Future of the Australian Electricity Market

I have mentioned that the Coalition appear to be ramping up a campaign to promote nuclear power There have been another couple of statements by the Canavan/Sky News combination in what seems to be a co-ordinated effort. It does not investigate how they would achieve this: This is the response from The Guardian:

Let’s talk nuclear, the Coalition says – just don’t mention cost or how long it would take (msn.com)

They focus primarily on the flawed economics of nuclear power versus renewables. They focus on O'Brien's comments in The Australian of the Bill Gates sponsored Wyoming demonstration small nuke. It is eye-wateringly expensive at $6bn for a plant of 350MW. Just to put that into perspective, Millmerran power station, was commissioned in 2003, at 850MW cost A$1.4bn. Now admittedly that was twenty years ago and was built as a budget plant. Also, the Wyoming venture is a pilot. Future plants could be cheaper. It is worth noting that the Millmerran project included building a bypass around the town and an 80Km pipeline from Toowoomba to carry the treated effluent for use in the cooling water system (that in itself is far less than most conventional stations as the turbine condensers are air-cooled as opposed to water cooled).

Regards
Paul

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Originally Posted by Bushmiller

I have mentioned that the Coalition appear to be ramping up a campaign to promote nuclear power ...

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Translation: They are on the trail of political donations.

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Originally Posted by GraemeCook

Translation: They are on the trail of political donations.

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I'd have thought it would be a fairly divisive policy? Whilst I guess there might be some "corporate" level donations from those who might benefit from the construction, at a voter level I'd imagine there are far more (and extreme!) nays than there are ayes. Or is the terror of climate change now greater than the terror of "Chernobyling" the countryside?

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Originally Posted by Warb

I'd have thought it would be a fairly divisive policy?

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I doubt I'd expect much else from Voldemort. He seems to have taken up Abbott's mantra of "The answer is NO! But what was the question again?"

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Originally Posted by Warb

I'd have thought it would be a fairly divisive policy? Whilst I guess there might be some "corporate" level donations from those who might benefit from the construction, at a voter level I'd imagine there are far more (and extreme!) nays than there are ayes. Or is the terror of climate change now greater than the terror of "Chernobyling" the countryside?

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But did someone say "Money talks"?

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Originally Posted by GraemeCook

But did someone say "Money talks"?

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Indeed, but at the cost of votes? And a LOT of votes?

Maybe, like most current politicians, they believe the majority of voters have the memory capacity of goldfish and will forget. Or maybe, like most current politicians, they believe that the promise of a pay increase, tax cut, or some other short term perceived gain, will wash away all the stains of the past. And history suggests they'd probably be right on both counts!



Oh, wow, look at that. It's so shiny. Hang on, what was I saying? Nevermind. Did somebody say KFC?

Got a bill from my electricity provider today. It’s been a while since they sent a bill. I’ve had messages saying there were problems generating the bill. Others with the same provider have had the same problem. This bill goes back to September last year. Although I’ve had bills in between, they are now saying they’ve received new meter data, and need to reissue the bills.

The data on the bill takes a bit of decoding. I’ve changed plans during that time, and my kWH rates have changed too. I switched to a plan with higher solar infeed tariff. All of these changes mean multiple lines on the bill. It’s a couple of pages long.

I had to set up a spreadsheet to work out what was what. I wonder how people without the capacity to create a spreadsheet actually decode their bills? I think we’ve strayed into a level of complexity that really ought to be questioned.

For me, it turns out that the higher solar infeed tariff will just about offset the higher kWh costs. The increases in daily access charges won’t be covered, so my overall bills will be higher. Imagine my surprise…

cheers,

ajw

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Originally Posted by ajw

I’ve had messages saying there were problems generating the bill. Others with the same provider have had the same problem. This bill goes back to September last year. Although I’ve had bills in between, they are now saying they’ve received new meter data, and need to reissue the bills.

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"Smart" meters, contract staff and artificially "intelligent" computer systems. The future's so bright..........

Is it possible to have my hot water heater switched from Controlled Load to General Supply? I'm generating enough from my solar panels to run the hot water heater for free. It would be good to use more of it for my own purposes, rather than export it. My CL rate is now 26.741 cents/kWh. Maximum export tariff is 12 cents/kWh.

cheers,

ajw

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Originally Posted by ajw

Is it possible to have my hot water heater switched from Controlled Load to General Supply? I'm generating enough from my solar panels to run the hot water heater for free. It would be good to use more of it for my own purposes, rather than export it. My CL rate is now 26.741 cents/kWh. Maximum export tariff is 12 cents/kWh.

cheers,

ajw

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Yes. Get a sparky to move the connection from the controlled load outlet to the normal system. However, you'll want a time switch with a contactor capable of switching the water heater load. Also be aware that the water heater uses a fair chunk of power, depending on the size of the tank (and therefore the element). If the time switch activates the heater and your PV is not generating the required juice (in my case it seems to be around 4 to 5kW, but I've not looked for a rating label), you'll be importing power at the full daytime rate. The amount of export required to offset a few kW of "cloudy day" water heating might be substantial!

My approach (only partially implemented as yet) is to use a Shelly switch that I can program to run the water heater on off peak power, but I can also trigger manually (WiFi), or based on a rule such that it activates when my PV is exporting sufficient power. That means that hot water used in morning showers is replaced through the day IF there's sufficient PV, but the following night at off-peak rates (as would normally be the case) if the day was overcast.

You can also swap out the element. I swapped from a 3600W from 2400W. You can work out the time it needs to be on for, it takes 4.2J to heat 1mL 1 degree. Ours runs for about 3hrs per day from 10am. This way you don’t exceed panel supply very often.

You need look out for a dump load controller. That can manage the demand to match your excess solar

I don't know of any specific units, but I recall reading about a couple.

You need a solar diverter. I had an ImmerSun unit, installed about ten years ago, but after two of them blew up over the years I wouldn't recommend that brand.

Worked well, any excess power generated was diverted to the hot water unit or to my convection heaters rather than the grid.

Provided that your hot water unit is not a heat pump model. Though I think that the newer units may be able to be programmed to overcome this problem.

I still had the offpeak heating at night if there wasn't enough sun during the day.

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Originally Posted by Bohdan

Provided that your hot water unit is not a heat pump model. Though I think that the newer units may be able to be programmed to overcome this problem.

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The drama with heat pumps is that they like to work a "cycle", and don't like being switch on and off repeatedly. I investigated them with a view to getting one, and there is at least one brand that has a "trigger" connection that can be used to start a boost cycle. The downside is that the boost cycle will continue to run until it completes, whether the PV is still generating or not. The other downside was that the model I found that had a trigger was also one of the noisiest units.......

If the control systems are capable, a heater element can be fed a restricted amount of power rather than drawing its full load. It can therefore "warm" rather than "heat" (if you see what I mean!) and thus use excess PV power without drawing on the grid. It should not be assumed that all diverters can do this - a less advanced control system might switch the element on but still draw power from the grid to make up any shortfall. A heat pump cannot run on reduced power, it MUST have full power. To that end the control system must not simply switch the load on, it must ensure that sufficient power is available to fully drive the load. And, of course, if the sun goes behind a cloud the heat pump will draw from the grid, as it can't be switched off until its cycle completes. I didn't find a model that has the capability of switching on/off on the basis of a trigger, so they are a questionable fit for PV - unless the control system is very complex (ideally with weather forecasting) there is a risk of triggering a cycle and running most of it from the grid!

As an aside, I finally decided against a heat pump, at least for now. The are expensive and complex, unlike a standard hot water tank with a replaceable element. They use less power, but often have long cycle times meaning that from cold they can take a long time to heat up. Lastly, and this was really the clincher, unlike hot water tanks they are not covered by minimum insulation requirements, and "some" manufacturers have cut corners on insulation so the tanks can lose heat quite rapidly. The models I looked at didn't specify an insulation level, and saving money heating up water and then simply letting it cool down seemed like a waste!!

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Originally Posted by Warb

Indeed, but at the cost of votes? And a LOT of votes?

Maybe, like most current politicians, they believe the majority of voters have the memory capacity of goldfish and will forget. Or maybe, like most current politicians, they believe that the promise of a pay increase, tax cut, or some other short term perceived gain, will wash away all the stains of the past. And history suggests they'd probably be right on both counts!



Oh, wow, look at that. It's so shiny. Hang on, what was I saying? Nevermind. Did somebody say KFC?

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to their defense i don't think the electorate is very wise at all. this is a flaw with democracy, a fools vote is equal to the value of a savvy voter. and if you ever feel the need to underestimate the amount of fools in society just spend a bit of time at a boatramp or airport baggage carousel. you will be promptly reminded of the enormity of this demographic.