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  • Hilly
    Hilly
    6 days ago
    Wasn't built to be, horses for courses.
  • paulybronco
    paulybronco
    3 days ago
    Stay tuned The Australian Energy Regulator, has just approved a 10% price increase and  blamed the rises on increases to the cost of producing energy, which varies based on how it is generated in different parts of the country.Its only headed in one direction
  • Hilly
    Hilly
    3 days ago
    The Australian Energy Regulator can go get fucked.

    I was going to put up some more on the King Island system but I'll leave till after this gets a hearing.
  • paulybronco
    paulybronco
    3 days ago
    Quoting Hilly on 26 May 2025 03:31 AMedited: 26 May 2025 03:33 AM

    The Australian Energy Regulator can go get fucked.


    I was going to put up some more on the King Island system but I'll leave till after this gets a hearing.

    There is no hearing...this is their ruling, its done! The did listen, didn't give a fuck and raised it by 10%......oh sorry to be fair did acknowledge that they recognise that "people are doing it tough at the moment" but suck shit here's your new bill.
  • Hilly
    Hilly
    3 days ago
    Quoting Hilly on 26 May 2025 03:31 AMedited: 26 May 2025 03:33 AM

    The Australian Energy Regulator can go get fucked.


    I was going to put up some more on the King Island system but I'll leave till after this gets a hearing.

    Quoting paulybronco on 26 May 2025 10:02 AM

    There is no hearing...this is their ruling, its done! The did listen, didn't give a fuck and raised it by 10%......oh sorry to be fair did acknowledge that they recognise that "people are doing it tough at the moment" but suck shit here's your new bill.

    Assholes.

    This should please some......

  • evo94
    evo94
    2 days ago
    personal view - awesome.....hopefully follow suit with the rumblings of such an abomination in Cooloola
  • Hilly
    Hilly
    2 days ago
    The King Island set up was not designed to be a 24 hour renewable only power station, the fact that it managed it is a testament to what could be possible as the tech improves.
    The battery set up is pretty different to what's used elsewhere, they have had their issues with it but as far as I know it's doing the job at present.
    The solar panels where added after the initial wind farm was operating, it helps a fair bit.
    There is no coal mine or gas plant here so anything to reduce diesel usage is a good thing. There was a wave power generator test station here for awhile, not sure how that faired in practice.
    A couple of pics, one showing the station on 100% renewables and the other for some info on the battery, that blurb was before the solar was installed I believe.
    Screenshot_20250526-125947.png
    PXL_20250526_025820848.jpg
  • dicko
    dicko
    2 days ago
    KI’s average demand over the period considered was 1,500 kW, or 13,200 MWh/year. With a population of around 1,600 this gives a per-capita electricity consumption of 8,250 kWh/year, a little less than Australia’s average of 10,000 kWh/year. KI peak demand is not specified but is somewhere around 2,500 kW (2.5 MW). This is more than adequately covered by the 9 MW of installed capacity, 6 MW of which is diesel. The fact that there have been no system blackouts since 2014 further suggests that KI’s enabling systems are working.
    Figure 2 shows grid generation data for the July 15 through September 30th, 2018 period. The following points should be noted:
    For purposes of readability the data are averaged into 10-minute intervals from the 1-minute data supplied by correspondent Thinks Too Much. A few bad-data readings have been deleted.
    A little over half of the interval considered contains data. The empty spaces are intervals when the KI “live data” site was off the air. Since there is no reason to believe that conditions were any different when the site was off the air I have assumed that the data shown are representative.
    The “enabling” facilities (flywheels, resistor, battery) absorb far more generation than they put out.
    I have shown solar in black in an attempt to make it stand out, but its contribution is so small that it’s still almost impossible to see it. The 0.5 MW of domestic solar will add to the solar contribution but will appear as a demand reduction.
    The data are plotted relative to UTC rather than Tasmania time, which is ten hours ahead of UTC time.

    Untitled.png
  • Hilly
    Hilly
    2 days ago
    Not disputing your data there Dicko but that was from 2018, 7 years ago, I don't know what the percentages look like now in 2025 but today is an overcast squally roaring forties kinda deal and the solar is still doing ok. I understand this set up is small scale and probably wouldn't work for a big population but it seems to be working ok for here.
    With the mine thing I don't know, but I don't believe that article is the whole story, I don't know what sort of plant they have put in or what instant system demands they may have currently or expect to have in the near future.
    I worked at the original mine, did my 4th year in the powerhouse, the mine had its own, 6 or so big gen sets, whenever the mine wanted to start a mill or drop one off they would contact the control room to be ready to ramp up or shed the load, I'd imagine that sort of thing would be hard logistically for the current mine to work in with a seperate government run small scale plant, dunno, just thinking.
    When the mine shut in 1989 they offered the powerhouse to the state government of the time on the cheap to replace the aging one in the main town but they declined, short sighted as usual, the generators were sold to a mob in Chille, some of my mates helped pull them out and reinstall them there, spewing I missed that gig, they had a ball.
    PXL_20250527_015716324.jpg
    Screenshot_20250527-115021.png
  • paulybronco
    paulybronco
    2 days ago
    Can anyone tell me whets going to happen with both commercial and domestic batteries in 10+ yrs time...are they able to refurb them or is it out with old in with the new tech 
  • Hilly
    Hilly
    2 days ago
    Quoting paulybronco on 27 May 2025 04:40 AM

    Can anyone tell me whets going to happen with both commercial and domestic batteries in 10+ yrs time...are they able to refurb them or is it out with old in with the new tech 

    At this point I think that's about the size of it for the more common lithium types, doesn't sound real cost effective given the prices of them, you have batteries don't you?
  • paulybronco
    paulybronco
    2 days ago
    Quoting paulybronco on 27 May 2025 04:40 AM

    Can anyone tell me whets going to happen with both commercial and domestic batteries in 10+ yrs time...are they able to refurb them or is it out with old in with the new tech 

    Quoting Hilly on 27 May 2025 05:17 AM

    At this point I think that's about the size of it for the more common lithium types, doesn't sound real cost effective given the prices of them, you have batteries don't you?

    No but was considering them after 30th June when the 30% rebate kicks in. Not sure why to be honest as 13kw up on the roof still gets me a $200+ a month bill with only the mrs and i in the house.....i am balls deep so far, or AGL are balls deep in me but not sure i am going to get any benefit to be honest.
  • Hilly
    Hilly
    2 days ago
    Quoting paulybronco on 27 May 2025 04:40 AM

    Can anyone tell me whets going to happen with both commercial and domestic batteries in 10+ yrs time...are they able to refurb them or is it out with old in with the new tech 

    Quoting Hilly on 27 May 2025 05:17 AM

    At this point I think that's about the size of it for the more common lithium types, doesn't sound real cost effective given the prices of them, you have batteries don't you?

    Quoting paulybronco on 27 May 2025 09:12 AM

    No but was considering them after 30th June when the 30% rebate kicks in. Not sure why to be honest as 13kw up on the roof still gets me a $200+ a month bill with only the mrs and i in the house.....i am balls deep so far, or AGL are balls deep in me but not sure i am going to get any benefit to be honest.

    I'm not sure how that rebate works, I've read elsewhere that they could force you into a virtual power plant agreement to get the rebate then they can use your battery as they see fit which could up the cycles as well as how deep it discharges, so in theory the battery life in years could be less than advertised, and you potentially save you the $200 a month for what outlay? 
    They should donate you the battery because they are using your solar to power their network if that's how it works.
  • obisteve
    obisteve
    2 days ago
    Quoting paulybronco on 27 May 2025 04:40 AM

    Can anyone tell me whets going to happen with both commercial and domestic batteries in 10+ yrs time...are they able to refurb them or is it out with old in with the new tech 

    Quoting Hilly on 27 May 2025 05:17 AM

    At this point I think that's about the size of it for the more common lithium types, doesn't sound real cost effective given the prices of them, you have batteries don't you?

    Quoting paulybronco on 27 May 2025 09:12 AM

    No but was considering them after 30th June when the 30% rebate kicks in. Not sure why to be honest as 13kw up on the roof still gets me a $200+ a month bill with only the mrs and i in the house.....i am balls deep so far, or AGL are balls deep in me but not sure i am going to get any benefit to be honest.

    What's the wattage of your salt water chlorinator and pool pump PB? I suspect that running those before 9:30am and after 3:00pm is a big part of your expense.
    This place is full of big old govvy specified pumps, 2 in the septic system, normal tank water pressure pump, jet venturi pump for the 20m deep bore, pressure pump for the bore water supply to the old toilet block.
    Suppose I could turn the septic system off overnight.
  • obisteve
    obisteve
    2 days ago
    Quoting Hilly on 26 May 2025 03:31 AMedited: 26 May 2025 03:33 AM

    The Australian Energy Regulator can go get fucked.


    I was going to put up some more on the King Island system but I'll leave till after this gets a hearing.

    Quoting paulybronco on 26 May 2025 10:02 AM

    There is no hearing...this is their ruling, its done! The did listen, didn't give a fuck and raised it by 10%......oh sorry to be fair did acknowledge that they recognise that "people are doing it tough at the moment" but suck shit here's your new bill.

    Know of any other industry where a federal government body examines the retail price of the product, sets a default price for the industry after consultation with the retailers about their cost margins, and insists they don't raise that for 12 months?
    See that ever happening for the oil and gas industry?
     
  • Hilly
    Hilly
    2 days ago
    That'd be nice, 1980 fuel prices please.

    PB the latest darling of the grid/home battery world is going to be sodium ion, lasts longer, safer, should be cheaper due to sodium being more plentiful and easier to access than lithium, one down side is they don't store as much energy per kilo as lithium so a battery of the same capacity will need to be bigger and heavier, ongoing r and d obviously but China has a plant up and running and tesla is releasing a version soon, dunno what the costing will be like, horrible I expect.
  • paulybronco
    paulybronco
    2 days ago
    Quoting Hilly on 26 May 2025 03:31 AMedited: 26 May 2025 03:33 AM

    The Australian Energy Regulator can go get fucked.


    I was going to put up some more on the King Island system but I'll leave till after this gets a hearing.

    Quoting paulybronco on 26 May 2025 10:02 AM

    There is no hearing...this is their ruling, its done! The did listen, didn't give a fuck and raised it by 10%......oh sorry to be fair did acknowledge that they recognise that "people are doing it tough at the moment" but suck shit here's your new bill.

    Quoting obisteve on 27 May 2025 11:46 AM

    Know of any other industry where a federal government body examines the retail price of the product, sets a default price for the industry after consultation with the retailers about their cost margins, and insists they don't raise that for 12 months?

    See that ever happening for the oil and gas industry?
     

    You dont see it for any industry that i can recall.
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