Antinuclear

Tasmania needs to ramp up its wind and solar power

Tasmanian power crisis reveals urgent need for more renewable energy
With Tasmania’s hydropower plants idle due to low rainfall, and a faulty cable connecting the state to the mainland grid, it’s clear a better long-term solution is needed, Guardian, Max Opray, 3 Mar 16 The timing couldn’t have been any worse. On 20 December 2015, the undersea cable connecting Tasmania with mainland Australia malfunctioned, leaving the island state’s energy infrastructure stranded without help – just when it was needed most.

The bulk of Tasmania’s internal energy capacity comes from its extensive hydroelectric network but, with 2015 delivering the driest spring on record, water levels in the state’s dams were catastrophically low. More than ever, the Apple Isle was counting on electricity imported via the Basslink cable so that the hydroelectric dams could be given time to replenish.

Dam water levels are at 16.8% and falling, low enough that aquatic ecosystems are being put under strain. State-owned energy providerHydro Tasmania had in December already reassembled and rebooted the old Tamar Valley gas-fired generators to ease the burden on the dams and is now spending $44m on importing temporary diesel generators with 200MW of capacity to help keep the lights on while the state waits for cables to be fixed or the rain to arrive…….

Phil Harrington, [the Tasmania-based senior principal of carbon and energy at Pitt & Sherry] says adding more wind farms into the mix would perfectly complement the existing hydro capacity.

“It’s a marriage made in heaven basically,” he says. “The dams act as a big battery so you don’t have to worry about the intermittency of wind and, in turn, there is the opportunity to capture wind farm power when the wind is blowing and reduce the draw on dams.”

Harrington notes that ramping up wind capacity would not just be beneficial in preventing the current crisis from repeating but could also bring long-term economic benefits by allowing the state to consistently export rather than import energy.

That’s without even factoring in the reduced carbon emissions that would result from in-house renewables as opposed to imported electricity from fossil fuel power plants.

There are several planned wind farm projects around Tasmania, including West Coast Wind’s 33-turbine Granville Harbour proposal, but an unfavourable legislative and investment climate has seen progress stall in recent years.

Harrington also advocates improving energy efficiency and lifting the solar feed-in tariff, which the Tasmanian government slashed by two-thirds in 2013……..http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/mar/03/tasmanian-power-crisis-reveals-urgent-need-for-more-renewable-energy

March 4, 2016 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | General News