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  • paulybronco
    paulybronco
    16 days ago
    Quoting paulybronco on 01 Jul 2025 10:57 AM

    Well it seems like we are starting to get the message about renewables....gas is back reluctantly 


    video
    Quoting Hilly on 01 Jul 2025 09:32 PM

    Sky News will rot your brain like pulling on an ice pipe.

    Gas is a crucial transition fuel source, transition to what is yet undecided 😂

    "I reject reality and substitute my own"....think that's Chris Bowen mantra not a myth busters quote.
  • dicko
    dicko
    14 days ago
    AI Overview

    Equinor has withdrawn from the Bass Offshore Wind Energy (BOWE) project in Tasmania, marking the third offshore wind project Equinor has abandoned in Australia. The decision comes as Equinor refocuses its renewable energy investments globally, prioritizing its core oil and gas business. This move is a setback for Australia's plans to develop an offshore wind industry.
    Here's a more detailed breakdown:
    Project Withdrawal:
    Equinor and its partner Nexsphere will not proceed with the Bass Offshore Wind Energy (BOWE) project.
    Focus on Core Business:
    Equinor is reducing its investment in renewables to increase shareholder returns and adapt to what it calls an "uneven energy transition".
    Setback for Australia:
    This is the third offshore wind project Equinor has withdrawn from in Australia, impacting the country's ambitions for a renewable energy future.
    BOWE Project Details:
    The BOWE project, located off the coast of Tasmania, was planned to have 70-100 wind turbines and a capacity of up to 1,500 MW.
    Equinor's Shift:
    The company is shifting its focus back to traditional fossil fuels,
  • Hilly
    Hilly
    14 days ago
    I dunno, I'm not subscribed, just read the article, that project is now wholly Australian owned.... providing it gets off the ground, facts Dicko, don't get caught up in emotional crap, Jesus we all want what's best for our kids but billionaires don't give a fuck if we live or die, most news rooms are a mouthpiece for some cunt.
  • Hilly
    Hilly
    13 days ago
    The only positive in this is FTI are involved, if it can be saved they are the mob to do it, first hand experience with them, smart decent people.

    Dartbrook coal mine plunges into administration after defaulting on $174 million loan - ABC News https://share.google/J9jZ5EUZRwaMz18Jc
  • obisteve
    obisteve
    13 days ago
    Wasn't gonna come back in here for a while, was starting to get the shits, I don't need that and you don't need me on here like that.
    So, if you really want to see what's happening in the Oz generation and transmission industry, written by insiders, you can't do better than the website Watt Clarity.
    Forget Sky News, you can be sure they're telling you lies, even if it's just by what they're leaving out.
    The Watt Clarity mob have been warning about a developing crunch in the Industry from about 2017, and they're adamant the biggest threat to keeping the lights on is if one side of politics tries to make the industry a political football.
    That wouldn't be any one on here would it?
    You can be sure that all the privately owned coal fired power stations are gonna close over the next 25 years, you can find the dates for all but one station online now. It's not because of a green/govvy plot either, it's because they won't be making their owners enough money. The only ones that remain open after that will be ones where they've managed to blackmail a state government into subsidising their operation.
    The government owned ones may still be running, they have an obligation to the people that a Czech finance company doesn't, just to pick on one private owner.
    So extra supply is needed, off shore wind comes closest to being in continuous production.
    A couple of you blokes are pushing nuclear, and I'm not as opposed to it as many, even though one of the suggested sites will be 70kms upwind from me for about 4 months of the year. Better stock up on an emergency supply of iodine tablets. They would do the job needed.
    But were you blokes out of the country for a while earlier in the year? Let me fill you in, we had a federal election. One mob put forward a commitment to nuclear power, the other mob didn't. The mob that didn't won by its highest ever margin, shit the poll was first called 35 minutes after the booths closed. Obviously other issues were involved as well of course, but it does mean that the industry or government won't start planning to go nuclear for several more years.
    So if the lights start going out, are you blokes agitating against the only forms of power stations people want to build gonna pat yourself on the back proudly and say I helped do that?
  • Jay-Dee
    Jay-Dee
    12 days ago
    Quoting obisteve on 05 Jul 2025 10:55 AM

    Wasn't gonna come back in here for a while, was starting to get the shits, I don't need that and you don't need me on here like that.

    So, if you really want to see what's happening in the Oz generation and transmission industry, written by insiders, you can't do better than the website Watt Clarity.
    Forget Sky News, you can be sure they're telling you lies, even if it's just by what they're leaving out.
    The Watt Clarity mob have been warning about a developing crunch in the Industry from about 2017, and they're adamant the biggest threat to keeping the lights on is if one side of politics tries to make the industry a political football.
    That wouldn't be any one on here would it?
    You can be sure that all the privately owned coal fired power stations are gonna close over the next 25 years, you can find the dates for all but one station online now. It's not because of a green/govvy plot either, it's because they won't be making their owners enough money. The only ones that remain open after that will be ones where they've managed to blackmail a state government into subsidising their operation.
    The government owned ones may still be running, they have an obligation to the people that a Czech finance company doesn't, just to pick on one private owner.
    So extra supply is needed, off shore wind comes closest to being in continuous production.
    A couple of you blokes are pushing nuclear, and I'm not as opposed to it as many, even though one of the suggested sites will be 70kms upwind from me for about 4 months of the year. Better stock up on an emergency supply of iodine tablets. They would do the job needed.
    But were you blokes out of the country for a while earlier in the year? Let me fill you in, we had a federal election. One mob put forward a commitment to nuclear power, the other mob didn't. The mob that didn't won by its highest ever margin, shit the poll was first called 35 minutes after the booths closed. Obviously other issues were involved as well of course, but it does mean that the industry or government won't start planning to go nuclear for several more years.
    So if the lights start going out, are you blokes agitating against the only forms of power stations people want to build gonna pat yourself on the back proudly and say I helped do that?

    The mob that didn't put forward a commitment to nuclear power won with a huge majority, but ironically with a slightly smaller primary vote than the very same mob lost the previous unlosable election, figure that one out. I think you will find that it had less to do with nuclear, more about the likeability of the party leaders and how they targeted their preferences. Peter Dutton just didn't appeal to most people as they want somebody warm and fuzzy and that's not his style, plus conservatives as a whole are being bred out of society.

    The simple fact is that you can't run the entire power system with the variability of wind and solar and the amount of batteries that you would need to back them up is beyond comprehension. Supply must be able to meet demand or there is no demand, it can't be clearer than that. Gas stations backing up like they talk about has its issues as well and they don't come cheaply, either to build or run.

    Then there are little things (among others) called power system stability, inertia and fault level which can't be achieved without large synchronous machines with coal, nuclear, gas or hydro driving them or a shit load of synchronous compensators. Wind and solar have a fakable degree of it but they are electronically connected, not synchronously so it's limited, especially in less interconnected networks.

    If this country wants to have a secure, reliable power system without coal (as it is now demonised irrespective of how efficient a new station might be compared to something that's forty years old) and these dreamers want to achieve net zero then they have to embrace nuclear or find something else reliable and clean burning to drive big turbines, very quickly. Hydro is great, when there's water but if you listen to the climate doomsdayers we are going to have more droughts in the future so that option has its limitations as well. Everything has its positives and negatives but people on either side of the argument only want to see what supports their side and conveniently ignore the negatives. 

    The fact is it has been dragged out for way too long because no government has had the balls to either build new coal/gas stations or look seriously at nuclear as an option and before too much longer we are going to be in deep shit. My advice is buy a decent generator, I will be.
  • Hilly
    Hilly
    12 days ago
    Steve when I mentioned nuclear this is more along the lines of what I ment, not saying it's the answer but Australia was offered a position in a coalition of countries to brain storm the crap out of the possibilities associated with the concept, Albo turned them down, no harm in talking I would of thought.

    What are Small Modular Reactors (SMRs)? | IAEA https://share.google/a50rHWqNt4SGnBQ6c
  • Hilly
    Hilly
    12 days ago
    Quoting obisteve on 05 Jul 2025 10:55 AM

    Wasn't gonna come back in here for a while, was starting to get the shits, I don't need that and you don't need me on here like that.

    So, if you really want to see what's happening in the Oz generation and transmission industry, written by insiders, you can't do better than the website Watt Clarity.
    Forget Sky News, you can be sure they're telling you lies, even if it's just by what they're leaving out.
    The Watt Clarity mob have been warning about a developing crunch in the Industry from about 2017, and they're adamant the biggest threat to keeping the lights on is if one side of politics tries to make the industry a political football.
    That wouldn't be any one on here would it?
    You can be sure that all the privately owned coal fired power stations are gonna close over the next 25 years, you can find the dates for all but one station online now. It's not because of a green/govvy plot either, it's because they won't be making their owners enough money. The only ones that remain open after that will be ones where they've managed to blackmail a state government into subsidising their operation.
    The government owned ones may still be running, they have an obligation to the people that a Czech finance company doesn't, just to pick on one private owner.
    So extra supply is needed, off shore wind comes closest to being in continuous production.
    A couple of you blokes are pushing nuclear, and I'm not as opposed to it as many, even though one of the suggested sites will be 70kms upwind from me for about 4 months of the year. Better stock up on an emergency supply of iodine tablets. They would do the job needed.
    But were you blokes out of the country for a while earlier in the year? Let me fill you in, we had a federal election. One mob put forward a commitment to nuclear power, the other mob didn't. The mob that didn't won by its highest ever margin, shit the poll was first called 35 minutes after the booths closed. Obviously other issues were involved as well of course, but it does mean that the industry or government won't start planning to go nuclear for several more years.
    So if the lights start going out, are you blokes agitating against the only forms of power stations people want to build gonna pat yourself on the back proudly and say I helped do that?

    Quoting Jay-Dee on 05 Jul 2025 02:40 PMedited: 05 Jul 2025 04:11 PM

    The mob that didn't put forward a commitment to nuclear power won with a huge majority, but ironically with a slightly smaller primary vote than the very same mob lost the previous unlosable election, figure that one out. I think you will find that it had less to do with nuclear, more about the likeability of the party leaders and how they targeted their preferences. Peter Dutton just didn't appeal to most people as they want somebody warm and fuzzy and that's not his style, plus conservatives as a whole are being bred out of society.


    The simple fact is that you can't run the entire power system with the variability of wind and solar and the amount of batteries that you would need to back them up is beyond comprehension. Supply must be able to meet demand or there is no demand, it can't be clearer than that. Gas stations backing up like they talk about has its issues as well and they don't come cheaply, either to build or run.

    Then there are little things (among others) called power system stability, inertia and fault level which can't be achieved without large synchronous machines with coal, nuclear, gas or hydro driving them or a shit load of synchronous compensators. Wind and solar have a fakable degree of it but they are electronically connected, not synchronously so it's limited, especially in less interconnected networks.

    If this country wants to have a secure, reliable power system without coal (as it is now demonised irrespective of how efficient a new station might be compared to something that's forty years old) and these dreamers want to achieve net zero then they have to embrace nuclear or find something else reliable and clean burning to drive big turbines, very quickly. Hydro is great, when there's water but if you listen to the climate doomsdayers we are going to have more droughts in the future so that option has its limitations as well. Everything has its positives and negatives but people on either side of the argument only want to see what supports their side and conveniently ignore the negatives. 

    The fact is it has been dragged out for way too long because no government has had the balls to either build new coal/gas stations or look seriously at nuclear as an option and before too much longer we are going to be in deep shit. My advice is buy a decent generator, I will be.

    I reckon the country told Dutton to piss off more because of who he got into bed with rather than Albo is warm and fuzzy, lay with dogs you catch fleas, libs only got 20% of primary votes, 80% voted for some other mob, labour only got 34% of primary votes, again a shitful turnout but preferences gave them 94 seats to 43, the low primary votes all around should be telling all the parties that a great deal of the population has lost faith in all of them, the libs were firmly rejected on preferences though so they have lots of work to do there but labour need to be looking in the mirror as well, 34% is woeful and a stronger opponent would of rolled them on that number in times gone by.
  • paulybronco
    paulybronco
    10 days ago
    This now in SA and soon coming to a state near you....."SA Power Networks introduced a new charge to export solar to the electricity grid on July 1, that it says will fund an $80 million upgrade of the state's electricity grid.
    The new charge came into effect at the same time that many solar customers saw a reduction in the amount they receive for their energy." 
    Solar is a rort in Australia, i would never have spent the money had i been told the truth about how my .25c feed in tariff would end up being .5c and then potentially cost me for exporting it back to the grid.  
  • Soapbox2627
    Soapbox2627
    10 days ago
    I changed my solar system on the day I lost my 54c, I now get 10c, thats after I charge my battery and feed to the grid, the way it is going, I may double up my battery and likely feed nothing to the grid, may not fully charge except in summer,

  • Hilly
    Hilly
    10 days ago
    I don't think I'd fork out for new solar connected to the grid either, his new subsidised battery could be a money trap as well, the VPP thing they encourage sounds like you give up control of the battery for the common good, a batteries life depends on how many cycles and depth of discharge they go through, if it's abused your 10 year battery life might be 5 years, I dunno exactly but I'd be bloody cautious about signing up.

  • obisteve
    obisteve
    10 days ago
    Given current feed in tariffs you're better off using all the power you generate yourself, by whatever means you can, and don't let any escape.
    This is from a mates system in Brisbane, best imaging I've seen of combined useage and demand, my apps won't combine that.
    You can see his pool pump come on, the yellow rectangle, the demand spikes of various appliances and all the power still exported for fuck all.
    His next step is going to be a heat pump hot water unit programed to start from the time his export generally exceeds demand, and maybe then a battery.
    He has 20 years of experience living on off grid solar, but also years of managing CBD high rise buildings and refitting them to be more energy efficient, so he knows what he's talking about.
    I've also seen him rat through a couple of boxes of old truck shock absorber bushes at a workshop in Augathella and pick one to replace an aftermarket urethane front engine mount on his FXR that had broken up down the road.
    And I probably should add again that the low feed in tariffs are a result of the early retailer subsidised tarriffs coming to an end because they'd been so successful.
    Market economics, not a rort, increased supply means lower prices (unless you're Coles or Woolworths).

    31365246301555.png
    Fine sunny day in Brisbane.
  • speedzter
    speedzter
    3 days ago
    I haven't read much of this thread, so apologies if mentioned many times, a really good "battery" is a large electric storage hot water unit, esp if you have a large family.
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21/21