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Western Australian Aboriginal community uses solar hydropanel to solve problem of uranium in water

Buttah Windee in remote WA now has clean water thanks to solar hydropanel technology https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-31/solar-hydropanels-fix-water-supply-in-remote-community/10941788?fbclid=IwAR2j446RfOuRIZNBC0K1xY6CWBq3Jnn48zx0b-WiuI8o96Jklb-bL1pfZHQ

ABC Mid West and Wheatbelt

By Dominique Bayens 31 Mar 19 A fight for safe drinking water at Buttah Windee in Western Australia has been a fight for the survival of the community, and a battle they are proud to have won on their own.

Key points:

Six solar hydropanels have been installed in the small WA community, capturing 900 litres of water a month from the air
The community had discovered its water supply contained uranium more than twice the national health standard, and the State Government deemed it too expensive to address
With the help of crowdfunding and technology donated by a WA company, the residents of the community no longer need to live elsewhere

The remote Aboriginal community is 760 kilometres north-east of Perth on the outskirts of Meekatharra.

Almost a decade ago, resident Andrew Binsiar discovered the community’s water was tainted with naturally occurring uranium at more than twice the national health standard.

“I was actually very surprised,” he said.

“You’d imagine people would test the water for human consumption before people are allowed to drink it.”

Unable to drink the community’s tap water, most of the 50 people who lived at Buttah Windee left.

Too expensive to fix: State Government

But for Andrew Binsiar and his wife Janine, leaving the home where they had raised their five children was not an option.

He turned to the State Government for help, but was told fixing the water supply would be too expensive.

“They come out and put up ‘do not drink the water’ signs and that was their solution to it,” Mr Binsiar said.

The State Government offered to move the remaining residents into state housing in Meekatharra, but Mr Binsiar was apprehensive about exposing his family to the town’s social issues.

“We knocked them back … for the simple reason I’d already been there and done that. My life changed when I moved here,” he said.

“I wasn’t a very good father when I lived in Meeka.”

Solar hydropanels pull water from air

Almost a decade on, Buttah Windee is the first remote Aboriginal community in Australia to use innovative technology for its water supply.

Six solar hydropanels have been installed at the outback community, donated by a WA company who heard about the community’s plight and wanted to help out.

Director of Wilco Electrical Frank Mitchell said the units captured water from the air and produced up to 900 litres of water a month.

“Those fans, you can hear them whirring away, are just drawing in air all day, all around, and the piece of material inside collects … the moisture in the air, then condenses down into the tank where it’s got a pump straight out to the tap,” he said.

Mr Binsiar said it was a simple idea, which should be introduced to all remote communities.

“Water is a basic human right that everyone deserves,” he said.

“It could mean better health for your children … I would guarantee that most communities have bad water.”

Crowdfunding rallies support

The near decade-long battle for clean drinking water has not come easily for the Buttah Windee residents, with Mr Binsiar turning to crowdfunding as a last resort.

Word spread quickly when Mr Binsiar began the fundraising campaign last year, and people from across Australia donated nearly $26,000 in three months.

“It was a huge success. The Australian public have been awesome,” he said.

Mr Binsiar used the funds to install a reverse osmosis water treatment plant.

“Reverse osmosis takes out all the contaminants in the water … on the back end of it, it puts the minerals your body needs back into the water,” he said.

“They’ve given us a chance where no-one else would and we are really proud of what we have done here.”

Barramundi fish farm to boost employment

The two separate systems now supply the community with safe drinking water and enough water to run a small barramundi fish farm.

Mr Binsiar and several residents built the fish farm hoping it would eventually provide local employment and a potential source of income. “Hopefully we can continue on and make it bigger and provide this region with fresh barramundi,” he said.

“I’d like to welcome everyone out to Buttah Windee and come and look at the work we do.”

New South Wales Labor’s pledge for ‘solar schools’

Labor promises $100 million for ‘solar schools’ https://www.smh.com.au/nsw-election-2019/labor-promises-100-million-for-solar-schools-20190315-p514i9.html, By Lisa Visentin, March 17, 2019 Labor leader Michael Daley has pledged to spend $100 million installing solar panels on hundreds of public schools across NSW.

Mr Daley linked his “solar schools package” to the recent student strike over climate change inaction, and said the policy would help teach students about renewable energy.

“As we saw at rallies across the country on Friday, the next generation is demanding real action on climate change,” Mr Daley said.

“Putting solar panels on schools will help students further their knowledge about renewable energy, as well as bring down their school’s power bills and reduce emissions.”

Under Labor’s plan, solar panels would be installed at 350 government schools. The $100 million package would be funded as part of the Labor’s $800 million “cool schools” policy to install airconditioning in every single classroom in the state.

Mr Daley’s announcement comes after he publicly backed the striking school students during a speech earlier in the week, describing their actions as a “demonstration of young leadership”.

His endorsement drew fire from Premier Gladys Berejiklian who said she was “appalled” the alternate premier was encouraging students to skip school.

It comes as a recent ReachTEL poll revealed climate change was a pressing concern for most NSW voters, with 57.5 per cent of voters saying it would influence the way they voted.

As part of the state election campaign, Ms Berejiklian has announced interest-free loans to 300,000 households for solar and battery systems while Labor has pledged to put solar on 500,000 homes over the next decade through rebates.

Labor has championed its policies on climate change as a key point of difference with the Coalition, with Mr Daley promising to appoint NSW’s first minister for climate change if elected premier.

Ms Berejiklian earlier this week restated her government’s support for action on climate change and said NSW had the largest renewable projects in Australia.

“We’ve had a consistent position since we’ve been in government, that climate change is real and that as a government we need to do everything we can to deal with it and we have been,” she said.

March 18, 2019 Posted by Christina MacPherson | New South Wales, politics, solar | Leave a comment

New South Wales Labor announces plan for 500,000 households to get rooftop solar

Labor announces plan for 500,000 households to get rooftop solar, https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/labor-announces-plan-for-500-000-households-to-get-rooftop-solar-20190209-p50wrl.html, By Laura Chung,February 9, 2019 NSW Labor has announced it will support a program to help 500,000 households to install rooftop solar, reducing electricity bills in the next 10 years.

Under Labor’s Solar Homes policy, owner-occupied households in NSW with a combined income of $180,000 or less would be eligible for a rebate, to be capped at $2200 per household.

Shadow Minister for Energy and Climate Change, Adam Searle, said the policy could add solar to an additional million homes over the next decade, and could save the average household anywhere between $600 and $1000 a year on electricity bills.

“This is a bold program to push NSW to the front of the energy revolution,” he said. “This will significantly cut electricity bills and carbon emissions.”

“We will have much more to say about energy and tackling climate change.”

The program would be phased in during the 2019-2020 financial year. The policy announcement comes ahead of the launch of Labor’s campaign bus, which will travel around the state from Sunday.

The Smart Energy Council said Labor’s policy addressed two of NSW residents’ main concerns: the cost of living and climate change.

It shows “a strong commitment towards climate change” and is a “sign of confidence in renewable energy, a critical part of NSW’s future,” a spokesman said.

The council said it would like to see a stronger commitment from both the NSW Government and the Opposition to supporting families’ purchases of household solar batteries, which would provide people “with a greater sense of control of power and how they use power.”

In a statement, deputy leader of NSW Liberals Dominic Perrottet said Labor “cannot be trusted” to deliver more affordable, reliable and clean energy, “with a history of energy cost blowouts and blunders”.

The NSW Coalition government “is getting on with the job of taking pressure off electricity prices, while maintaining energy security,” Mr Perrottet said.

February 10, 2019 Posted by Christina MacPherson | New South Wales, politics, solar | Leave a comment

The problem of hazardous waste from discarded old solar panels

I have long been worried that environmentalists are seen to be enthusiastic about renewable energy, seeing it as the panacea for the world’s climate woes. Solar power is a great technology for replacing polluting fossil fuel power, but it’s only a part of what needs to be done – in the urgently needed transition from our wasteful CONSUMER SOCIETY to a CONSERVER SOCIETY. It must not become a contributor to the waste disaster.

Waste crisis looms as thousands of solar panels reach end of life, https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/waste-crisis-looms-as-thousands-of-solar-panels-reach-end-of-life-20190112-p50qzd.html By Nicole Hasham, 13 Jan 19,Thousands of ageing rooftop solar panels represent a toxic time-bomb and major economic waste unless Australia acts swiftly to keep them out of landfill, conservationists and recyclers say.

Australia’s enthusiastic embrace of rooftop solar has brought clear environmental and economic benefits, but critics say governments have dragged their feet in addressing the looming waste crisis.

As of December more than 2 million Australian households had rooftop solar installed. The uptake continues to grow due to the technology’s falling cost and rising electricity bills.

Photovoltaic panels last about 30 years, and those installed at the turn of the millennium are nearing the end of their lives. Many have already been retired due to faults or damage during transport and installation.

The nation’s environment ministers in April last year agreed to fast-track the development of new product stewardship schemes for photovoltaic solar panels and associated batteries. Such schemes make producers and retailers take responsibility for an item across its life cycle.

However, Total Environment Centre director Jeff Angel, a former federal government adviser on product stewardship, said action was long overdue and the delay reveals a “fundamental weakness” in Australia’s waste policies.

“We’ve had a solar panel industry for years which is an important environmental initiative, and it should have been incumbent on government to act in concert with the growth of the industry so we have an environmentally responsible end-of-life strategy,” he said.

Mr Angel said photovoltaic panels contain hazardous substances and “when we are sending hundreds of thousands of e-waste items to landfill we are also creating a pollution problem”.

“It’s a systemic problem that [applies to] a whole range of products”, he said, saying schemes were badly needed for paint, batteries, floor coverings, commercial furniture and many types of electronic waste.

Photovoltaic panels are predominantly made from glass, polymer and aluminium, but may also contain potentially hazardous materials such as lead, copper and zinc.

Australian Council of Recycling chief executive Peter Schmigel attributed delays in product stewardship schemes to both “bureaucratic malaise” and unfounded concern about cost.

The national television and computer recycling scheme, which since 2011 has required manufacturers and importers to participate in industry-funded collection and recycling, showed that regulatory measures can work, he said.

“Recovery rates have been out of sight since the beginning of the scheme, nobody has said anything at all about there being an inbuilt recycling cost. It generates jobs, it generates environmental outcomes and yet for some reason we have policymakers who are hesitant about [establishing similar schemes] for solar PVs and batteries,” he said.

Victoria will ban electronic waste in landfill from July 2019, including all parts of a photovoltaic system, mirroring schemes imposed in Europe.

Sustainability Victoria is also leading a project examining end-of-life management options for photovoltaic systems, which may progress to a national program. The issue is particularly pertinent in Victoria where a new $1.3 billion program is expected to install solar power on 700,000 homes.

Sustainability Victoria resource recovery director Matt Genever said there was strong support from industry, government and consumers for a national approach to photovoltaic product stewardship. Final options are due to be presented to environment ministers in mid-2019.

He rejected suggestions that plans were progressing too slowly.

“The analysis we’ve done in Victoria … shows that it’s in 2025 that we see a real ramp up in the waste being generated out of photovoltaic panels. I certainly don’t think we’ve missed the boat,” he said.

A report by the International Energy Agency and the International Renewable Energy Agency in 2016 found that recoverable materials from photovoltaic panel waste had a potential value of nearly $US15 billion by 2050.

Reclaim PV director Clive Fleming, whose business is believed to be the only dedicated photovoltaic recycler in Australia, said it recycles 90 per cent of materials in a panel. The company has been lobbying for state bans on solar panels entering landfill.

The NSW Environment Protection Authority said it has commissioned research to better understand how e-waste, including solar panels, was managed. The panels can be dumped in NSW landfill, however given their life span they were “not a common item in the waste stream”, it said.

The Queensland government is developing an end-of-life scheme for batteries used in solar systems and other appliances.

A federal review of the Product Stewardship Act was expected to be completed last year, but the Department of the Environment and Energy is yet to present a report to the government.

Mr Genever hoped the review would result in a broader range of products being subject to stewardship programs and take steps to ensure voluntary schemes were effective.

Both the Smart Energy Council and the Clean Energy Council, which represent solar industry operators, said a well-designed product stewardship scheme was important and should be developed through cooperation between industry, governments and recyclers.

January 14, 2019 Posted by Christina MacPherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, solar | Leave a comment

New South Wales government is preparing for a surge in renewable energy

We want to do everything we can’: NSW readies for renewables surge, Brisbane Times, By Peter Hannam, 5 November 2018 New solar and wind farms being planned for NSW have twice the capacity of the state’s coal-fired power stations, prompting the state government to set aside $55 million to help smooth their introduction.As of October 29, NSW had 20,000 megawatts of generation capacity either approved or seeking planning approval, worth more than $27 billion in investment, according to government data.

Proposed solar plants accounted for 11,200MW, dwarfing wind farms with 5100MW, and the Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro of about 2000MW. Just 100MW involved coal, with the planned upgrade of AGL’s Bayswater power station.

Along with the new plants, some eight large-scale battery projects – all with solar farms – with more than 400MW-hours of capacity are also in the planning pipeline as the industry gears up for the bulge in variable energy sources.

The market, though, is going to need some near-term help to smooth the exit of most of the state’s existing power plants – particularly the 10,160MW of coal-fired power stations, said Amy Kean, director of the Energy Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies unit at the Department of Planning

To that end, the government last week revealed the first details of its $55 million Emerging Energy Program aimed at supporting a portfolio of nascent technologies that will be needed as 70 per cent of the state’s generation fleet retires by 2035.

“We’re trying to drive these technologies down the cost curve so they can then complement variable wind and solar technologies,” Ms Kean said.

The surge in renewable energy comes as the federal government has largely vacated the energy policy space after the demise of the Turnbull government’s National Energy Guarantee. The states are largely being left to press on with carbon reduction and other power sector goals.

“There is no doubt that our energy future lies in alternative technologies,” Don Harwin, the NSW Energy Minister, said.

“We want to do everything we can to unlock the expertise of the private sector to accelerate projects that deliver clean, reliable and affordable energy.”

Renewable energy could emerge as a key policy issue at next March’s state election. Adam Searle, Labor’s energy spokesman said his party planned to “have quite a lot more to say about it”, and that the ALP “will do more on new energy than Coalition parties”.

Solar catches up with windThe rapid advance and competitive nature of solar photovoltaic panels, meanwhile, has caught many by surprise. …….https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/environment/climate-change/we-want-to-do-everything-we-can-nsw-readies-for-renewables-surge-20181104-p50dw9.html

November 6, 2018 Posted by Christina MacPherson | New South Wales, solar | 1 Comment

ZEN Energy and the stunning solar future for South Australia

Natural Advantage, 14 years ago, Richard Turner rigged up a solar-powered battery to bring some modern convenience to his kids’ cubby house. In 2018, after an incredible journey, the business is ready to revolutionise the economy and transform our state’s prosperity.

City Mag, Joshua Fanning, 26 Oct 18 …….It’s 2018 and renewable energy has turned the corner.

Established in 2004 in South Australia, ZEN Energy was created by Richard to get solar powered battery storage into Australian homes.

In 2010 ZEN was the state’s fastest growing company. In 2012, BRW magazine wrote up ZEN as the fourth fastest growing company in the country.

This year, British billionaire industrialist Sanjeev Gupta bought 50.1 per cent of ZEN, creating the new entity SIMEC ZEN Energy as part of his plan to own the power supply to the Whyalla Steelworks – purchased in 2017.

Gupta’s plan for ZEN is simple: power the steelworks and the associated businesses nationally with the cheapest electricity available. And in 2018 the cheapest electricity available is renewable.

But cheap doesn’t come easy. ZEN Energy is only around for Sanjeev Gupta to invest in because a lot of hard work across many generations has come before it………..

Richard isn’t mad the State Government awarded Tesla the contract for the Hornsdale battery; in many ways the Tesla brand cleared the political path for action. Richard is more frustrated by the language and mindset of the state that seems – at so many levels – to believe it’s helpless.

Tech-billionaire batteries and steel factory saviours make good headlines – but ZEN Energy tells the far more credible story of this state’s ongoing industry, creativity and resilience.

It just so happens that ZEN Energy’s story starts in a cubby house in a suburban backyard.

Richard’s children Laura and James wanted to put a little light and TV in the cubby house to make it feel more homely and play later into the evening, and so Richard scooped the kids up into the car and headed for the local hobby shop to see what they could buy. The family bought a little solar panel, a regulator, a converter and a battery. Richard recalls the guy at the shop pulling out a whiteboard marker and writing Ohm’s Law on the shop’s whiteboard.

Watts = Volts x Amps.

Rigging up the system and flicking the switch, a light went on in Richard’s mind at the same time as he lit up his kid’s cubby house. There was a business here……….

“South Australia could be the Middle East of the new world,” says Richard.

The statement catches us off guard both in its simplicity and its severity.

“We’ve got the very best renewable energy generation resource in the world,” says Richard.

“We’ve got the best sun here. We’ve got the best wind here. We’ve got these unique wind patterns that come across the roaring forties, across the Australian Bight that split up and down the Eyre Peninsula. We have nearly two gigawatts of wind power here, and there’s bugger all in the rest of Australia.”

But it’s not the raw product Richard is referring to explicitly when he says South Australia could be the Saudi Arabia of renewable energy. Richard is talking about the whole value chain of the renewable economy epitomised by Sanjeev’s GFG Alliance.

Liberty One Steel in Whyalla (as it has been renamed) and its associated heavy industry across the country will have massive demand for electricity. ZEN will be the clean, green and low-cost energy supply. Off the back of our natural and renewable resources, Richard forecasts radical change in the fortunes of this state.

“When we produce the very lowest cost of power you’re going to have all this new industry evolve. All these traditional industries will revive and gravitate to the region and will employ five times as many people as you employed in a coal-fired power station,” says Richard.

Whyalla – a town built for 100,000 people – has never had more than a quarter of that live there. “We can see, in five years, there’ll be close to 100,000 in Whyalla,” says Richard.

And with low-cost energy we can start to refine – not just mine.

Richard skips from the lithium to graphite reserves of Australia (graphite makes up lithium ion batteries 30 per cent by weight). He speaks with vigour about our clean hydrogen future – hydrogen being a huge and growing fuel source for the energy intensive economies of Korea and Japan who don’t have the renewable energy resources of South Australia.

Sanjeev Gupta will build cars in Australia – electric vehicles – Richard confirms. They’ll be built in either Victoria or South Australia. Regardless of where the cars are built, Richard says, “all the car metals and composite materials will come out of our own factories, powered by the natural energy of the sun”.

Within three-to-five years, renewables will become the dominant energy source in Australia – with coal and gas very much playing a secondary role to fill gaps in energy supply until new hydro facilities come online. Vast arrays of batteries will support critical areas prone to power fluctuations and the national energy regulator AEMO has committed to running immediate pilot programs in the worst affected areas.

Grid scale batteries will reduce severe outages by kicking into action microseconds after a power fluctuation occurs, effectively stabilising the grid. The stability these batteries will create is already causing the industry to predict electricity prices to fall by up to 30 per cent next year.

From bottom of the ladder in the old fossil-fuel energy system, South Australia is set to jump to the top in the new, renewable energy economy. And while the headlines published in our daily paper may continue to put us down, the story of this next stage in our state’s history is far more fantastic.

“South Australia is going to have the most abundant, stable electricity production centre in Australia and probably on earth,” says Richard – a fifth generation South Australian. “In years to come you won’t want to be protecting SA’s power – you’ll be exporting it both interstate and around the world.” https://citymag.indaily.com.au/habits/power/natural-advantage/?fbclid=IwAR0pgkI1MFhRalb81RPawsieK-NCgyYLxAYyqGNo0aGKsnC-SQcSMvvmBc4

October 27, 2018 Posted by Christina MacPherson | solar, South Australia | 1 Comment

Australia large scale solar output breaks through 1GW on Sunday

REneweconomy Giles Parkinson, 22 October 2018 The rapidly emerging large scale solar sector achieved a significant milestone on Sunday, October 21, when their combined output in the National Electricity Market broke through the 1GW barrier for what is believed to be the first time.According to this graph below [on original] sent to us by Mike Hudson, using data he sourced from the Australian Energy Market Operator, the 1GW level was first breached in mid morning, and continued until almost 3pm in the afternoon.

That consistency of output is a key point – many solar tractors think that the output of solar farms peaks at around 12pm or 1pm and falls off rapidly after that.Most solar farms, thanks to single axis tracking technology, reach peak output around 9am, and stay around that level for six hours.

Sometimes they do better than that. The AEMO data shows, for instance, that the Bungala solar farm in South Australia reached 105.2MW at 8.05am grid time, (which is the same as Queensland time), and stayed there until 3.20pm.

…….In all, according to Clean Energy Regulator data, some 4,000MW of solar is completed, under construction, or has reached financial close. That should add to some of the mid-day negative pricing that were again observed in Queensland last week.

It should be noted that this data includes the NEM only. There are two operating solar farms in W.A.’s separate grid, and many smaller utility scale solar farms located in off-grid locations in W.A., Northern Territory and Queensland………. https://reneweconomy.com.au/australia-large-scale-solar-output-breaks-through-1gw-on-sunday-39558/

October 21, 2018 Posted by Christina MacPherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, solar | 2 Comments

Victoria’s largest solar farm goes ahead after “solving” connection dilemma

Victoria’s largest solar farm goes ahead after “solving” connection dilemma, REneweconomy, Giles Parkinson, 16 October 2018 The 200MW Kiamal solar farm in Victoria – the largest in the state to date – will be officially launched on Wednesday and begin construction this month after developer Total Eren says it has resolved connection issues that had already delayed the $300 million project.The Kiamal solar farm is located near the town of Ouyen – not far from Mildura in the state’s north west. But as RenewEconomy revealed in May, it is located in what could be described as the “rhombus of death”, a part of the network that doesn’t have the “system strength” to accommodate all the wind and solar projects planned for the area.

The Australian Energy Market Operator issued a warning in May that any developments – without major system upgrades – would face significant curtailment issues. The options to get around this were investing in machinery known as synchronous condensers, or await a network upgrade, which could take years,

Kiamal, as the largest solar project proposed for the area, was expected to be particularly badly hit, and after going back to the drawing board its developers have decided to invest in a large synchronous condenser to advance the project.

Synchronous condensers are decades old technology. They are rotating machines that do not generate power as such, but can provide “system strength” when needed. South Australia’s ElectraNet is installing three such machines to boost its network.

The “syncon” to be installed by Total Eren will provide a fault contribution of greater than 600MVA, which is around three times the size of the peak output for the solar farm. According to Michael Vawser, Total Eren is doing this because of economies of scale, and because it will make the yet-to-be-finalised connection process smoother.

It will also facilitate the development of many other wind and solar projects in the area, including some that recently won contracts from the Victoria government under its auction for 650MW of wind and solar capacity.

“This is a good news story for north west Victoria because it will substantially strengthen the system for all users,” Vawser told RenewEconomy. Having syncons in the system will be a necessary part of the transition to a renewable energy future. We are just leading that charge, which is why we are so excited!”……….. Continue reading →

October 16, 2018 Posted by Christina MacPherson | solar, Victoria | Leave a comment

Hobart mayoral candidate Anna Reynolds offers a practical and economic solar plan

Climate right for solar plan: Reynolds, HOBART residents and businesses would be able to install solar energy systems with no upfront costs under an initiative proposed by mayoral candidate Anna Reynolds. HELEN KEMPTON, news.com.au Sunday Tasmanian OCTOBER 14, 2018

HOBART residents and businesses would be able to install solar energy systems with no upfront costs under an initiative proposed by mayoral candidate Anna Reynolds.

Ald Reynolds says the city should strive to double solar installations over the next five years.

Hobart is a poor performer compared with other Tasmanian local government areas with Sustainable Living Tasmania figures placing it 16th in terms of solar installations per capita.

“Council has taken action to install solar panels on its own buildings but there is so much more we can do,” Ald Reynolds said.

“I will advocate for a solar saver program to help Hobart residents, businesses and organisations install solar panels.

“Council will pay the upfront cost for the system and you, or your landlord, pay it off over 10 years, interest free.

“The savings made on energy bills will more than outweigh the payments to council, leaving you better off.”

The independent candidate’s push is backed by the chief strategist of climate advocacy group 350 Australia……..https://www.news.com.au/national/tasmania/climate-right-for-solar-plan-reynolds/news-story/1aa9c5761666dbbb411a35f424b0c8a0

October 15, 2018 Posted by Christina MacPherson | solar, Tasmania | Leave a comment

Solar energy microgrid for Euroa, Victoria

Euroa’s grassroots solar microgrid plan to avoid summer blackouts ABC Goulburn Murray

By Rhiannon Tuffield 6 Sept 18 A small town in north-east Victoria is driving a renewable energy strategy that will generate power off the grid, give the town greater reliability in its power supply, and reduce local demand for electricity in times of flux.

The Euroa Environment Group is behind the $6 million grassroots project to install 589 kilowatts of new solar photovolatic (PV) panels, and up to 400 kilowatts of new batteries.

It will work with Mondo Power and Globird Energy as well as 14 businesses within Euroa which will install the technology.

The project may eventually extend to the residential community of Euroa and to other towns as it will demonstrate how a microgrid can operate.

The town has endured countless blackouts and it is hoped the microgrid will address the issue in the lead-up to summer.

The closure of the Hazelwood coal-fired power station in Victoria last year drove up energy power prices in southern states and put pressure on the market operator to deliver enough power to meet demand on summer’s hottest days.

Shirley Saywell, who is a business owner in Euroa and president of the group, said power options had been limited.

“This microgrid within another microgrid will give us the opportunity to generate power locally, store power locally and share power locally. It’s the town making itself more resilient in these times of uncertainty.

“There’s been stories about how complicated renewables are, and I see my role as showing people that it shouldn’t be as complicated as it’s made out to be.”

The intention of the project is to give the town greater reliability in its power supply as well as decrease the price of energy.

Energy strategy one of many Continue reading →

September 7, 2018 Posted by Christina MacPherson | solar, Victoria | 1 Comment

Two major solar farms for Whyalla, South Australia

Steel city’s solar rush gets a head of steam Whyalla could soon be home to two major solar farms after Adani Renewables announced it had received pre-construction approval for a 400 hectare project just outside the city. – …..(subscribers only)

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/business/sa-business-journal/whyallas-adani-solar-farm-gets-preapproval-as-renewables-rush-hits-the-steel-city/news-story/09fff7a4b0e755070bdb59ef40411653

August 24, 2018 Posted by Christina MacPherson | solar, South Australia | Leave a comment

Community Buying of solar power – a very good deal for Australia’s Non Profit organisations

NFPs Encouraged to Make the Switch to Solar A new campaign has launched aiming to help the not-for-profit and community sector make the switch to renewable energy. Pro Bono, Luke Michael, Journalist, 15 May 18

Community Buying Group and Moreland Energy Foundation officially launched The Big Solar Switch campaign on Monday.

The campaign aims to facilitate Australia’s largest switch to solar power by actively reducing barriers of solar installation for the not-for-profit and community sector.

Developed exclusively for charities and community organisations, the initiative uses the strength of aggregated purchasing to reduce the cost and barriers of installing solar PV systems.

Packages contain a “best value” guarantee which includes negotiated rates for the sector, extended warranties, expert advice and links to funding.

Alison Rowe, the CEO of Moreland Energy Foundation, said unlike individual households and businesses, the charitable sector has not had the benefit of a dedicated program to assist them in the uptake of solar.

“Moreland Energy Foundation (MEFL) has a proud history of supporting communities to benefit from solar installations. We are excited by the opportunity to support the NFP and charitable sector to navigate the process of installing solar PV,” Rowe said.

“MEFL has a wealth of experience having facilitated the installation of over 10 MW (megawatts) of solar. Being an NFP ourselves we understand the resource challenges facing the sector and strive to make the process of investigating solar simple.”

Jill Riseley, the chair of Community Buying Group, told Pro Bono News electricity prices were causing a big headache for community organisations.

………Community Buying Group is hoping for around 10,000 organisations to make the switch to solar power during the campaign.The campaign’s roll-out will firstly focus on the housing sector, with the initial deadline for housing providers on 15 June.

This rollout for large NFPs will commence in late June.

Riseley encouraged the sector to buy-in to the campaign.

“The story we’re really trying to get out to the sector is that it’s a permanent reduction in one of their core operational expenses and it’s a real game changer for the bottom line of many NFPs,” she said. https://probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2018/05/nfps-encouraged-make-switch-solar/

May 17, 2018 Posted by Christina MacPherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, solar | Leave a comment

Australia’s scarce water could be helped by solar and wind power

Solar and wind could ease Australia’s water shortage https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/solar-and-wind-could-ease-australia-s-water-shortage-20180513-p4zf1t.html -By Cole Latimer, 14 May 2018

Australia is one the world’s top 20 water-stressed nations but a shift to more renewable energy could lessen the nation’s water pressure.

A report by the World Resources Industry identified Australia as one country vulnerable to water stress where the potential for cheap renewable energy, solar and wind as opposed to fossil fuels, could reduce water consumption country-wide as these technologies use minimal – or zero – water.

“By better managing their limited water resources and investing in the right energy systems these renewable forms of energy can help countries meet their increased demand for electricity without adding carbon emissions or consuming water,” the World Resources Institute’s manager for water, Tianyi Luo, said.

Every megawatt hour of electricity generated by coal withdraws around 60,700 litres and consumes about 2600 litres of water.

In the financial year to date, Australian’s have consumed 147 terrawatt hours of electricity, about 73 per cent of which comes from coal, which equates to around 455 billion litres of water.

Major hydro generation projects such as Snowy Hydro, which is set to play an even greater role in the nation’s energy mix, are solely reliant on Australia’s vulnerable water supplies.

“This could be particularly beneficial in countries where growing populations, farms and industries are already competing for scant water supplies”

A major issue with coal-fired generation is the amount of water it consumes.

Energy production accounts for around 10 per cent of the world’s water consumption, the International Energy Agency’s 2016 World Energy Outlook stated.

South Africa’s Cape Town is the world’s first major city to potentially run out of water, as climate change, major droughts and heavy water usage sapped water supplies. During Sydney’s last major drought, water levels in the Warragamba dam fell as low as 30 per cent.

The costs of water rises as its scarcity grows with Infrastructure Australia forecasting an annual water bill of $2500 by 2040.

The WRI report ranked Australia 17th for its potential solar power. It has a level of 232.5 in global horizontal irradiance wattage per metre squared, a measure of the strength and concentration of the solar power hitting a solar panel, which is 58 million petajoules of energy, or about 10,000 times the nation’s annual energy consumption.

The size of a solar farm needed to power all of Australia would cover about 6270 square kilometres or approximately 0.1 per cent of the country.

This potential put it only just behind Iran but ahead of Kuwait and Israel. Yemen was rated first.

However, Australia is falling well short of its utilising its solar potential, a global energy expert said.

“Australia is not living up to its potential for power generation. It should be aiming for 100 per cent renewable energy, but Australia is up against the older, entrenched fossil fuel industry,” chief executive of energy investor Energiya Global Capital, Yosef Abramowitz, told Fairfax Media.

Solar energy currently accounts for around 5 per cent of Australia’s total power generation.

Australia ranks fifth for high levels of wind power for water-stressed countries, with an average wind potential of 6.1. metres a second. It ranked ahead of the US, but just behind Bahrain.

A recent report by the University of Technology, Sydney’s Institute for Sustainable Futures said Australia’s potential onshore wind resources could power the nation 12 times over, but currently only account for six per cent of energy generation.

May 13, 2018 Posted by Christina MacPherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, environment, solar, wind | Leave a comment

Solar microgrid to launch in the heart of coal country

SMH, By Cole Latimer, 7 May 2018 Dairy farmers in the heart of Victorian coal country will soon be able to trade solar power using blockchain processes.

A virtual microgrid will be created in the the Latrobe Valley, exchanging energy generated from 200 Gippsland dairy farmers, 20 businesses and 150 households, powered by a decentralised, peer-to-peer blockchain energy trading platform called Exergy.

Ivor Frischknecht, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency’s chief executive, said the trial was the first step in transitioning the agricultural region – near the state’s coal-fired power stations – to renewable power. It would be the first major trial of a blockchain-based virtual microgrid in Australia.

“The ‘virtual microgrid’ concept brings an alternative approach to energy where the control remains with the customers, rather than retailers, who can choose to opt in depending on the current prices and energy types, or their willingness to provide demand response,” Mr Frischknecht said.

The project will be built by LO3 Energy, a New York-based company that created the world’s first local energy marketplace, in Brooklyn, which allowed participants to trade energy using blockchain technology.

…….. The Victorian virtual microgrid will comprise solar installations, battery storage, and demand response and enabling technologies combined with LO3’s Exergy peer-to-peer trading mechanism, which uses blockchain processes to allow those within the market to buy and sell locally generated renewable energy.

With the energy-hungry farming industry still recovering from the 2016 milk crisis, it promises a cost-effective and resilient solution for farmers to create and manage their own energy and profit from trading their excess generation,” LO3 Energy founder Lawrence Orsini said.

“Engaging with farms is a key part of the project as they have the capacity to install large solar generation and storage. Exergy makes it possible for them to become mini-power plants and gain revenue for energy they don’t use.”

The farms will be given loans to build solar installations by the Sustainable Melbourne Fund, which will be repaid through council fees.

ARENA will also provide $370,000 in funding for the $775,000 project.

“The local Latrobe Valley marketplace would allow Gippsland farmers to take greater control of their energy use, providing the opportunity to sell their power back to the grid,” the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) said, “consumers will also be paid for choosing to conserve energy at peak times.”

The study will run to the end of the year, with plans to roll out a pilot microgrid in Gippsland in 2019. https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/solar-microgrid-to-launch-in-the-heart-of-coal-country-20180426-p4zbtf.html

May 9, 2018 Posted by Christina MacPherson | solar, Victoria | Leave a comment

Floating solar array included in South Australia Water’s big move into solar power

SA Water set to add another 5MW solar, including floating PV array http://reneweconomy.com.au/sa-water-set-add-another-5mw-solar-including-floating-pv-array-85781/ By Sophie Vorrath on 22 March 2018 One Step Off The Grid

South Australia’s largest water and sewerage services supplier, SA Water, is set to install another 5MW of solar PV, including a floating solar plant, after local outfit Enerven was awarded the tender for the job.

Enerven said on Wednesday that it had won a Stage 1 contract to design and construct ground-based solar installations at facilities in Hope Valley, Christies Beach and Glenelg, and to develop a floating solar PV array.

SA Water, which has targeted zero net energy by 2020, began its shift to solar last year, with a tender to install 100kW solar and 50kWh battery storage at its Crystal Brook Workshop site.

The utility, which manages more than 27,000km of water mains, including 9,266 km in the Adelaide metropolitan area, said it was installing the solar and storage system to manage periods of high electricity prices, and to ensure safe and sustainable delivery of water to customers.

Ultimately, the company aims to get its on-site renewable energy generation to the point where it is equal to the total annual amount of energy used by SA Water’s buildings and desalination operations.

And it is not alone in its quest. As we have reported on One Step Off The Grid, a number of Australian water utilities are turning to solar and/or wind energy to lower costs and help guarantee supply.

In Queensland, Logan City Council has installed an off-grid solar and battery storage system as part of a micro-grid powered “electro-chlorinator” that will help maintain local drinking water quality 24 hours a day.

The solution – delivered by the Logan Water Infrastructure Alliance and solar installer CSR Bradford – combined a 95kWh Tesla Powerpack with 323 PV panels at the site of the relatively new 20 Megalitre Round Mountain Reservoir, which provides drinking water for residents in Flagstone, Yarrabilba, North Maclean, Spring Mountain and Woodhill.

In the regional Victorian city of Portland, Wannon Water has installed a 100kW solar system on a water tank at its treatment plant at Hamilton that was expected to cut the plant’s grid electricity consumption by 25 per cent.

In NSW, a community-funded 100kW floating solar array has been installed at the East Lismore Sewage Treatment Plant in NSW.

And Queensland’s City of Gold Coast is proposing to install a series of floating solar PV arrays on its network of wastewater ponds – both to help power the city’s wastewater treatment plants and to cut evaporation from the ponds.

Enerven says design of the SA Water solar project has commenced, and is due for completion in September 2018.

This article was originally published on RenewEconomy’s sister site, One Step Off The Grid, which focuses on customer experience with distributed generation. To sign up to One Step’s free weekly newsletter, please click here.

March 22, 2018 Posted by Christina MacPherson | solar, South Australia | Leave a comment

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1.This month

For international nuclear news go to https://nuclear-news.net/

Projects For Good’ – This Ingenious Website Makes it Easier to Change the World! https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/projects-for-good-makes-it-easier-to-change-the-world/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_medium=weekly_mailout&utm_source=29-03-2019

By Good News Network -Mar 26, 2019 Unlike Kickstarter which funds creative startups, or GoFundMe which addresses personal needs, Projects for Good was designed for people who want to support the greater good, not just with money, but with their talent and energy—and don’t know where to start.Patrick Furlotti is giving them that opportunity. Growing up in Santa Monica, California, Patrick learned at an early age that society could create a better world if people just worked together.

As a teen he volunteered with Heal the Bay, which was trying to clean up water pollution in 1980s Los Angeles. He folded, sealed, and mailed thousands of letters. The group scored a huge victory when a billion-dollar sewage treatment facility was erected right next to LAX airport.

I realized how valuable a campaign could be to the world, and that politicians weren’t all bad—they just didn’t know what to do. We provided momentum and direction.”

Beyond studying business at college, Furlotti began captaining ships for researchers who were studying human impact on coral and water quality around the Hawaiian islands.

At age 20, he was one of the youngest ever to captain a sailboat from California to Tahiti, gaining a deep respect for the natural forces that connect us to the planet. Now 37, he enjoys big wave surfing whenever he’s not launching or investing in social impact technology and environmental protection.

He also has attended many green tech conferences: “I saw all these people with great ideas—so many half-baked projects, but the world needs all these ideas.”

“I had seen firsthand how hard it is to get projects started, funded, and completed, and wanted to create a whole new model to help people with their ‘Projects for Good’.”

It took a year to design the web platform, and today they are adding new features all the time to make it “a complete project success ecosystem”.

‘Currently with Kickstarter and Gofundme, you can just give money. That’s cool, but what about if you’re really inspired and want to join the project? A lot of people don’t have any money, but they think, ‘I would really love to work for this cause.’”

“Our commitment is not to make money, but to build a community of like-minded individuals who are passionate about changing the world—not by featuring someone who is trying to build a robot that makes coffee and smoothies (not that there’s anything wrong with that!), but by focusing on projects that help the greater good,” Patrick told GNN.

“It’s about humans working together, and educating each other on what’s possible, that’s why I love partnering with Good News Network.”

PFG is trying to give project owners the tools they need—to make it cheaper to become a nonprofit, easier to find grants, and even make it free to crowdfund, so fees aren’t diverted from the money that is being donated. Patrick also believes there should be more transparency about where the money is going on these fundraising platforms.

The Community Center is where jobs can be posted, milestones recorded, and new members welcomed. These are some early success stories on the PFG platform:

Peter Gottesman is passionate about animal rights and has championed projects from saving cheetahs in Africa to rescuing bears in Laos through his non-profit Endangered Species Revenge. For him, Projects for Good offers exposure to caring people who want to support him. To date, he has raised over $6500 on PFG to help fund his animal causes.
Andrew Malais saw how badly Joshua Tree National Park needed a trash cleanup. He used PFG partially as a fundraising tool but mainly to list jobs and hire the perfect candidate or find volunteers. His project was a success, raising over 80% of its fundraising goal to purchase the supplies he needed and hire workers to cover the vast acreage.
Peter Fiekowsky raised money on Projects for Good to help develop patented technology that will capture excess CO2 in the atmosphere—and convert it into building materials. They are literally turning ‘air into concrete’. The founder of Foundation for Climate Restoration and partner in Blue Planet Ltd. praised Projects for Good for “helping the foundation raise the crucial seed funding needed to design our first Blue Planet prototype direct air capture machine.”

THE HUMAN EFFECTS OF THE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY – theme for June 2019.

Before we enter “a new nuclear age” – learn from the newly declassified Chernobyl health records April 7, 2019

Fortunately, Chernobyl health records are now available to the public. They show that people living in the radioactive traces fell ill from cancers, respiratory illness, anaemia, auto-immune disorders, birth defects, and fertility problems two to three times more frequently in the years after the accident than before. In a highly contaminated Belarusian town of Veprin, just six of 70 children in 1990 were characterised as “healthy”. The rest had one chronic disease or another. On average, the Veprin children had in their bodies 8,498 bq/kg of radioactive caesium (20 bq/kg is considered safe).

For decades, researchers have puzzled over strange clusters of thyroid cancer, leukaemia and birth defects among people living in Cumbria, which, like southern Belarus, is an overlooked hotspot of radioactivity from cold war decades of nuclear bomb production and nuclear power accidents.

Currently, policymakers are advocating a massive expansion of nuclear power as a way to combat climate change. Before we enter a new nuclear age, the declassified Chernobyl health records raise questions that have been left unanswered about the impact of chronic low doses of radioactivity on human health.

Chernobyl’s disastrous cover-up is a warning for the next nuclear age

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/04/chernobyl-nuclear-power-climate-change-health-radioactivity, Kate Brown , 5 Apr 19, Before expanding nuclear power to combat climate change, we need answers to the global health effects of radioactivity

https://www.3cr.org.au/radioactive

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Antinuclear

Australian news, and some related international items