Yes, Mr Prime Minister: there IS an answer to all your energy problems – it’s wind and solar
One year on from the state-wide blackout in South Australia that sparked the Coalition’s extraordinary jihad against wind and solar, it is clear that the answer to the trumped up energy crisis is exactly what the Coalition doesn’t want it to be: yet more wind and solar.
The message coming from the market operator, from the networks, from the CSIRO, from industry, and from the energy sector itself is that the best way to address the anticipated shortage of electricity, the soaring cost of gas, surging retail prices and cutting emissions is the same: more wind and solar.
More wind and solar – the answer to all Turnbull’s 
energy problems http://reneweconomy.com.au/more-wind-and-solar-the-answer-to-all-turnbulls-energy-problems-14789/ By Giles Parkinson on 28 September 2017 AGL on Wednesday unveiled what it proposes as a substitute for the ageing, clapped out Liddell coal generator it plans to close in 2022: it suggests mostly a mix of wind and solar, topped with its own big battery, demand management and some gas power to help meet demand peaks.
The response of deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce? He decided to compare Liddell and Bayswater with old cars and embraced the idea that Liddell was just like an old FJ Holden. Continue reading
29 September – more REneweconomy news
RenewEconomy-
Future Grid teams with WattWatchers to tap demand response energy market“Software meets hardware” partnership aims to tap booming behind-the-meter energy market – a key part of future NEM.FRV reaches financial close on 100MW Lilyvale solar farmFRV reaches financial close on 100MW Lilyvale solar farm in central Queensland.
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ARENA backs RayGen solar tower technology with $4.8m investmentARENA tips another $4.8m into RayGen Resources, to boost manufacture and commercialisation of home-grown PV Ultra solar tower power technology.Why isn’t energy productivity part of national debate on electricity costs and security?In the ongoing furore over energy and climate policy, the energy productivity opportunity is being ignored as a solution despite its potential for energy cost reductions.
Some recycling of lithium already going on in Australia
LITHIUM ION BATTERIES ore http://www.batteryrecycling.org.au/recycling/lithium-ion-batteries The number of lithium-ion reaching end of life is expected to increase exponentially over the next 20 years. A report from Randell Environmental Consulting and Blue Environment can be downloaded here.A report from Anna Boyden on the environmental impacts of lithium ion batteries provides useful background material and can be downloaded here.
Lithium-ion batteries (UN No. 3480) are classified as Dangerous Goods under the Australian Code for the Transport of Dangerous Goods by Road and Rail (ADG Code).
The ADG Code requires all dangerous goods, including lithium ion batteries, to be carried in a secure, safe and environmentally controlled manner. The carrier has the right to refuse carriage if dangerous goods are not packed in accordance with the regulations. There is a special provision (377) and packaging instruction (P909) for ‘lithium ion and lithium metal cells and batteries and equipment containing such cells and batteries transported for disposal or recycling, either packed together with or packed without non-lithium batteries…’
The following ABRI members provide a collection and recycling service for used lithium-ion batteries. Contact the company or check their web site for details. Continue reading
27 September REneweconomy news
RenewEconomy-
Sonnen waives monthly fees for battery customers in new deal with installersSonnen offers “free energy” for households using approved installers, and says it has 2,000 battery sales so far in 2017 and keen to play FCAS market.
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ABB to acquire GE Industrial SolutionsABB today announced the acquisition of GE Industrial Solutions, GE’s global electrification solutions business.
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Stunning tipping points mean coal will never be great againThe global energy industry is experiencing two major tipping points for wind and solar that mean that coal will never be great again, no matter how much Conservative politicians and columnists may wish it to be so.
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Why the Tesla truck will turn freight industry upside ownElon Musk prepares to unveil Tesla’s next big thing – the all electric truck. Analysts expect it to be the biggest thing in the trucking industry for decades, and will slash transport costs.
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Origin and Santos: Australia’s bungling Gas GiantsThere is no easy answer to Australia’s gas shortfall and high prices – and certainly not Turnbull’s Venezuala-style solution. The best bets might be gas imports, and to build more renewables …
Australia needs a massive switch to renewables, if it is to meet its Paris climate commitments
the bind faced by the formerly green-tinged Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull
the Australia Institute, which has taken over the intellectual property of the Climate Institute, says even Dr Finkel’s model would be insufficient on its own to meet the international obligations signed under Mr Abbott.
“This analysis of the economic modelling demonstrates meeting these targets for the electricity sector with a policy like the clean energy target is likely to require 66-75 per cent of electricity to be supplied by renewables,” said Australia Institute executive director Ben Oquist.This was because a CET “provides less of an incentive for gas generation than an EIS (emissions intensity scheme) or a carbon price“.
Climate crunch: Australia to fail on Paris commitments without massive renewable switch http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/climate-crunch-australia-to-fail-on-paris-commitments-without-massive-renewable-switch-20170924-gynkj8.html Mark Kenny, 25 Sept 17 Australia will fall short of its Paris carbon reduction targets signed under Tony Abbott unless it lifts its renewable energy production to levels higher even than Labor’s plan for 50 per cent green energy reliance by 2030.
The first assessment by the Australia Institute’s new Climate and Energy Program, to be released on Monday, has found that unless a higher burden is placed on the more expensive process of carbon reductions in other sectors – agriculture, transport and manufacturing – then the electricity generation sector will need to aim for a renewable energy target of at least 66 per cent by 2030, and possibly as high as 75 per cent.That is, a power generation sector where the fossil fuel component is reduced to perhaps a quarter of the size it is now.
Power generation currently accounts for 35 per cent of total emissions, which is twice as much as the next biggest contributor, fuel combustion and transport, at 18 per cent.
Industry produces 14 per cent and agriculture 13 per cent.
The current emissions reduction target, committed to in Paris while Mr Abbott was prime minister, is 26-28 per cent lower than the 2005 level – part of Australia’s contribution to a global effort to restrict the planet’s temperature increase this century to no more than 2 degrees Celsius.
The government is now wrestling with how to go about this after Chief Scientist Alan Finkel proposed a clean energy target which would lock in a 28 per cent reduction in energy-related emissions by 2030 through a four-pronged strategy emphasising energy security, reliability, affordability for households and business, and meeting Australia’s emissions targets.
Last week Mr Abbott indicated he would cross the floor in Parliament to stop further renewable-friendly policies, calling it “unconscionable for a government that was originally elected promising to abolish the carbon tax and to end Labor’s climate obsessions to go further down this renewable path”. Continue reading
25 September REneweconomy news
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What’s next for Minerals Council’s coal and climate policy?The abrupt and unexpected departure of the Minerals Council of Australia’s CEO, Brendan Pearson, may well be a crucial tipping point in Australia’s debate over domestic energy policy. -
Consumers see solar and battery storage as key to cutting billsPoll reveals batteries could soon be as “common as dishwashers” in Australian homes, in race to cut power bills with solar and storage.
23 September REneweconomy news
RenewEconomy-
Australia wind energy’s record day of production in AugustWind energy posts record output in August, with renewables delivering 25 per cent of all demand at the evening peak.
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Mark Bailey returns as Queensland energy ministerMark Bailey is returning to duty as Minister for Main Roads, Road Safety and Ports and Minister for Energy, Biofuels and Water Supply, effective today.
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Governments should stick to their job of making policyFears of the unstoppable energy transition are reinforced and amplified by vested interests and selfish, small minded losers who try and slow it down. Look at how energy prices jumped since Coalition’s intervention on Liddell.
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Customers missing out as rule changes miss the point on inertiaSomething is fundamentally wrong in the NEM. Frequency control costs have risen dramatically, but the quality of the service has dived.
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Tasmania ups quest to become renewable energy “battery of Australia”ARENA tips $2.5m into feasibility studies for doubling of Tasmania hydro capacity and developing 2.5GW of pumped hydro storage.
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Six things we learned: Death spirals and Tony Abbott’s sense of timingIt seems there is no climate and clean energy myth conservatives and the Murdoch media won’t repeat. Just as well we have renewable energy and smart businesses.
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Victoria renewable target passes lower house – but Coalition vows to kill itVictoria’s renewable energy target of 40% by 2025 has passed the lower house – but the state opposition has vowed to kill it if they get into power.
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Tesla plans big battery party, still waiting on Victoria tenderTesla prepares to announce “big battery” milestone, as Musk drops in for a space conference and storage industry awaits results of Victoria tender.
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Australians won over by cheapness and reliability of solar batteries, poll shows
Solar Batteries: Australians see energy storage as the future, poll finds, ABC By consumer affairs reporter Sarah Farnsworth and the National Reporting Team’s Rebecca Armitage, 22 Sept 17, As power prices continue to surge, Australians believe household solar storage batteries are the key to cheaper and more reliable energy, according to a new poll of 2,000 households.
Key points:
- A survey found almost three-quarters of people believe solar batteries will become commonplace
- 68 per cent of households with solar panels are considering purchasing a battery
- The price of storage batteries in the first half of 2017 only dropped by 5 per cent
The Climate Council found nearly three-quarters of those surveyed believe batteries, coupled with solar systems, would become commonplace within 10 years.
Of those who already had solar systems, 68 per cent were considering adding a household storage battery.
Most said the primary motivation for buying a solar battery was to reduce power bills.
Only 6 per cent believed consumers were driven by the need to protect their homes from blackouts.
More than half said they expected large-scale batteries like the one being built by Elon Musk in South Australia would also become common in the next 10 years.
“It shows that Australians do understand that renewables — particularly solar and increasingly battery storage — provide a solution to high power prices,” the Climate Council’s Andrew Stock said.
“I think it’s very encouraging that Australians really do get the importance of new technology. There is very little appetite for keeping aging coal fire stations running in the Australian populace, frankly,” he said……..
Energy economist and director of Carbon and Energy Markets, Bruce Mountain, agreed South Australians would benefit from installing batteries sooner rather than later.
“That is simply because battery and solar prices have come down, and in South Australia energy prices have gone up so much,” Mr Mountain said.
Mr Mountain said he wanted the Federal Government to invest more in the local industry to bring down solar battery costs, instead of seeking to subsidise coal fire power generators like Liddell.
“They can accelerate the installation of these batteries, they can grow a local equipment suppliers and often than incentive creates new industry and scale economies,” Mr Mountain said.
“The household would benefit, but the system as a whole would benefit as well, because a household of battery and solar gives to the grid a far more stable demand,” he said. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-22/solar-batteries-the-future-poll-finds/8967652
22 September More REneweconomy news
REneweconomy-
Solar sedan and sports coupe in race across Australia – and to commercial marketA UNSW-built “solar sedan” is taking on a Brisbane-built solar sports coupe in a race across Australia – and to drive as registered vehicles on Australian roads.
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Policy uncertainty is blocking investment in low carbon assetsAustralian institutional investors have a strong appetite for low carbon assets, but policy uncertainty and a lack of scalable deals are major barriers.
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Whyalla’s not a ghost town, it’s the centre of a green industrial revolutionGarnaut says renewables will cut energy costs to Whyalla steelworks by at least a third, and outlines plans for large scale solar, rooftop solar and pumped hydro and battery storage.
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Solar boom underpins big surge in renewable energy jobs in AugustLarge-scale power project construction work has broken through 10,000 jobs and rooftop solar installs almost broke 100MW for the month. Given they’ll deliver something close to $180m in bill savings the large lift in solar shouldn’t come as much surprise to anyone but Tony Abbott.
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Commonwealth Bank acknowledges climate risk, shareholders discontinue proceedingsCommonwealth Bank shareholders Guy and Kim Abrahams have discontinued their Federal Court proceedings against the bank for failing to disclose climate change risks in annual reports.
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INFIGEN APPOINTS NEW INDEPENDENT DIRECTORSInfigen Energy announces announces who will be appointed to the Boards of Infigen Energy Limited, Infigen Energy (Bermuda) Limited and Infigen Energy RE Limited (the Infigen Boards).
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Want energy storage? Here are 22,000 sites for pumped hydro across AustraliaThe race is on for storage solutions that can help provide secure, reliable electricity supply as more renewables enter Australia’s electricity grid.
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Advisian hires global director for New EnergyAdvisian has appointed Tony Frencham as global director for new energy as it announces plans to scale significantly within the next five years.
22 September REneweconomy news
RenewEconomy-
Battery ban off the table after industry roundtable “consensus”Standards Australia says industry roundtable has broadly agreed to “review” proposed rule banning li-ion batteries from being installed inside homes and garages. But rifts emerge in industry.
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Back to 2009: Abbott declares war on everythingTony Abbott has drawn new battle-lines with interviews and an article that is a horror-show of ignorance, bias, conservative ideology and political dogma. Turnbull’s efforts to appease the right wing has gotten him and the Australian economy nowhere.
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BHP under pressure to dump pro-coal lobby groups over climate policyA shareholder resolution highlighting the chasm between BHP’s stated climate policy and the pro-coal advocacy of its mining industry lobby has pushed the company to commit to reconsidering its membership of the hardline Minerals Council of Australia.
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Off-grid solar + battery systems prove 15x more reliable than networkWestern Power pilot shows stand-alone solar + battery + diesel systems 15 times more reliable than grid, and could save $300 million in avoided network upgrade costs – but only if rules are change changed to allow the systems to be rolled out.
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Battery storage uptake by households surges as grid costs soarNew data shows home battery storage installations set to treble in 2017, even without a price fall. Once the technology gets cheaper, says SunWiz, batteries will be as ‘common as the backyard pool.’
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ACT tips another $4m into home battery subsidy schemeACT government opens third competitive grants round, in a $4m extension of its home battery storage subsidisation scheme.
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The amazingly positive renewable story the Murdoch media won’t writeThe Australian buries its admission that Tuesday’s front page lead was fabricated, and still seeks to portray a cost saving to consumers as an extravagant “payday” for rich Saudi man.
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Australia’s top 10 solar postcodes, and the top solar locations by state
http://reneweconomy.com.au/australias-top-10-solar-postcodes-top-solar-locations-state-60359/
We know Australia is leading the world in per capita uptake of rooftop solar, with total installed capacity on homes and businesses this year soaring past the 6GW mark.
But which parts of Australia are leading the country? New data from the Clean Energy Regulator has revealed the latest ranking of Australia’s top 10 postcodes for small-scale solar installation (up to 100kW), with some interesting new additions.
As you can see below, the list this year features a few new entries, and a more diverse spread across the states, instead of being dominated by Queensland and Western Australia locales.
Both the new entries and the old stagers on the list span the suburban, regional and rural areas of Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia, with no entries this year from South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT or the Northern Territory.
In order from the top, the Queensland town of Bundaberg has again secured the number one spot, followed by new entries on the list, the Victorian suburbs of Werribee and Hoppers Crossing. Last year, no Victorian postcodes made the top 10.
According to the CER data, these three postcodes have accumulated the highest number of small-scale renewable energy installations since the small-scale renewable energy scheme began in 2001, each reaching around 17 000 installations as at 1 September 2017.
In fourth place, down from second place last year, is the WA suburb of Mandurah, where the local council is also pushing hard to install PV on government buildings – and just last week agreed to install a 200kW (not a part of the SRES) system at the local pool and sports centre.
The Queensland suburb of Hervey Bay follows, moving to fifth place from third last year. And another Victorian new entry, the semi-rural south-eastern suburb of Cranbourne, is in sixth place.
Bringing up the rear are regular place holders Caloundra and Toowoomba in Queensland, and new entries Wangara (WA) and Lismore (NSW), the latter of which makes the list probably due to the May switching-on of a 99kW rooftop PV system at the Goonellabah Sports & Aquatic Centre, as part of a major community-based and funded renewables campaign.
Despite some bigger commercial installations coming into play, the CER says the average size of the solar postcode installations is 5kW – which is also the average size, now, of a household rooftop solar system. This indicates the dominance, still, of residential uptake in these numbers, considering the SRES encourages commercial systems, too – up to 100kW in size.
“Over the last 10 years, 23 per cent more Australians have embraced rooftop solar,” the CER said in a release on Monday. “That’s one in five homes and businesses now generating their own renewable energy and reducing carbon emissions through rooftop solar.
As we reported here, Australia hit a milestone of 6000 megawatt (6GW) capacity across 2.8 million small-scale installations of renewable energy systems such as solar PV, solar water heaters and air source heat pumps. Nearly 100MW was installed in August, alone.
Interestingly, while no South Australian suburbs on their own make the list, the entire state is setting all sorts of solar records, including a new record low for minimum demand – barely a week after the previous benchmark was set – with a fall to just 587MW on Sunday afternoon.
As Giles Parkinson notes, the record eclipsed the previous mark by nearly 200MW – with AEMO data showing minimum demand at 1.30pm of exactly 587.8MW, compared with the previous low mark of 786.42MW posted last Sunday – thanks to moderate spring temperatures, combined with the state’s more than 700MW of rooftop solar producing 538.54MW at the time of minimum demand.
“That is a phenomenal share of 47.8 per cent of the state’s electricity demand being met by rooftop solar (compares with 36 per cent in the previous record last week) and is clearly a record for South Australia, and for that matter in any large grid anywhere in the world,” Parkinson says.
Below [on original] is the list of last year’s Top 10 solar postcodes:
20 September REneweconomy news
RenewEconomy-
Better data would improve transparency in electricity marketBetter data would reassure consumers that price changes are the result of real problems, such as weather or machinery failure, rather than market manipulation.
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Liddell: It would cost $900 million to keep it open till 2027Liddell coal generator visit reveals a work-force that wants it to close. Even betting agencies are punting on its closure.
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Sci-Fi novel envisions corporatocracy in a climate-changed futureIn Tal Klein’s new novel, The Punch Escrow, humans have successfully tackled disease and climate change, but powerful corporations control everything.
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Graph of the Day: Live renewable energy share and emissions by stateTwo new live graphs show renewable energy share and energy emissions in each state. Rooftop solar is lowering emissions significantly during the day.
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Queensland big solar boom continues, as another 150MW project approvedQueensland’s Western Downs Region continues large-scale solar boom, with approval of 300MW battery ready Beelbee PV farm.
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Redflow scores second major battery sale for remote Pacific Island projectsRedflow gets second major order within months for its zinc bromine batteries for application on remote, Pacific Island sites.
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Brisbane Airport rolls out massive 6MW solar projectHuge 6MW solar upgrade at Brisbane Airport will supply 18% of electricity needs and save around $1m a year on energy bills.
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SolarEdge enhancing residential PV offering for AustraliaIncreased power production with single-phase inverters and new three-phase inverters for cost-effective larger PV systems
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Properly managing Australia’s energy demand would remove the need for new power plants
ESB chair says demand response could kill need for new power plants http://reneweconomy.com.au/esb-chair-says-demand-response-could-kill-need-for-new-power-plants-43585/, By Sophie Vorrath on 14 September 2017
The chair of Australia’s newly formed Energy Security Board, Dr Kerry Schott, has stressed the importance of demand response in meeting the nation’s energy security and affordability needs, telling ABC Radio that if we could harness the technology effectively, we could “all stop worrying about building new plants of any description.”
Schott, who in her role as chair of the ESB is tasked with coordinating the implementation of the Finkel Review recommendations and co-ordinate the three major energy institutions – operator, regulator and rule-maker, and so is set to play a pivotal role.
Some, like the former chief of the Clean Energy Finance Corp, Oliver Yates, want the Coalition government to let her and the others “get on with their job.”
Schott says she is shocked by how little had been done to harness the huge resource that is behind-the-meter solar and battery storage in Australian homes and businesses. Schott (far left) at the AEMC forum on Tuesday, with AEMC’s Clare Savage, AEMO’s Audrey Zibelman, and AER’s Paula Conboy
“It absolutely stuns me. It’s low-hanging fruit waiting to be plucked, particularly now we have technology that will really help.”
Schott said the ESB – which includes representatives from the Australian Energy Regulator, the Australian Energy Market Operator, the AEMC and two independents – has an immediate focus on the summer ahead, and the potential supply issues faced by South Australia and Victoria, as outlined in AEMO report last week.
Another focus, she said, was on 2022, and any issues NSW might face when the Liddell coal-fired power plant was retired by its owner, AGL Energy.
But as the former head of Sydney Water, Schott compares the current squeeze facing Australia’s electricity sector to the water shortages experienced around the country in the late 1990s and early to mid 2000s, and says there’s plenty we could be doing, right now, and for little cost, to address a large part of our energy security concerns.
“I have a background in the water industry and I was shocked to find how little has been done on demand participation in electricity,” Schott told ABC Radio’s The World Today program on Thursday.
“In water, those people will remember having dual flush toilets put into their homes, and aerated water taps, and recycled water plants have been put in everywhere. That saved water demand between 10 and 15 per cent. It’s quite possible to save that much electricity,” she said.
“Overseas those demand responses have saved around 20 per cent, and if we can save that much, we can all stop worrying about building new plants of any description.”
As well as being an effective grid management strategy, and relatively easy to implement, Schott says it’s also cheap.
“If the cost of demand management is less than the cost of providing power, then why aren’t we doing it?” she said at the Tuesday forum.
Certainly, it is one of the mechanisms that AEMO chief Audrey Zibelman is keen to implement – as a grid-wide no-brainer solution for better management of resources, and as a way to mitigate the removal of coal-fired power capacity, like the Liddell closure. “We need flexible capacity that can be switched on and off,” Zibelman told the same AEMC forum on Tuesday.
“Our advice was fairly pragmatic,” Zibelman said. “We are concerned that on a 45°C day if we lose a generator (which AEMO has said is quite likely) we want reserves in the system to be able to respond.
“In our report we identified the fact that with amount of variability (from solar and wind energy and electricity usage) is changing rapidly, we need resources that can change rapidly.”
Zibelman also noted that the subject of demand management had been communicated badly and misunderstood by the public – particularly the idea that the market operator would turn off the lights or the air-conditioning.
Zibelman said it was clear that the Australian market was heading towards 30-40 per cent “distributed generation”, which meant mostly solar and storage behind the meter. These technologies can and needed to be harnessed to ensure that they contribute to grid security, she said.
16 September REneweconomy news
RenewEconomy-
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How can we overcome Australia’s renewable energy policy deadlock?Despite federal government inertia, there is the potential for industry and community to influence the direction of energy policy. Here’s how it might be done.
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UK power firm plans world’s largest battery storage projectBritish generator Drax to build 200MW battery storage project – at one of Europe’s largest coal-fired power plants.
Wirsol set to begin construction of 110MW solar farm in VictoriaWirsol Energy adds ready-to-build 110MW Wemen solar farm near Mildura to its planned 1GW by 2020 pipeline. -
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EnergyAustralia sees better, much cheaper options than LiddellEnergyAustralia’s Mark Collette tells ABC TV replacing Liddell by 2022 not a problem, but a race to the future and a huge industry opportunity.
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GE Renewable Energy unveils its largest onshore wind turbineGE Renewable Energy has unveiled its brand-new 4.8–158 onshore wind turbine, GE’s largest high efficiency turbine to date.
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Windlab lands PPA for wind, solar and storage projectWindlab lands 10-year PPA with CS Energy for ground-breaking wind-solar-battery storage project in north Queensland.
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SolarEdge improves scalability of its Australian commercial PV solutionOne power optimiser for two module solution now locally approved.
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How to replace Liddell with a dispatchable renewable energy plantWev’e done the modelling on how to replace Liddell with a dispatchable renewable energy plant – including wind, solar, storage and gas. We just need politicians to get out of the way and get on the bus.
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This is just the start of the solar age – seven graphs show whyStriking new report by one of world’s biggest independent energy consultants shows dramatic decline in coal and oil industry and a peak in global energy demand. Solar dominates, and has only just begun its path to becoming biggest source of energy.
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Environment group refutes media claims about threat to Mt Piper power station from Springvale coal mine clean upEnvironmental group 4nature has dismissed as fear-mongering an article in The Australian on Tuesday that claimed its court action threatens the closure of the Mt Piper power station.
Massive jump in solar energy roll-out means scarcity fears unfounded: council
Official estimates of the risk of an electricity shortfall this summer are exaggerated because much more solar energy – as much as six times current large-scale capacity – is ready to be built, the Australian Solar Council says…….
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/massive-jump-in-solar-energy-rollout-means-scarcity-fears-unfounded-council-20170914-gyhd8k.html
1 This month
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
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