AD South Australia’s remarkable 100 per cent renewables run extends to over 10 days

[Scott]

Iberdrola's Lake Bonney Wind farm (supplied).

 

South Australia has just chalked up what is undoubtedly a world first – a run of more than 10 consecutive days over which the average production of wind and solar accounted for 100 per cent of local demand.

 

No other gigawatt scale grid in the world has come close to this amount of “variable renewable energy”, or for such a long time.

 

RenewEconomy reported on Monday that South Australia had just enjoyed a seven day run of wind and solar that produced more than 104 per cent of average demand.

 

https://reneweconomy.com.au/south-australias-remarkable-100-per-cent-renewables-run-extends-to-over-10-days/

[still kicking]

And the electricity prices are still sky high

[placeholder]

6 hours ago, still kicking said:

And the electricity prices are still sky high

Really, at some points they were disconnecting the solar and wind generating facilities because the price of electricity had reached zero.

From the article:

"McConnell puts the wind curtailment at 10 per cent of the theoretical potential, and large scale solar at a hefty 35 per cent of theoretical potential.

The principal reason for this is economic curtailment, particularly in the middle of the day when rooftop solar takes centre stage and was accounting for up to 92 per cent of demand by itself, sending prices negative. Some wind and solar farms are obliged to switch off when the prices fall below zero."

If prices are high in Australia blame gas and coal. Gas has always been costly in Australia and now coal is, too.

 

Edited December 24, 2022 by placeholder

[Tug]

Great!I just wish there was a better way to store the energy there’s plenty of it out there for the harvesting!!

[placeholder]

1 minute ago, Tug said:

Great!I just wish there was a better way to store the energy there’s plenty of it out there for the harvesting!!

Actually, better ways are coming online now. Zinc based and Iron based storage are 2 of the methods.

 

Rusty Batteries Could Greatly Improve Grid Energy Storage
Iron-air batteries have a “reversible rust” cycle that could store and discharge energy for far longer and at less cost than lithium-ion technology

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/rusty-batteries-could-greatly-improve-grid-energy-storage/

 

Zinc-Air Energy Storage Race Just Got Hotter, Too
This next-generation energy storage system is based on rechargeable zinc-air technology with a flow battery twist, for long duration, low cost, and scalability.

https://cleantechnica.com/2022/07/18/zinc-air-energy-storage-race-just-got-hotter-too/

[thaibeachlovers]

On 12/24/2022 at 6:53 AM, still kicking said:

And the electricity prices are still sky high

Renewable are probably WHY prices are sky high.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 12/24/2022 at 1:54 PM, Tug said:

Great!I just wish there was a better way to store the energy there’s plenty of it out there for the harvesting!!

LOL.

Make it cheaper and people will use more of it.

[ozimoron]

On 12/24/2022 at 12:53 AM, still kicking said:

And the electricity prices are still sky high

You'd better get used to that. Fighting climate change won't be cheap. It might have been a lot better if we'd started a few years ago but the usual suspects, funded by fossil fuel industries, have been fighting any action tooth and nail.

[SatEng]

I would question the assertion in the article that this is a "world first"

Costa Rica ran on 100% renewables for 300 days out of 365 in 2015, including 76 straight days, if you include hydro-electric and geo-thermal in the renewables category and not just wind and solar.

Iceland and Paraguay are also close to 100% renewables with fossil fuels only as emergency backup - different renewable technologies are appropriate for different countries, regions, areas etc.

There are many other areas - albeit smaller than an Australian state - which have much longer periods of using only solar and wind.

The journalism in this article strikes me as being a bit deficient being a copy and paste from articles published by the SA energy authority.

 

Edited December 25, 2022 by SatEng

[placeholder]

10 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Renewable are probably WHY prices are sky high.

What planet are you on? Electricity got expensive because the price of natural gas and coal skyrocketed.

[placeholder]

10 hours ago, SatEng said:

I would question the assertion in the article that this is a "world first"

Costa Rica ran on 100% renewables for 300 days out of 365 in 2015, including 76 straight days, if you include hydro-electric and geo-thermal in the renewables category and not just wind and solar.

Iceland and Paraguay are also close to 100% renewables with fossil fuels only as emergency backup - different renewable technologies are appropriate for different countries, regions, areas etc.

There are many other areas - albeit smaller than an Australian state - which have much longer periods of using only solar and wind.

The journalism in this article strikes me as being a bit deficient being a copy and paste from articles published by the SA energy authority.

 

I think this is the basis of the claim: "No other gigawatt scale grid in the world has come close to this amount of “variable renewable energy”, or for such a long time."

Variable renewable energy. So hydropower doesn't count.

[SatEng]

13 minutes ago, placeholder said:

I think this is the basis of the claim: "No other gigawatt scale grid in the world has come close to this amount of “variable renewable energy”, or for such a long time."

Variable renewable energy. So hydropower doesn't count.

No. read the article. The "world first" comment referred to the 10-day run on renewables

[placeholder]

1 minute ago, SatEng said:

No. read the article. The "world first" comment referred to the 10-day run on renewables

Read the first sentence again. Boldface is mine.

South Australia has just chalked up what is undoubtedly a world first – a run of more than 10 consecutive days over which the average production of wind and solar accounted for 100 per cent of local demand.

[SatEng]

1 minute ago, placeholder said:

Read the first sentence again. Boldface is mine.

South Australia has just chalked up what is undoubtedly a world first – a run of more than 10 consecutive days over which the average production of wind and solar accounted for 100 per cent of local demand.

precisely - nothing to do with the gigawatt scale grid that you were asserted in your last post - changing your mind now and trying to cover your error?

Learn to read first before commenting

[SatEng]

11 minutes ago, placeholder said:

Read the first sentence again. Boldface is mine.

South Australia has just chalked up what is undoubtedly a world first – a run of more than 10 consecutive days over which the average production of wind and solar accounted for 100 per cent of local demand.

And to give you another example

"In 2008, Rock Port, a small farm town in northwest Missouri, became the first community in America to be powered entirely by wind energy. Four large wind turbines are connected to the power grid and provide Rock Port’s 1,300 residents with more electricity than they can use."

 

So the claim is not valid unless you define the size of community you are talking about - which the article did not.

[stevenl]

6 minutes ago, SatEng said:

And to give you another example

"In 2008, Rock Port, a small farm town in northwest Missouri, became the first community in America to be powered entirely by wind energy. Four large wind turbines are connected to the power grid and provide Rock Port’s 1,300 residents with more electricity than they can use."

 

So the claim is not valid unless you define the size of community you are talking about - which the article did not.

Which is all immaterial. Renewables are becoming more and more practical, that's the point.

[placeholder]

1 hour ago, SatEng said:

precisely - nothing to do with the gigawatt scale grid that you were asserted in your last post - changing your mind now and trying to cover your error?

Learn to read first before commenting

Where did i mention gigawatt scale? Or any scale? Scale never entered into anything I asserted. 

 

1 hour ago, SatEng said:

And to give you another example

"In 2008, Rock Port, a small farm town in northwest Missouri, became the first community in America to be powered entirely by wind energy. Four large wind turbines are connected to the power grid and provide Rock Port’s 1,300 residents with more electricity than they can use."

 

So the claim is not valid unless you define the size of community you are talking about - which the article did not.

Well, now you're introducing a different piece of evidence. It may well be valid. But it's not what you originally were objecting to. And as stevenl pointed out, is it significant? 

But since you want to nitpick, here's the last paragraph of the article you linked to:

"Of course, the wind doesn't always blow in Rock Port, and on days when it's still, residents buy power off the grid. But on most days, the wind generates enough power for the city to export energy. Residents hope their status as the nation's first wind-powered city will help them stop exporting another valuable commodity: its people."

Most isn't all. And most can any number greater than 50% and less than 100%. Nothing at all about consecutive days in this article.

 

[Rimmer]

An inflammatory post accusing another member of lying has been removed.

 

Also, off-topic, troll posts removed. -- Scott