Solar panel image : Public Domain | Wind turbine image: Public Domain
Poll results just released indicate an overwhelming majority of Australians want to see a greater government focus on renewable energy, even if it costs more.
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Australia’s National Electricity Market – “Don’t Panic”
Keep calm but don’t carry on as is – Grattan Institute
A new report warns of the danger of politicians panicking over the situation with Australia’s National Electricity Market and ultimately pushing electricity prices higher.
Australia’s Already Expensive Gas To Become Even More So
LNG/Cash Carrier – Image: Pline, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
A new report to be released today will state gas prices in Australia are set continue to increase for the foreseeable future.
The Climate Council’s “Pollution and Price: The Cost of Investing in Gas” will say a mad dash for cash in exporting Australia’s Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) has pushed up the price of gas power at the expense of Australian households and business. This is a result of gas prices within the country now being linked to world market prices.
Australian-Built Solar Powered Nanosatellites Launched
Dr Matthew Tetlow and the solar-powered CubeSat : University of Adelaide
Early this morning Australian time, the first Aussie-built satellites to be launched for 15 years left terra firma from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
One of the tiny nanosatellites, or CubeSats, was built at University of Adelaide and is being delivered along with two other locally-made devices by NASA on an Atlas V rocket bound for the International Space Station.
Australian Company To Elon Musk: We’ll Supply Twice The Storage in 100 Days For Half The Price
Aggregated, wireless power transfer can enable massive storage to be rolled out very quickly and very cheaply.
These are, quite literally, dark days for national energy security.
The South Australian grid is in disarray and blackouts threaten to engulf other states as soon as summer rolls around again or adverse weather conditions strike. [Read more…]
Tindo Solar, Australia’s Only Solar Panel Manufacturer, Bought By SA’s Cool or Cosy
Tindo Solar is now owned by SA company ‘Cool or Cosy’.
Tindo Solar, Australia’s only manufacturer of Solar panels has been bought by South Australia’s insulation, solar installation, and energy efficiency company Cool or Cosy.
The deal was announced on… Well actually, it hasn’t been announced yet1. But since I’m from Queensland, obviously I know Julian Assange, so you can trust me to know all the secrets. [Read more…]
Australian Politicians Confuse Wind Power And Powerful Winds
Which of our elected politicians can tell the difference? Read on to find out…
Yesterday all of South Australia was blacked out and parts of the state are still without grid power today. This occurred because a powerful storm damaged transmission lines and the entire state grid automatically shut down as a safety precaution to prevent more damage.
Restarting a grid after a complete shutdown is complex and requires several hours. And it took several hours for grid power to start to be restored.
There is no mystery to what happened. It is very simple:
1. There was a really big storm.
2. Transmission lines were damaged.
3. The grid shut down automatically as a safety precaution, like it should have.
If you don’t believe power lines were damaged by strong winds, here is a picture of high voltage, steel girder, transmission towers near Port Augusta. The wind bent them over so their tops touch the ground.
This picture shows how unusual the situation was. Transmission towers do not normally lie down on the ground to take a rest.
In addition to gale force winds there were also so many lightning strikes they would have been countless if someone hadn’t counted them and tornadoes. As more detailed information is reported we will probably learn if it was lightning strikes, gale force winds, or a big willy willy that provided the straw that safety precautioned the camel’s back. [Read more…]
WA Solar Power: a template for the future of energy in Australia
WA leads the way for solar power adoption
A recent study underlining the popularity of rooftop solar in WA has given Australians a glimpse into the country’s solar-driven energy future. For a survey conducted by Curtin University that has everyone talking is the one that shows power generated from rooftop solar systems in the state’s South-West Interconnected System (SWIS) produce as much energy as the state’s largest power station.
“We are in the extraordinary position of saying that Perth [SWIS] now has rooftop solar as the largest supplier of electricity, it’s the biggest power station in WA,” said Curtin University sustainability professor Peter Newman to the ABC AM program.
He added that the area currently has 20 percent coverage of solar panels, though this was just the beginning. [Read more…]
Uncertainty in Australian solar policy rears its ugly head
CEO of First Solar reacts to Abbott’s latest speech on energy policy
One recurring, if unfortunate, theme of these pages has been the constant spectre of uncertainty in Australian solar policy. We’ve ranted before about why Australia should be led by more forward thinking pollies in both Canberra and the state capitals but bugger it, when you’re onto a good thing, why not continue?
So here goes, Rant #234 about the paucity of Australian solar policy leadership… [Read more…]
Australia’s capital leads country in commercial solar
Stop The Press! Something positive out of Canberra!
The feverish activity in Canberra continues. Kevin Rudd (aka The Milky Bar Kid) is PM this week apparently. But we thought we’d pop down the road to the seat of the far more interesting ACT territory government for this week’s solar news. For it is here that Australian commercial solar history is being made. (See our previous rant on the development of this solar farm).
Overshadowed by the shenanigans of their Fed cousins, the ACT government recently passed legislation which will see the country’s largest commercial solar farm built at Royalla. The facility, just outside the nation’s capital, has been the subject of bitter debate but the ACT’s Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development Simon “Solar” Corbell, in standing his ground against well-organised protests, pointed out the many benefits the farm will bring to the territory. [Read more…]
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