I’m surprised it’s wind power and not solar down there. I figured solar would have a huge presence in Aus.

I really want to do solar at our house in Colorado, but with how fast the tech is improving it seems like a waste of money right now.

www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-16/sa-electricity-prices-blamed-for-more-food-handouts/9053426


www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-14/south-australian-government-refusing-to-say-generators-cost/9150508


www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-27/sa-recycling-business-power-bills-rise-causing-closure/8654638

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

I hope that's a typo where it said it could carry 30,000 homes for up to an hour during a blackout. Wow, a whole hour. Now if you had a wind or solar system that could provide electricity during the day , and charge batteries that can provide electricity all night long, then you might have something.

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I miss YaHey

40% of South Australia's power comes from wind. Wind power has problems with electricity frequency stability. Last year the whole state was blacked out when a storm caused issues with the frequency. The battery will be used to stabilise the frequency.

The battery will also provide power during peak demand. It will give the grid time to bring other power sources on line.

The majority of houses in Australia have solar panels on their roofs. Excess power, not used, by the house is fed into the grid. For large scale renewable electricity wind power is mostly used.

With cost of solar panels being so cheap and the sunny climate the pay back on household solar panels is only a few years in Australia.

Here's a visual lesson in energy density. Wind and solar have a long way to go, in other words:

(Source: Max Roser, "Our World in Data" site, Oxford University)

Bottom line: more dense forms of energy prevail in the regular world. The chart matches up electricity production with demand, examining just how many people the specific source of energy can supply. Again, showing that "green energy" has a lot of catching up to do.

Looking at the chart (and you might want to blow it up), realize that the right-hand side of the graphic is blown up from the very tiny lower-right-hand corner of the left side of the chart. There's a circle that's been added to highlight the area and make it easier to find:

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

We're not at the point where solar is cheaper...yet. If you look at the price curve at which solar prices have been declining steadily for a few decades, the equivalence point will happen in a few years. When that happens, expect to see energy prices across the board begin to decline. I would expect a major disruption in the energy market after that. I won't expect big adoption of solar until the equivalence point is reached, after that you'll see an explosion.

This will be a big problem for certain energy producers whose costs are relatively fixed. They will be competing against energy source which declines in price over time.

 
I really want to do solar at our house in Colorado, but with how fast the tech is improving it seems like a waste of money right now.[/quote]
My dad has been saying that since the 1970's, 47 years and we still say that! Hopefully the tech will improve to do away with that excuse soon.

Thats a lot of cobalt..https://www.humanium.org/...c-republic-of-congo/

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sometimes

I think it’s getting close, if I could pay for it in cash id probably do it pretty quick. I’m just not going to lease or do a monthly payment for it. Overall out electric isn’t that much per month so it doesn’t make too much sense. We currently do 100 percent windsource with xcel energy. It helps fund their renewable energy program, and costs I think 10-15 bucks more a month for us or so.

Heating seems to be the one that gets us more here for some reason.

Why does it have to go back to the grid? Why not just have a self contained unit?

Each house produces and “stores” their own power. Why not do that?

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Civilize the mind, but make savage the body.

- Chinese proverb

https://www.tesla.com/powerwall

couple of these with a tesla roof and you'll be off the grid completely. in theory.

They might get a premium for the solar, ie govt subsidizing the solar to get it on the roofs. So as a home owner you receive more per Kw selling the solar then you pay to purchase the Kw from the power company. They did something like that here in Ontario, I have two friends here in Ottawa that took advantage of that.

Yeah, that’s a much better idea and what we hope to do soon. The electricity suppliers charge maybe 30c per unit used and pay something like 6c per unit put back into the grid.

I think this is great, and a home battery should not be far behind I would guess. I mean he has them, but an affordable one that can power the house for a few days and doesn't take up a ton of space. And to the solar procrastinators, I have been with you for 25 years. But at some point(probably 25 years ago actually) you have to pull the trigger and just get in, doesn't matter what advancements come along as it is time with panels that get you to your $0 electric bill.

I think back to when I first began looking and I would have paid it off in 5 or 6 years and have been free of charges the past 20 years. And now coming to the end of my panels life I would be upgrading now!!! Not going to worry about panels anymore, but will wait for the battery, that will be a game changer..

Putting energy in a battery throws away 30% to 40% right off the top in charge and discharge inefficiencies as shown above. If you have access to the grid, it makes no economical sense to give that up! Energy storage in the grid is 100% efficient and virtually unlimited whereas storing energy in batteries is limited and not only throws away 30% of your energy, but also

And many other reasons: http://www.aprs.org/off-grid-maybe.html

You should have told that to Elon Musk and those stupid Australians.

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It doesn't really matter what Phil is saying, the music of his voice is the appropriate soundtrack for a bicycle race. HTupolev

Facts and empirical data mean little anymore. It is all about how it makes you feel!

Hence the uselessness of logic: no one ever convinced anybody by logic; and even logicians use logic only as a source of income. To convince a man, you must appeal to his self-interest, his desires, his will.
-- Arthur Schopenhauer

Not worth it at the moment.

ost of batteries is uneconomical, even with some of the highest power prices in the world (South Australia where Tesla installed that 100MW battery has the highest power prices in the world...yay us!)