildings. The Australian Mint will be covered in enough panels to cover its requirements & contribute to the grid.

[wodahs]

Originally Posted by poppa smurf

Don't be in too big a hurry to delve into Batteries as yet, I'm getting quotes and running some figures, the numbers given are not adding up.

someone is telling porky's in the industry.........I do custom installs on motorhomes which involve a lot of "off grid" power using solar/battery technology so I'm able to do a few sums, the ones preached by sales are not equalling mine

poppa smurf where did we end up with the battery saga (besides being the price and will drop over the next 5 years) and did you look at the tesla units as well

or do they just not perform to the need of a system in charge and draw rates and what ever

[my_gxl]

Originally Posted by xisled

The deals they got were the same as the ones people can get from the street. They have a high discount but rates and supply charge is quiet high.

Have a read of their Facebook page in the visitors posting section.

Also they push this so much as they get a commission of $40 per Person that signs up with click and also not sure how true a payment every
Month the customer stays with click.

Working for a electricity retailer, who was part of a previous campaign by one big switch, I can confirm that they do her a commission per customer they sign up.

If they were doing to get a better deal they wouldn't be getting a commission per person.

I just looked up their supply and daily charges-they are way high.
I might get approx $6 more in discounts, but the cost increase before that would be pretty big.
Did an online thing with AGL, they will do 11% discount for 1 year only.
I get 10% always already-*******.
Just have to increase my panels to max my inverter.

Maybe a second system for batteries-who knows.

[ebxr8240]

I have 5KW system .. I think if we changed our lifestyle a little solar would save us heaps..if cooking was done earlier in day as well as hot water usage.. Im yet to fit solar hot water .. Must adjust hot water timer to switch ON through the day.. Off at night .. Do notice they provide no discount in off peak !! So we'll work around there tariffs..Other wise we are being rapped by the suppliers.. Mrs dsoesnt wash the dishes now late at night.. They are left till the morning when suns up..

[Mowdit]

Hey Poppa Smurf

Got a match ?

Joking, but i hope ya beer is still cold today

Let us all know exactly how long 5he power has been out for (again)

Am really hoping the other state/territory govs dont ***** us all over like SA

[Mooka]

If only Poppa had solar battery with emergency power back up.

Imagine being the cool kid on the street with tv and lights on 😂

[prydey]

Relying on the sun and wind worked real well here in SA. Idiots. I hope Rann and co. still have no power for getting us in this mess. The rest of the country was already smiling at us, now they are laughing!

[lgpking22]

it was nothing to do with renewable energy

[prydey]

whatever. with so much invested and at stake, no one is going to come out and say anything different.

of course it was a catastrophic weather event.

it has highlighted a massive issue with SA's power though, and reports are surfacing that predicted something like this could happen months ago.

why shut down/decommission 'dirty' power stations, and then buy it from interstate, which is just coming from 'dirty' power stations.

the targets are unrealistic. its not rocket science.

[lgpking22]

Just before the blackout occurred, windfarms were producing about half the state’s electricity demand – they were not shut down as a result of the high winds. And ElectraNet, the owner of the downed high-voltage lines, made clear the blackout was caused by the storm damage to their network.





If the recently closed Port Augusta coal power station was still operating, it would have been cut off by the downed distribution lines too. And that would have likely made the disruption worse, since it would have created an even bigger sudden change to the network.

[LG17]

Originally Posted by prydey

Relying on the sun and wind worked real well here in SA. Idiots. I hope Rann and co. still have no power for getting us in this mess. The rest of the country was already smiling at us, now they are laughing!

I'm not sure what role the sun played in the storms but how about that wind blowing all those transmission towers over! Not very social of it... ;)

[Mowdit]

Doesn't matter what state you blow over a few transmission towers, you are going to lose a chunk of that states power in the short term.

And for our "idiot in charge" to come out saying we need "energy security" is a joke !

I don't see too many electric tractors or trucks, you know those things we need to grow crops and transport food products to the masses, let alone ambulances and emergency services, YET we largely rely on imported fuel (particularly NSW) since the closing of refining

I'd sooner go without electricity than diesel/petrol