Search Results for: northern territory

Prepare For Even More Electricity Price Hikes

October 4, 2022 2022-10-04T13:12:50 by 38 Comments

Electricity price increases - Australia

It’s October and Australia’s wholesale electricity price crisis has entered its sixth month.  Massive retail electricity price hikes in the eastern states are becoming more likely (from July 2023).  These could exceed 10 cents per kilowatt-hour. 

This post is a quick update on the current situation, followed by a short whinge. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Electricity Prices

South Australia’s Electricity Has Always Been Expensive

March 5, 2018 2021-02-11T10:59:41 by 21 Comments

South Australian electricity prices

In South Australia we pay a lot for electricity.

If you feel the need to respond to that statement by saying, “Well, whoop-de-doo!  We pay a lot for electricity in Newcastle,” I will understand.  All Australians pay too much for household electricity.  This is true whether you look at historical prices or at countries you’d expect us to be similar to such as the United States or Canada. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Electricity Prices

Are millions of solar roofs making solar farms pointless?

October 31, 2014 2023-06-22T14:29:11 by 13 Comments
solar roofs and a solar field

Are solar roofs making solar power stations uneconomic?

Utility scale solar, or solar farms, are fields of PV panels which generate electricity that is fed directly into the grid.  Currently we don’t have much of this in Australia.  Over 99% of our solar capacity is point of use which is mostly on rooftops and the juice it does produce is first used to power the household or business it is on top of and then after that the excess is generally fed into the grid. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Big Solar Tagged With: ,

Will Port Augusta Point the Way to the Future of Solar Power?

November 7, 2011 2017-10-25T10:34:06 by 4 Comments

This week’s column will take you into the realms of fantasy (if you’re a talk radio shock jock or anti-renewable pollie). Yes folks we’re treading into the dangerous territory of the concept of solar energy as baseload electricity.

For years one of the constant carping criticisms aimed at renewable energy in this country has been that it won’t provide baseload power resource in the same way as good ole fossil fuel-derived power. The argument goes that when the sun stops shining, or the wind stops blowing, renewable energy cannot deliver.

While the criticism may well have been a smokescreen thrown up to keep high polluting coal plants in operation, the point is valid: how can you rely on a source of energy if the power it creates cannot be stored?

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Big Solar Tagged With:
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