The Briefing Room

General Category => Science, Technology and Knowledge => Energy => Topic started by: To-Whose-Benefit? on December 22, 2017, 10:47:54 am

Title: Renewables World: Australia Plans For Blackouts, Throws Billions But ABC Says It Will 'Get Better'
Post by: To-Whose-Benefit? on December 22, 2017, 10:47:54 am

JoNova

[excerpt]

http://joannenova.com.au/2017/12/welcome-to-renewables-world-australia-plans-for-blackouts-throws-billions-of-dollars-but-it-will-get-cheaper/ (http://joannenova.com.au/2017/12/welcome-to-renewables-world-australia-plans-for-blackouts-throws-billions-of-dollars-but-it-will-get-cheaper/)

The fear is palpable

How much fun can you have living in a global experiment?  In Australia, peak summer is about to hit in a post-Hazelwood-electricity-grid.  There’s a suite of committee reports as summer ramps up. Everyday there’s another Grid story in the press, and a major effort going on to avoid a meltdown.  Minister Josh Frydenberg announced today that “we’ve done everything possible to prevent mass blackouts”. Or as he calls it, a repeat of the South Australian Horror Show.   Politicians are so afraid of another SA-style-system-black that they are throwing money: The “Snowy Hydro Battery” will be another $2 billion. Whatever. It’s other people’s money.
This is what they are afraid of:

The red bars mean “Reserve Shortfall”. The dark blue matter is “Generation”. The graph covers two years (sorry about the quality) so the two red bursts are summer 2018 and summer 2019.

(https://s3.amazonaws.com/jo.nova/graph/energy/electricity/aust/nem/sa-forecast-nov16-2017.gif)

Oddly we are headed for a critical time, but this’s the most recent graph I can find  — thanks to Wattclarity –  from November 16th, 2017. (Here’s an earlier version from March 2017. and from Dec 2016). Perhaps there is a newer kinder forecast, but curiously the AEMO Medium Term Outloook page isn’t working “til early 2018″. Hmm? Odd time to take it down.