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13/13
  • paulybronco
    paulybronco
    yesterday
    Quoting obisteve on 30 Mar 2025 11:43 AMedited: 30 Mar 2025 11:48 AM

    But mate, 20 years ago state governments didn't own most of the countries powerstations.

    They'd sold them off to private operators.
    Starting in the 80s in SA, then NS W. Even QLD sold a few by the late 90s, but kept 7.
    You've posted a link to a list of all generators, their owners are listed there, check online who these owners are, it's interesting reading.
    It was a sale made mostly for ideological reasons, it was the Reagan-Thatcher years and privatisation was all the go. It was claimed that private enterprise would run them better than governments, how well has that turned out?
    These owners have run them since, making a reasonable profit, and mostly sending it offshore, but not investing enough in repairs and preventative maintenance to keep them reliable as they age, and never budgetting to replace them. When the generators were sold, a market was set up to coordinate the supply, initially with generators bidding for 1/2 hour blocks of supply, but now for 5 minute blocks. This set up the situation that's made things worse now. As solar panels started appearing on roofs in ever increasing numbers, the power they supply became cheaper. It's now the cheapest power that can be supplied to the grid on sunny days between 10am and 2pm. Because the grid is run by a market, this cheap power under cuts the coal fired generators in that time period on sunny days, so they throttle back the generators to avoid losing money, which puts more thermal shock on the boilers, which increases their maintenance costs and downgrades their reliability and service life.
    Never doubt it, the privately owned generators will shut down when the plant reaches an unprofitable point in its service life, which is why one of them is now screaming for the NSW govt to subsidise their operations to keep an essential service going for a few more years.
    Reward them for their short sighted business practises and excessive profit taking in other words.
    You don't need to conjure up rabid greenies to see why the power grid is facing problems. To me it mostly shows the foolishness of privatising the supply of an essential service and trying then to run it as a spot market controlled system.
    But maybe I'm just an old Bolshy.
    I do like your idea of voting for yourself.
    Any boiler techs on the forum want to comment on what I've said?

    Any boiler techs on the forum want to comment on what I've said?..........My old boiler shouted from the kitchen she's in agreeance!
  • Hilly
    Hilly
    yesterday
    Quoting obisteve on 30 Mar 2025 11:43 AMedited: 30 Mar 2025 11:48 AM

    But mate, 20 years ago state governments didn't own most of the countries powerstations.

    They'd sold them off to private operators.
    Starting in the 80s in SA, then NS W. Even QLD sold a few by the late 90s, but kept 7.
    You've posted a link to a list of all generators, their owners are listed there, check online who these owners are, it's interesting reading.
    It was a sale made mostly for ideological reasons, it was the Reagan-Thatcher years and privatisation was all the go. It was claimed that private enterprise would run them better than governments, how well has that turned out?
    These owners have run them since, making a reasonable profit, and mostly sending it offshore, but not investing enough in repairs and preventative maintenance to keep them reliable as they age, and never budgetting to replace them. When the generators were sold, a market was set up to coordinate the supply, initially with generators bidding for 1/2 hour blocks of supply, but now for 5 minute blocks. This set up the situation that's made things worse now. As solar panels started appearing on roofs in ever increasing numbers, the power they supply became cheaper. It's now the cheapest power that can be supplied to the grid on sunny days between 10am and 2pm. Because the grid is run by a market, this cheap power under cuts the coal fired generators in that time period on sunny days, so they throttle back the generators to avoid losing money, which puts more thermal shock on the boilers, which increases their maintenance costs and downgrades their reliability and service life.
    Never doubt it, the privately owned generators will shut down when the plant reaches an unprofitable point in its service life, which is why one of them is now screaming for the NSW govt to subsidise their operations to keep an essential service going for a few more years.
    Reward them for their short sighted business practises and excessive profit taking in other words.
    You don't need to conjure up rabid greenies to see why the power grid is facing problems. To me it mostly shows the foolishness of privatising the supply of an essential service and trying then to run it as a spot market controlled system.
    But maybe I'm just an old Bolshy.
    I do like your idea of voting for yourself.
    Any boiler techs on the forum want to comment on what I've said?

    Quoting paulybronco on 31 Mar 2025 01:28 AM

    Any boiler techs on the forum want to comment on what I've said?..........My old boiler shouted from the kitchen she's in agreeance!

    Be cooking your own dinner if she see's that 😁
  • obisteve
    obisteve
    yesterday
    Living dangerously there PB, living dangerously....
    Please thank her for me though.
  • Hilly
    Hilly
    yesterday
    I'm no boiler tech but a certain leader of a new political party managed to stuff all the boilers at a certain refinery because he wouldn't listen to the experts on his staff and did what the heck he liked because he is a professor and they were nobodies that didn't know what they were talking about.......relevant in our times.
    Right got that off me chest, read this today, it's obviously slanted a little but there are some titbits to take away.
     
  • paulybronco
    paulybronco
    yesterday
    Quoting Hilly on 31 Mar 2025 07:05 AMedited: 31 Mar 2025 07:14 AM

    I'm no boiler tech but a certain leader of a new political party managed to stuff all the boilers at a certain refinery because he wouldn't listen to the experts on his staff and did what the heck he liked because he is a professor and they were nobodies that didn't know what they were talking about.......relevant in our times.

    Right got that off me chest, read this today, it's obviously slanted a little but there are some titbits to take away.
     

    Think that the rate of electric vehicles have stalled due to several reasons so the predicted uptake and burden has been reduced. The hidden side hasn't also helped with massive and prohibitive insurance and infrastructure upgrades to put charge stations in underground unit complexes as a example. My old neighbours moved into a unit that is less than 20yrs old and body corp got several quotes that included a updated insurance policy best being around $2million !!!!! Insurance wanted uprated fire suppression in every unit as well as uprated firewalls etc just for 6 chargers. Tesla for one are struggling here in Australia....
  • Hilly
    Hilly
    yesterday
    My problem is I prefer things that suck bang and blow.....internal combustion engine wise I ment, obviously 
  • paulybronco
    paulybronco
    yesterday
    Quoting Hilly on 31 Mar 2025 12:08 PM

    My problem is I prefer things that suck bang and blow.....internal combustion engine wise I ment, obviously 

    Ha Ha Hilly think we all do. One of the most important parts of riding or driving for me is the aural experience of exhaust and induction fighting each other for my attention when i am hard on the gas. But also enjoy the serene experience of sitting in traffic in a Hybrid and hearing nothing other than the radio. But also love the unbelievable acceleration from my daughter in laws MG4X....320kw 600nm 4 wheel drive.......0-3.8 sec.  
  • dicko
    dicko
    yesterday
    Some more interesting stuff. The Yarraman power house was operated by my mothers family, ( My grandfather Charlie Budgen ) so it was her and her siblings that kept the engines going 24/7 . Before that he was supplying ice boxes and ice  making the ice with his own electricity.
  • B0nes
    B0nes
    yesterday
    Quoting Hilly on 31 Mar 2025 07:05 AMedited: 31 Mar 2025 07:14 AM

    I'm no boiler tech but a certain leader of a new political party managed to stuff all the boilers at a certain refinery because he wouldn't listen to the experts on his staff and did what the heck he liked because he is a professor and they were nobodies that didn't know what they were talking about.......relevant in our times.

    Right got that off me chest, read this today, it's obviously slanted a little but there are some titbits to take away.
     

    Quoting paulybronco on 31 Mar 2025 10:16 AM

    Think that the rate of electric vehicles have stalled due to several reasons so the predicted uptake and burden has been reduced. The hidden side hasn't also helped with massive and prohibitive insurance and infrastructure upgrades to put charge stations in underground unit complexes as a example. My old neighbours moved into a unit that is less than 20yrs old and body corp got several quotes that included a updated insurance policy best being around $2million !!!!! Insurance wanted uprated fire suppression in every unit as well as uprated firewalls etc just for 6 chargers. Tesla for one are struggling here in Australia....

    Step daughter was saying the same thing where she lives. Owns her unit and was told not only her Body Corp fees would need to increase but her own insurance would increase also. All the unit owners agreed not to install charging stations as none of them drove EV's. Wonder how long before they are forced by regulations to install chargers.
  • paulybronco
    paulybronco
    yesterday
    Quoting Hilly on 31 Mar 2025 07:05 AMedited: 31 Mar 2025 07:14 AM

    I'm no boiler tech but a certain leader of a new political party managed to stuff all the boilers at a certain refinery because he wouldn't listen to the experts on his staff and did what the heck he liked because he is a professor and they were nobodies that didn't know what they were talking about.......relevant in our times.

    Right got that off me chest, read this today, it's obviously slanted a little but there are some titbits to take away.
     

    Quoting paulybronco on 31 Mar 2025 10:16 AM

    Think that the rate of electric vehicles have stalled due to several reasons so the predicted uptake and burden has been reduced. The hidden side hasn't also helped with massive and prohibitive insurance and infrastructure upgrades to put charge stations in underground unit complexes as a example. My old neighbours moved into a unit that is less than 20yrs old and body corp got several quotes that included a updated insurance policy best being around $2million !!!!! Insurance wanted uprated fire suppression in every unit as well as uprated firewalls etc just for 6 chargers. Tesla for one are struggling here in Australia....

    Quoting B0nes on 31 Mar 2025 10:50 PM

    Step daughter was saying the same thing where she lives. Owns her unit and was told not only her Body Corp fees would need to increase but her own insurance would increase also. All the unit owners agreed not to install charging stations as none of them drove EV's. Wonder how long before they are forced by regulations to install chargers.

    Possibly sooner than thought if we end up with a minority government run by the greens.
  • obisteve
    obisteve
    yesterday
    Quoting dicko on 31 Mar 2025 10:38 PM

    Some more interesting stuff. The Yarraman power house was operated by my mothers family, ( My grandfather Charlie Budgen ) so it was her and her siblings that kept the engines going 24/7 . Before that he was supplying ice boxes and ice  making the ice with his own electricity.

    Thanks for posting that dicko, an interesting read.
    Obi Obi didn't get power until the early 50s, so when I bought land in 1977 and started building a shack with no acces to power I got gladly offered a blokes Silent Knight kerosene fridge that had been sitting on his back verandah since then. Wire brushed and painted black the bits on the back that were rusty, soldered up some holes in the kerosene tank, bought a new wick off the shelf at Nambour Disposals, rocked it until it burped an airlocked bubble in the condenser coils and off it ran flawlessly for the next 2 years until I got power connected.
    I got used to the shack always having a burning kerosene smell.
    I looked at installing solar panels then, but the price was over $200 per peak power Watt.
    By 1985 the price had dropped enough that mates who bought next door could afford to install 12V lighting systems and real flash, an 800 Watt inverter for a stereo. They still used a gas fridge. That part of the district is still off grid, apart from my old shack.
  • Hilly
    Hilly
    16 hours ago
    When I was a little tacker we had a Kero fridge, bastard near burnt the house down once, a wood stove/oven that I can remember mum heating her irons up on and cooking in, a wood hot water heater, open fires in two rooms, there was a friggin great bank of batteries in the shed, they had a big old diesel engine that had two big flywheels and a leather belt driving an alternator or whatever that charged them, batteries got chucked eventually and a different generator bit was added that ran the lights etc, when I was about twelve that got replaced with a lister start-o-matic, the ducks guts back then, flick a light on inside the house and the bugga would self start, had to turn the new fridge off when you went to bed though because for whatever reason the gen set would only crank over and not actually start when that kicked in, the bloody dunny was outside so you had to make a run for it in the pouring rain!
    Was a good time of life looking back.
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13/13