“Until the 1990s, Australia had a series of separate regional power grids. We now have a system linked almost across the nation – a system which, when well managed, is cheaper and more reliable. In the late 1980s, governments finally came to see that the existing state monopoly power commissions were amazingly inefficient and hungry for great gobs of capital for new power stations and coal mines.
“The greater reliability of a connected system is just as important as the cost savings. With a national grid and a national market, it is possible to provide softer cushions against natural or man-made catastrophes: a spiraling cyclone, a stinking hot afternoon (one of the worst risks), the collapse of a transmission tower, or, to take a gloomy view, a terrorist attack.
“So it is hardly surprising that state governments should have looked for a new way to keep the lights on. Of course, when talking to their voters back home, they still kept assuring their constituents – and still do – that they were looking after their power, that they were making sure that their state’s power supply is in good shape. The fact is that now all of the connected states rely upon each other and NEMMCO, to keep the whole show firing.
“As a result, much the same amount of base generating capacity can meet our needs now as 20 years ago. And, when precarious episodes have arisen, the wizards at NEMMCO managed to keep the system up, and you, good citizens, probably neither heard nor worried about it.
But … read more from Gavan McDonell at OLO about South Australia’s special role in the administration of all of this: http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=7585&page=0
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
Western Australia is not connected to this grid, so it is hardly an Australian Grid.
Jennifer,
Anyone who talks about pliers and wire is about fixing things. I like that.
Who ever said the staff of life
Is bread, is but a liar.
‘Tween you and me as you wil see,
The staff of life is wire.
The national grid is a bit like the old bush telephone system.
We used the top wire of the fence and it worked fine [until it rained].
Who knows? If they get a flood in the MDB, the crows may save the day and block or amend Kyoto Kev’s vision splendid.
No matter what spun lies are told, the grid cannot cope with a semi-permanent and significant loss from a major supplier, such as one of the lignite-fired stations from LaTrobe. At least 2 of these 4 stations have a rollover operating loan audit due in less than 6 months. Without accurate projections of costs, projections of prices beyond 2009 cannot be made so supply contracts are now time-limited. Auditors do not like unsecured loans and the stations will not operate insolvent – that is an actual criminal offence, unlike thoughtcrime. Crunch time is very close.
ALP State Govts have a very longstanding antipathy to domestic price rises in retail power that they cannot control. Such control is done through various “arms length” quangos, but the ALP appoints and sacks and reappoints the members. Without significant price rises (~4 or 5x), any potential R&D for coal to gas, hybrid coal/gas etc is unfunded and will get nowhere, even if it did have any vague promise.
I am aware of R&D to dry the lignite (>70% water) prior to firing in the boilers – extremely expensive. I’ve been involved in R&D for gasification of the LaTrobe coals, again extremely expensive. And neither is anywhere near commercial realisation, despite many years of such R&D.
So the value of these “stranded” assets plummets towards the floor – who would bother buying them in those circumstances ? This is the real boiling point between Garnaut and Costa.
Ianl: “I’ve been involved in R&D for gasification of the LaTrobe coals”
How involved?
I recall the “briquette” process made the stuff more transportable and easier to combust as a “solid”.
The dust from dry briquettes was highly combustible, even explosive around conveyers etc.
Unhappily I cannot yield details publicly,not because I don’t want to but simply because of the various confidentiality agreements one has to sign. If you ignore these, the lawyers come and take your house.
It is obvious,however, that demoisturised lignite is highly spontaneously combustible when re-wetted, with the dust potentially explosive in confined spaces. Even pit coal is susceptible to spon com. Having said that, most stockpiles only spontaneously combust after a stasis period and rain (the complex redox reactions involved are still not completely understood, but we do know the parameters).
Briquettes have been around since year dot – the binders used are generally subject to patent and I’ve only ever seen commercial applications for niche markets. South Island NZ eg, uses these for domestic heating.
I suppose the thing to understand about the LaTrobe station/mine complexes is the huge volume of lignite constantly required. Due to its low SE (high moisture content), its’ efficiency is very low (perhaps 15% is converted to useful heat) so a constant large volume must be fed to the boilers. This makes large stockpiles unnecessary, but means the mine feed cannot stop for long – if a boiler scales or goes off line for any reason, shutting it down, cooling it, maintaining it and re-firing is a business. The station has to purchase power off the national grid for this period. Removing most of the moisture 1st through drying may increase the efficiency to ~35% and the boiler complex is adjustable to this increased SE (costly). I believe the spon com risk is manageable.
Victoria as a manufacturing state has been built on the availability of lignite as an energy source. The threat to this from Garnaut’s attitudinal report is clear.
I doubt anyone on this forum could be interested, but I have some detailed reports on the geology of nuclear waste storage in France. Every time France adds to its nuclear power capacity, a whole heap of surrounding countries purchase more power off it, so they keep CO2 emissions down and avoid domestic political bunfighting. The geology of nuclear waste storage is a critical issue and the French have been at it for over 50 years.
Ianl,
Always interested in nuclear and think it is the way to go from what I’ve read about gen 4 thorium-uranium reactors.
I know the French are 80% nuclear but not the details.