Hot weather in South Australia: Tesla battery turned on a day ahead of schedule
South Australia’s Tesla battery called on a day ahead of schedule as hot weather takes hold, ABC News 30 Nov 17 By politics reporter Nick Harmsen, South Australia’s giant Tesla battery has begun dispatching stored wind power into the electricity grid a day ahead of its scheduled switch-on.
Premier Jay Weatherill will visit the battery site — alongside the Hornsdale windfarm near Jamestown in the state’s mid north — on Friday, to mark its official opening on the first day of summer.
But with temperatures across South Australia and Victoria hitting the mid 30s, and output from the state’s wind farms low, the battery was called upon early to help meet Thursday afternoon’s peak demand.
The battery dispatched a maximum of 59 megawatts of power. The 100MW/129MWh battery is capable of powering about 30,000 homes for a little over an hour.
The manufacturer, Tesla says the lithium-ion device — made up of PowerWall 2 batteries — is both the “largest” by storage and “most powerful” of its type in the world……..http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-30/sa-tesla-battery-begins-producing-power-a-day-ahead-of-schedule/9212794
1 December REneweconomy News
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It’s 30 years since scientists first warned of climate threat to AustraliaIn November 30, 1987 Australian scientists officially sounded the climate alarm. No one can say we haven’t been warned. -
Wind power prices have plummeted again in GermanyThe predicted price of onshore wind in Germany is now half the EU’s projections for 2030, following an auction in Germany this week.
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Tesla big battery shows off its flexibility in final testingTesla battery goes through final testing with a rapid series of charging and discharging – never seen before on Australia’s ageing dumb grid.
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Finkel’s frustration: Everyone else has a strategy, but not AustraliaFinkel vents his frustrations in final energy speech of the year, dumping on six biggest myths about electricity market, and delivering brick-bats to both policy makers and regulators.
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Aera Energy and GlassPoint to build California’s largest solar energy projectAera Energy to install first-of-its-kind solar project to reduce oilfield emissions.
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Vestas, CWP get serious about plan to export Pilbara solar and wind to AsiaSceptics might call it crazy to run a clean power ‘extension cord’ all the way to Indonesia, but the ELEXI plan to export Pilbara generated renewable energy to Asia has a serious team behind it.
South Australian law: government now prohibited from spending money to promote nuclear waste importing
29 Nov 17, Today the Lower House of the SA Parliament passed my Greens Private Members Bill to remove the clause in the Nuclear Waste Storage Facility (Prohibition) Act 2000 that allowed the Government to spend public money on spruiking the benefits of an international high-level nuclear waste dump in SA.
That means that this will now become South Australian law as it has passed both Houses of the SA Parliament.
The Government will no longer be able to spend public money on pursuing an international nuclear waste dump.
With the focus now on fighting the Turnbull Federal Government’s plans for an intermediate-level nuclear waste dump in Kimba or the Flinders Ranges, it’s important to show your opposition to these plans. Come along to the “Don’t Dump on SA Rally” at 11am this Saturday, 2 December 2017 on the steps of Parliament House.
I will be speaking at the rally, outlining the Greens position on this important issue.
The Greens stand with the people of South Australia who choose a nuclear-free future for our State.
News Corpse writers and politicians mindlessly parrot spin about Small Modular (Nuclear) Reactors (SMRs.
Steve Dale Nuclear Fuel Cycle Watch South Australia
How big is a SMR (Small Modular Reactor)? If you read the comments in the recent Australian article entitled “Want a nuclear reactor in your backyard? Step this way” – many people really think these things can fit in your back yard.
The news article is based on SMR Nuclear Technology Pty Ltd submission to the Australian Energy Security Board (Nov 2017) ( http://www.smrnuclear.com.au/…/SMRNT-ESB-Submission-Nov-201… ). The submission mentions the NuScale SMR module – which is actually 3 metres in diameter and 20 metres high! – and you need 12 or more of them together to create a plant, each weighing 700 tons.
I wonder how many politicians that parrot the words “Small Modular Reactor” actually know how big they are? The following document (“Small Isn’t Always Beautiful – Safety, Security and Cost Concerns about Small Modular Reactors”) is still very relevant http://www.ucsusa.org/…/nuc…/small-isnt-always-beautiful.pdf
Adani coal mine ‘fundamentally not in Australia’s interests’ – could be a financial disaster
The ‘Kodak moment’ for coal, and why the Adani mine could be a financial disaster, ABC Radio, The World Today By Stephen Long 27 Nov 17, The woman who led the world to a global climate change agreement has a message for Australia: “You really do have to see that we are at the Kodak moment for coal.”
Christiana Figueres, until last year the executive director of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, doesn’t mean happy snaps for the family album.
Rather, the decimation of the once dominant photographic company Kodak by digital change — in the same way that coal-fired power is being eclipsed by renewable energy.
She hopes to see coal, like those sentimental moments in time captured in photographs, confined to history — with the world remembering the contribution the fossil fuel has made to human development, while recognising the need to retire it as a fuel source because of its contribution to global warming.
And, she says, it’s happening.
“We just had 25 countries come together [at the latest international climate change talks] in Bonn to say that they are moving out of coal in the short term.
“That does not include Australia or India or China, but you can begin to see the trend.
“India is headed for peaking its coal consumption by the year 2027.”
Adani ‘fundamentally not in Australia’s interests’
Which makes arguments that India needs the coal from Adani’s planned mega-mine in North Queensland — and the Federal Government’s determination to see the mine ahead — baffling to Ms Figueres.
The Government’s Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, or NAIF, is considering Adani’s request for a subsidised loan of up to $1 billion to help it build a railway to connect the Carmichael mine in outback Queensland to the Abbot Point Coal Mine near Mackay, which Adani also owns.
By law, the NAIF is not permitted to make loans for projects that would damage Australia’s international reputation……..
this issue of the Carmichael coal mine which, if it goes ahead, would frankly blow completely out of the water any emissions reductions that Australia has committed to.
“Admittedly, those emissions from that coal will not be on Australian territory but they will affect the atmosphere and directly affect the livelihoods and the survival of Pacific islands around Australia.”…….
Various parties are considering court action against the NAIF should it grant the loan to Adani, including NGOs and commercial parties in other coal-mining regions……..
Lest climate change not be a concern, Ms Figueres has a warning to those considering investing in Adani’s Carmichael project that appeals to self-interest — she says it could be a financial disaster.
“I put it to you: do we not have here a financial house of cards?” she said.
Her assessment is based on various considerations.
These include the huge debts Adani’s Australian operations are carrying; the financial plight of Adani’s giant power plant at Mundra, which is meant to take much of the coal, but is on Adani’s own admission financially unviable — losing money and barely covering interest payments on its debt.
Adani Group is trying to flog the power plant to the Gujarat state government for just 1 rupee (about 2 Australian cents) with no guarantees that the Government would use coal from the Queensland mine if it were to take over the ailing plant.
Then there is the possibility that the giant mine, with a license to extract 60 million tonnes of coal a year, would become a stranded asset as the world introduces tougher measures to limit climate change…….http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-27/the-kodak-moment-for-coal,-and-why-adani-could-be-a-disaster/9197134
Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) – Australia has enough electricity for summer
Australia has enough power for summer: AEMO, The Age, Cole Latimer, 28 Nov 17,
The chance of major summer blackouts has been cut as energy operators have found extra power for the east coast.
The Australian Energy Market Operator has added almost 2000 megawatts of additional power for the summer ahead, which it says will more than replace the 1600 megawatts taken offline after Victoria’s Hazelwood brown coal-fired power station closed in March…….
AEMO has now secured additional power to plug these forecast energy holes, and prepared the National Electricity Market – comprising Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria, Queensland, and NSW – for the summer ahead.
“AEMO is confident that we have taken all the necessary actions – and then some – to make sure we are ready,” AEMO chief executive Audrey Zibelman said. “We now have a range of dispatchable resources that can be used to strategically support the market as required, including battery storage, diesel generation and demand resources,” she said…….
More than 1000 megawatts of generation has been secured through demand response programs and the Reliability and Emergency Reserve Trader (RERT) mechanism, which encourage major power users to reduce their energy consumption during peak demand times.
Home consumers have also been encouraged to reduce their consumption, although AEMO expects demand to stay stable…….. http://www.theage.com.au/business/energy/australia-has-enough-power-for-summer-aemo-20171127-gztzfn.html
Queensland election result – an ill omen for the Adani coal megamine project
I suspect that the Adani project is already a stranded asset, and definitely not worthy of either Australian taxpayer support or Chinese investment.
The Queensland election outcome is a death knell for Adani’s coal mine https://theconversation.com/the-queensland-election-outcome-is-a-death-knell-for-adanis-coal-mine-88148 The coal mine proposed for Queensland’s Galilee Basin by Indian mining giant Adani has been a moveable feast, with many stories about its scale, purpose, financing, job prospects, and commerciality. The prospect of a return of the Palaszczuk government in Queensland is effectively the death knell for the project.Minerals Council pulls previous support for policies limiting advocacy by environmental charities,
Mining industry body retreats from hardline stance on charities, Minerals Council pulls previous support for policies limiting advocacy by environmental charities, Guardian Michael Slezak, 28 Nov 17, Australia’s mining industry has stepped back from its hard line on trying to limit the charity sector’s lobbying on energy and climate change issues.
The Minerals Council of Australia says it does not support policies requiring environmental charities to devote most of their resources to on-the-ground remediation, despite previously writing submissions to government calling for it to consider such policies.
Although the new stance seems to contradict earlier statements, the MCA insists there has been no change in its position.
The move comes amid fractures between the MCA’s membership over the tough approach, with BHP recently publicly distancing itself from the MCA’s position on activity requirements for environmental charities.
“They’ve over-reached in bashing-up on civil society, coal and climate and energy issues,” said Rod Campbell from the Australia Institute, who pressured the MCA to clarify its position. “They’ve gone rogue and they’re being pulled back – and that’s a good thing.”……..
Now, in a letter to Transparency International, the MCA has unequivocally said it does not support the moves it previously appeared to advocate for, writing:
However, the MCA does not support the government’s proposal to require environmental deductible gift recipients to commit no less than 25% and up to 50% of their annual expenditure to environmental remediation as referenced in your email………
The MCA has also been campaigning for all charities who receive foreign donations not to be allowed to take part in political advocacy during election campaigns. The Coalition has said it will introduce legislation before the end of the year that will do that.
Yesterday 25 charities launched a campaign to fight any such changes. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/nov/28/mining-industry-body-retreats-hardline-stance-charities
BHP aims to make a decision about a $2.76 billion expansion of Olympic Dam in the next few years
Cameron England, Business Editor, The Advertiser, 28 Nov 2017
BHP is considering a $2.76 billion expansion at Olympic Dam which it expects to make a decision on by mid 2020.
The company also said it has already started a $1 billion program to upgrade surface infrastructure as part of the Southern Mine Area Expansion, currently under way, which will increase its copper production to 230,000 tonnes per year.
The mine produced 166,000 tonnes last financial year which is expected to drop to 150,000 this year due to a major smelter upgrade. At an investor briefing in Adelaide today, Jacqui McGill, asset president Olympic Dam, said the company was working on a three phase expansion plan for Olympic Dam
The first phase — the SMA — will increase production to 230,000 tonnes of copper equivalent by 2020.
The term “copper equivalent” refers to the value of the mine’s production when also taking into account the gold, silver and uranium it produces.
The second phase of the project — brownfield expansion or BFX — would cost $US2.1 billion with the company currently running the numbers on the project with a view to making a decision on going ahead in mid 2020…. http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/business/jobs/bhp-aims-to-make-a-decision-about-a-276-billion-expansion-of-olympic-dam-in-the-next-few-years/news-story/1a9f517cb561e7f46ea58cfbdc7983f3
Centre for Policy Development urges companies to tell shareholders of climate change risks
Australian shareholders should be told of climate risk to profits, says thinktank
Centre for Policy Development urges companies to adopt standardised analysis of climate’s impact on business, Guardian, Gareth Hutchens, 29 Nov 17, Australian companies need to start developing sophisticated scenario-based analyses of climate risks, and incorporating them into their business outlooks so shareholders know how climate change will affect profitability, a thinktank has said.
However, the Centre for Policy Development (CPD) said companies needed to do so in a standardised way, so investors and regulators were able to easily understand economy-wide risks to whole industries.
The progressive thinktank urged Australia’s biggest businesses to use the Paris climate agreement as the centrepiece for their scenario planning, saying it provided a credible, long-term anchor for policies that limit global warming to well below 2C.
The groups has released a discussion paper, called “Climate horizons: next steps for scenario analysis in Australia”, explaining the best way to do so.
Australia’s financial regulator warned in February that climate change posed a material risk to the entire financial system and urged companies to start adapting. Geoff Summerhayes, from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (Apra), told the Insurance Council of Australia’s annual forum in Sydney in February that Apra wanted companies to start incorporating “scenario-based analysis” of climate risks into their business outlooks.
He said Apra intended to start running stress tests of the financial system to see if it would survive various climate shocks, and all Apra-regulated entities would need to adapt to the coming regulatory changes. “I think the days of viewing climate change within a purely ethical, environmental or long-term frame have passed,” Summerhayes said.
The CPD’s new discussion paper suggested how Australian businesses could be consistent with the country’s international climate commitments under the Paris agreement and with the leading international framework for robust climate disclosures, the Financial Stability Board’s taskforce on climate-related financial disclosures (TCFD).
It said businesses ought to try to develop a standardised approach to scenario-based analysis, and that all scenario analyses should include:
- A scenario that is genuinely consistent with Paris targets. It should therefore incorporate a high probability of limiting warming to below 2C, and towards 1.5C
- A scenario that includes the physical impacts of climate change, not just transition risks
- Engage with the most relevant sectoral or regional scenarios and resources available
- Be transparent about assumptions and parameters used to develop the scenarios, in line with the TCFD disclosure framework
- Show evidence that management is overhauling their business models in response to scenario analysis results…….
- The CPD discussion paper will be discussed at a public forum in Sydney on Wednesday. Summerhayes will be speaking at the event, along with Steven Skala, the chair of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, Christina Tonkin, the managing director of specialised finance at ANZ, and new CPD board member Sam Mostyn. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/nov/29/australian-shareholders-should-be-told-climate-risk-to-profits-says-thinktank
29 November REneweconomy News
- Know your NEM: Why AEMC needs a fresh view of policy mess
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AEMC chief John Pierce has had a long run, perhaps long enough. And why sale of Loy Yang B is good for competition.NAB, Origin help Aussies make the switch and save with solarHomeowners will be able to make a positive impact on their finances as well as the environment, through a new solar initiative launched this week by NAB and Origin.
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Kidston solar project set to start sending power to the gridThe first stage of huge solar and “water battery” storage project in an old gold mine in Queensland about to start exporting to grid.
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Tesla big battery ramps up, AEMO seems happy so farTesla battery testing shows major charging and discharging – a novelty to the grid. Both AEMO and SA government sound pretty happy.
Proposed Federal nuclear waste dump threatens South Australia’s environment and economy
Susan Craig Fight To Stop Nuclear Waste Dump In Flinders Ranges SA November 22
• The current uranium waste storage facility is at Lucas Heights, NSW which has the capacity to continue storage for another 30 years. We are asking that this facility continue to be used until we have established a sound and safe resolution for the disposal of this waste and in collaboration with community and all interested parties.
• The waste dump proposed is not for underground storage, but rather a precarious and interim above ground storage site.
• Should the waste dump for Flinders Ranges be achieved, it will open the flood gates for the world to use South Australia as a dumping ground for many years to come, knowing they can dispose of their radioactive waste away from their own countries.
• South Australia has WORLD CLASS agriculture, food, wine, fibre and forestry industries.
• These industries are S.A’s LARGEST EXPORT INDUSTRIES and our products are transported directly to more than 100 countries.
• Our production systems are sustainable and makes use of CLEAN and SAFE environments.
• These industries are well supported and well positioned to meet the GROWING GLOBAL demand for CLEAN and SAFE food and wine.
• The total value of Australia’s farm exports is expected to hit a NEW RECORD OF $48.7 BILLION in 2016-17, $1 billion higher than the previous year.
• The value of Australia’s agricultural sector is tipped to BREAK ANOTHER RECORD this financial year, peaking at $63.8 BILLION
• Gross wine revenue increased by $329 million to $2.11 BILLION
• The value of wine exports increased by $119 million to $1.34 BILLION
• The value of the tourism market in the FLINDERS RANGES is worth $421 MILLION
• FLINDERS RANGES is the SECOND MOST VISITED regional site in South Australia.
• The value of S.A’s tourism market is worth $6.3 BILLION
• These industries show significant growth on previous years and forecast to CONTINUE GROWING, but a radioactive waste facility in our state will threaten all of this.
• Say NO to nuclear waste in South Australia and keep our farming, our tourism, our people and our future safe. https://www.facebook.com/groups/344452605899556/
www.dontdumponsa.net #dontdumponsa #sa2good2waste
Support for Adani coal mine damaged Liberal-Nationals in Queensland election
Queensland election: how Adani helped undo the LNP’s push to 
regain power
Exit polls in the state’s south-east found up to 70% of respondents were against the billion-dollar rail line loan for Adani, Guardian, Amy Remeikis, 27 Nov 17, It was the sleeper issue that ended up dominating the Queensland election campaign – and, in the end, activists believed, may have saved government for Labor.
Labor sits the closest to the majority needed to take government in Queensland, 47 seats, after receiving gains in the south-east, largely helped by a drop in support for the Liberal National party.
Among those were Maiwar, the electorate held by the shadow treasurer, Scott Emerson, who looks to have lost largely due to Greens preferences, along with other LNP-held inner-city seats such as Mount Ommaney and Mansfield, which both look to have fallen to Labor.
Exit polls commissioned by GetUp in those electorates found up to 70% of respondents were against the billion-dollar rail line loan for Adani, while another 30% said Labor’s decision to veto the loan helped decide how they would vote.
“We already know the majority of voters from every single party at play opposed the Naif loan, including LNP and One Nation voters,” the GetUp environmental justice director, Sam Regester, told Guardian Australia. “Taking a stronger position against Adani clearly contributed to the swing in south-east Queensland. Just as tellingly, Labor held on to the regional seats that folks like conservative analysts predicted would fall because of the veto.”…….
Regester said that..voters in the south-east, particularly, saw a point of difference.
“The strong showing of the Greens, particularly in south Brisbane and Maiwar, showed more than anything the value of having the clearest, strongest policy on Adani,” he said. “ For most of the last term of government, the two major parties were equally bad on this key issue, so it’s no wonder they picked up a swag of votes.
“Labor was able to offset this somewhat with the Naif veto but this election made it clear that the Greens can be a threat to both major parties when they’re not up to scratch, particularly on Adani.”……..
Under the Naif rules, the states need to give approval for the loan. On Sunday, Palaszczuk confirmed she would stand by the veto decision. She also committed Labor to not allowing any taxpayer funds to flow to the mine, or its associated infrastructure, although has refused to give details of the royalty holiday granted to Adani, worth about $350m, which she said would be paid back with interest.
“We will veto the loan, they said on the 6th of June that they had the green light that they would build the mine and the rail line and we expect them to get on with it,” a Palaszczuk spokesman said.
The future of Adani now rests on whether it can receive financing to begin construction in the Galilee Basin, with some reports it may be close to securing Chinese money to open the mine. That has the potential to create another issue for the Queensland government, be it the LNP or Labor, as both have said they remain in support of the mine for the jobs it will create, with the Chinese funds potentially coming with Chinese labourer and steel strings attached.
GetUp have not finished fighting the project and Regester said Labor’s position was “still nowhere good enough” and a potential issue for the next federal election.
“After watching Adani dominate the state election, there will be folks in federal Labor keen to not see the next federal election nearly de-railed in the same way,” Regester said. “It’s in their interest to get on the right side of this extraordinary movement and oppose the entire Adani [mine] outright. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/nov/27/queensland-election-how-adani-helped-undo-the-lnps-push-to-regain-power
Climate change could make some Australian cities virtually ‘uninhabitable’
Deadly mix of heatwaves and humidity could make some Australian cities virtually ‘uninhabitable’http://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/climate-change/deadly-mix-of-heatwaves-and-humidity-could-make-some-australia-cites-virtually-uninhabitable/news-story/f90ff75e2f982e741efc714a1b7cf0a6, 26 Nov 17,
WITH temperatures nudging 70, this CBD has already been dubbed a “river of fire”. Deadly heatwaves could make it no-go zone. Benedict Brook@BenedictBrook CENTURIES-old heatwave records have been shattered all over Australia in the past week as cities from Hobart to Sydney have been hit by prolonged stretches of temperature far above normal.
Hobart’s recent run of six consecutive November days above 26C hasn’t been equalled for 130 years.
While it may have been warm, though, it was manageable.
However, climate scientists are warning the conditions in another of Australia’s capitals could get so bad it may become “not viable” to live there in decades to come.
A combination of debilitating humidity and what’s known as the “urban heat island effect” mixed in with a good dose of climate change could leave Darwin off-limits to all but the hardiest.
Already, surface temperatures in parts of Darwin’s CBD have been recorded nudging 70C.
And regional cities in Queensland might not be far behind.
Towards the end of November, Darwin locals look forward to the end of the “build-up”, the hot and sticky weather that precedes the wet season.
It’s been a tough few months. Earlier this year, the Bureau of Meteorology warned 2017’s build-up would be “brutal”.
“Everything is hotter than normal,” said the Bureau’s Greg Browning.
Australian National University’s Dr Elizabeth Hanna, an expert on the effects of climate change on health, told news.com.au it was the Top End’s tropical humidity that was the big problem. Continue reading
Heating oceans make South East Australian hot spots
Global hot spot: Exceptional heat pushes up ocean temperatures off Australia http://www.theage.com.au/environment/weather/global-hot-spot-exceptional-heat-pushes-up-ocean-temperatures-off-australia-20171125-gzsrey.html, Peter Hannam
Australia is home to a global hot spot for sea-surface temperatures, with a record burst of prolonged heat in the country’s south-east helping to make conditions several degrees warmer than average.
Daily weather charts generated by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show the unusual warmth is almost unmatched around the world, compared with normal temperatures.
Only patches off Greenland and New York in the US are as abnormally warm compared with long-run averages. (See chart below.)
“It’s clear sea-surface temperatures around south-eastern Australia, and Tasmania in particular, are well above average,” Blair Trewin, senior climatologist for the Bureau of Meteorology, told Fairfax Media.
Record warmth
1 This month
PETITION – To: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Government
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/235274195556
19 May – Webinar- Webinar: No Nuclear Weapons in Australia
Start: 2026-05-19 18:00:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
End: 2026-05-19 19:30:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
20 May – Webinar – The dangerous world of AUKUS, US, military occupation and suppression of dissent
National Webinar, 20th May, 2026, 6.30pm AEST. Confronting laws restricting/suppressing protest speech and action
Speakers: Former Sen. Rex Patrick, Lawyer Nick Hanna ,Arthur Rorris ,Jorgen Doyle, Sen David Shoebbridge,
Facilitator Kelley Tranter.
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
Antinuclear 