Renewable energy developments

[HBS Guy]

Robert Scribbler on the new Tesla Model3:

https://robertscribbler.com/2018/01/09/tesla-model-3-production-ramp-steady-as-she-goes/

[HBS Guy]

Wow! India STORMING ahead with solar:

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/energy/power/india-to-meet-solar-capacity-addition-target-of-10000-mw/articleshow/63354357.cms

[HBS Guy]

Wow! The difference just one company can make! Comment from the Robert Scribbler blog:

kassy / March 27, 2018
Meet the company that singlehandedly halved one country’s CO2 emissions

We all know that the private sector, and heavy emitting companies in particular, have a critical role to play in helping countries deliver their national climate targets under the Paris Agreement. But when the actions of a single business cuts the emissions footprint of an entire country by more than half, you know companies are stepping up like never before.

Ørsted (formerly DONG Energy) has done just that. The company completely has transformed itself from its origins as Danish Oil and Natural Gas to a leading renewable-focused power utility with an installed offshore wind capacity of 3.9 GW. With operations across Denmark, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands, Ørsted is also expanding its offshore wind business to the United States and Taiwan.

In the process of this transformation, Ørsted has reduced its CO2 emissions intensity by 67 percent since 2006, which accounts for over half of Denmark’s entire CO2 reduction over the same period. What’s more, it has done this while delivering strong growth and great value for shareholders. In fact, Ørsted’s net profit jumped 53 percent to $3.37 billion in 2017, from the previous year.

more on:
https://www.greenbiz.com/article/meet-company-singlehandedly-halved-one-countrys-co2-emissions

https://robertscribbler.com/2018/03/23/big-oil-says-youre-to-blame-for-climate-change-not-them/#comment-139567

In that comment thread the shonk Svensmark and his GCR idiocy gets a mention—not a favorable mention

[HBS Guy]

A HUGE development—wind turbine blades longer than football fields (gridiron footy fields I assume:)

These huge new wind turbines are a marvel. They’re also the future.
The latest model has blades longer than football fields. . . .

But especially in Europe, wind power is increasingly moving out to sea. And out in the ocean, with land barely in sight, the only limitation on size is engineering. Consequently, offshore turbines today are vaulting up even faster than onshore turbines have over the past decade.

A vivid example of this trend popped up in early March, when GE Renewable Energy announced that it will be investing $400 million to develop a new monster turbine: the Haliade-X, which will be (at least until the next big announcement) the biggest, tallest, and most powerful in the world. The first units are expected to ship in 2021.

It will be impressive as an engineering feat, but the significance of growing turbine size goes well beyond that. Bigger turbines harvest more energy, more steadily; the bigger they get, the less variable and more reliable they get, and the easier they are to integrate into the grid. Wind is already outcompeting other sources on wholesale energy markets. After a few more generations of growth, it won’t even be a contest anymore.

https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/3/8/17084158/wind-turbine-power-energy-blades

Wind turbines in the open sea are the way to go: the wind is stronger and more constant than over land and as we see in the article bigger blades can be used: ships can carry items too long for road transport.

[pinkeye]

A HUGE development—wind turbine blades longer than football fields (gridiron footy fields I assume:)

These huge new wind turbines are a marvel. They’re also the future.
The latest model has blades longer than football fields. . . .

But especially in Europe, wind power is increasingly moving out to sea. And out in the ocean, with land barely in sight, the only limitation on size is engineering. Consequently, offshore turbines today are vaulting up even faster than onshore turbines have over the past decade.

A vivid example of this trend popped up in early March, when GE Renewable Energy announced that it will be investing $400 million to develop a new monster turbine: the Haliade-X, which will be (at least until the next big announcement) the biggest, tallest, and most powerful in the world. The first units are expected to ship in 2021.

It will be impressive as an engineering feat, but the significance of growing turbine size goes well beyond that. Bigger turbines harvest more energy, more steadily; the bigger they get, the less variable and more reliable they get, and the easier they are to integrate into the grid. Wind is already outcompeting other sources on wholesale energy markets. After a few more generations of growth, it won’t even be a contest anymore.

https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/3/8/17084158/wind-turbine-power-energy-blades

Wind turbines in the open sea are the way to go: the wind is stronger and more constant than over land and as we see in the article bigger blades can be used: ships can carry items too long for road transport.

Yeah well it all makes sense, don't you think.?

[pinkeye]

I mean look at what Britain has achieved.

I think Australia's main issue is it's sheer size. The dispersion of it's cities. I can only think we need to look much more to local power than some idea of nation-wide base-load. Our demographics really don't point to that as being successful, for the whole country, and to continue to demand such is counter-productive.

[johnsmith]

I mean look at what Britain has achieved.

I think Australia's main issue is it's sheer size. The dispersion of it's cities. I can only think we need to look much more to local power than some idea of nation-wide base-load. Our demographics really don't point to that as being successful, for the whole country, and to continue to demand such is counter-productive.

the beauty of renewables is that it doesn't have to be centralised, which then makes our size irrelevant. All the regional towns and cities can have their own solar plants, wind mills or other forms of renewables, without the need to join onto a national network. We would save a fortune running thousands of kilometers of cable across bushland just to reach one town. Multiply that by the number of towns in this country and it's millions of kilometers of unnecessary cabling removed.

The only problem with that is that the big energy suppliers would lose control of their monopolies. I for one would be devastated to see that happen ............... NOT

[pinkeye]

Exactly

[HBS Guy]

Have a mix, solar and wind with some storage and a backup generator, be cheaper, quieter and more reliable than relying on a looooong power supply cable or just diesel to generate power.

[Dax]

I have 4200w of solar, 500w wind, 700ah lifepo4 on my house, never run out of power and it's all 240v. Also have a lister generator which runs on vegetable oil, so costs nothing to run and is used for big things in my workshop, which runs on 120ah of lifepo4 and 1kw of solar.

As Aus is so big, the best approach would be to set up localised grids. Put solar and small wind on each building and lifepo4 storage, excess could then be stored in a central lifepo4 bank for local business and as backup. It would reduce peoples costs by well over 50% and once they repay the cost of their system, they and the area, would be getting almost free power for at least 10 years, before any costs other than maintenance costs.

[HBS Guy]

But the big cities need something more.

Households should be encouraged to install rooftop solar, landlords should be encouraged to do the same. But industry and heavy commerce need much more concentrated power—that is where windfarms on the open sea come into their own. I am not a believer in utility scale solar, just needs too much space, like 20Km x 20Km but think it is great for decentralised power.

Apparently a hybrid-grid controller will shut off power to the outside world in the event of a blackout but keep power going inside the house. That would be what I want!

Windmill(s) can generate power at night in summer, hot water and full battery in the morning. Solar panels on East, North and Western sides of the house—be long summer days in Tassie!

[Dax]

But the big cities need something more.

Households should be encouraged to install rooftop solar, landlords should be encouraged to do the same. But industry and heavy commerce need much more concentrated power—that is where windfarms on the open sea come into their own. I am not a believer in utility scale solar, just needs too much space, like 20Km x 20Km but think it is great for decentralised power.

Apparently a hybrid-grid controller will shut off power to the outside world in the event of a blackout but keep power going inside the house. That would be what I want!

Windmill(s) can generate power at night in summer, hot water and full battery in the morning. Solar panels on East, North and Western sides of the house—be long summer days in Tassie!

I'm not trying to be negative, but the facts prove big cities are doomed, they are simply unsustainable now or in the future. Not only for energy, but for food, safety and economic viability. The amount of energy wasted in cities, far outweigh the ability sustain them, as major coal generation runs down because it is becoming uneconomical.

It take 15-20 years to design construct and put on line and new coal generation system, bit quicker for gas, but gas is a very short term finite resource. Like nuclear, the establishment costs runs into billions, as governments are locked into privatised everything, they cant and won;t commit to building major energy generation. being in government and very short term fixes, is more important that establishing a viable future. Commercial interests are refusing to support such huge outlays, that have a very tenuous future.

For cities, afraid we are decades to late to do anything, they are stuffed and have no future. That's why before the run of this century moved the companies operations outside big cities and into my home land state, now have just the money making venues in them.

Bush fires, and or calamitous weather events and rising sea levels, will bring cities to their knees. It's already started , having a major bush fire on the fringes of Sydney in April, is not a sign of future safety, but a warning of what is to come for all world cities over the next ten years.

[HBS Guy]

I am not that pessimistic.

But building design pays no heed to energy efficiency, that is for sure. Need to design towns and cities for flood water, bushfire etc.

But I guess I can’t say that much: moving to a small town in Tasmania, escaping big city and AGW.

[Dax]

I'm not a pessimist, but a realist, don't hold out any of the blind empty hope that everyone seems to be clinging to.

You're right about buildings, they are built today purely on cheap economic grounds, not safety or longevity. One side of my family is Tasmanian, have had a property down here for decades, but had the business based in the ACT for a long time. But lived in the snowies until 1997, then moved to Tas permanently.

After the massive fire storm in the Sth east which devastated Dunnely, where I have lots of friends. suggested to those rebuilding to build earth covered homes like mine, but they all rebuilt with modern flammable materials and the next fire storm, which will be in the next couple of years, will wipe them out again.

I'm a builder by trade, that's where got my money to build up my company into what it is today. Have built many earth covered self sufficient homes last century, you'd think that side of building would grow as people realised what is happening with global warming. But it has dwindled to almost nothing, as people take the short term option of cheap, junk, flimsy, highly flammable materials and that's the case with all building today.

To me, this is a sign of how far from reality everyone lives and how they are more interested in their short term economic standards, than long term survival standards. That's why i say no hope for big cities in the future and with concentration on single point distribution and long grid lines. As climate changes and weather ramps up, their gird systems will collapse over and over.

If you've lived in Tas for any length of time, you;d realise how vulnerable the grid is, there is constant power failures round the state. That's because of the strong winds we always get here, so when these start hitting Aus and grids collapse, cities will start suffering badly.

[HBS Guy]

Have been there for a week in 2016 and 2 weeks a little while ago. Know nothing about the power grid but I have seen on Twitter how often the water mains break. Need a 4000L tank between the water supply and the house.

[pinkeye]

Have been there for a week in 2016 and 2 weeks a little while ago. Know nothing about the power grid but I have seen on Twitter how often the water mains break. Need a 4000L tank between the water supply and the house.

Well, if you have reticulated water, that's a good thing.

[HBS Guy]

Might as well have reticulated water, I get charged whether I am connected or not. Fucking Taswater!

[pinkeye]

Might as well have reticulated water, I get charged whether I am connected or not. Fucking Taswater!

the free-enterprise tentacles of supply and demand will reach you, wherever you are.
Not to mention your local council.

[Dax]

Might as well have reticulated water, I get charged whether I am connected or not. Fucking Taswater!

That would depend on where you are, very few Tas small towns have reticulated water and those that do, the quality is terrible. Thats because of all the chemicals forestry Tasmanian and plantation owners put onto their plantations and farmers sill use 1080 to kill wildlife. Poppy growers use lots of chemicals, so all the residue ends up in the water ways and even though it looks clean, it's not.

[HBS Guy]

Need town water for irrigation at least. Doesn’t sound like it is much good for drinking!

[Dax]

Need town water for irrigation at least. Doesn’t sound like it is much good for drinking!

You may find it difficult in tas, to find a town water supply that will allow irrigation, they have specific dams and systems for that, it's expensive to set up and use. Theres massive underground reservoirs of water under Tas, all you need is permission to put in a bore and then stick to the amount you are allowed to take out. Most farmers that irrigate away from the schemes, have big dams.

[HBS Guy]

Couple posts accidentally deleted.

[MilesAway]

Couple posts accidentally deleted.

HERE WE GO: um, did the dog eat them perchance?

[HBS Guy]

Not my dog, she is not allowed access to the computer! Not after. . .

[johnsmith]

Not gonna say nothing—the grin on my face is too big—but urge you to read this:

http://reneweconomy.com.au/tesla-big-battery-outsmarts-lumbering-coal-units-after-loy-yang-trips-70003/

The battery had already been used to sell power. If it doesn’t explode in SA summer heat it will be but the first of several such big batteries.

but it wouldn’t surprise if that contract allowed, or even encouraged, such intervention – just to rub in the message about a cleaner, faster, smarter grid to the technology dinosaurs in the eastern states.