Sarian - why did you bother us with a press release from island with wind/pumped storage facility? We know how they work, and certainly agree that they might actually be of use on an island served by just a diesel system which would be horribly expensive at the moment. We would be more interested in costs and time of operation. How much of a substitute is it for the diesel system? What are the costs?

These are the hard questions that Diesendorf and others simply do not want to face.

According to the Macquarie Dictionary, Curmudgeon means ‘an irascible, churlish, miserly fellow’, which is an appropriate description based on his/her posting. This person is miserly with the truth, as anyone who visits the references I cited to 100% renewable energy scenarios can see. They are not ‘activist assurances’ as Curmudgeon claims, but detailed studies, some of them hour-by-hour computer simulations, by scientists and engineers.

Furthermore, Curmudgeon’s claim that solar power stations have to be located in alpine desert environments is nonsense. Almost anywhere west of the Great Dividing Range is suitable for concentrated solar thermal power in Australia.

Tombee objects to subsidies to renewable energy, but all new energy sources are subsidised initially. Nuclear power is still heavily subsidised after 50 years of supposed commercial operation. Fossil energy is subsidised in that its prices do not incorporate the huge environmental and health costs they impose on people and the planet.

Shadow Minister, concentrated solar thermal power stations with thermal storage are well beyond the experimental and demonstration stages. They are generally classified as 'pre-commercial', which means 'limited mass production'. They will be fully commercial long before commercial nuclear power or coal power with carbon capture and storage exist in Australia.

"According to the Macquarie Dictionary, Curmudgeon means ‘an irascible, churlish, miserly fellow’, which is an appropriate description based on his/her posting. This person is miserly with the truth, as anyone who visits the references I cited to 100% renewable energy scenarios can see."

wow check out the thin skinned science type, who doesn't like disagreement with his ideas ..

next ..

After I read the author's biography I was surprised he made such a
dopey statement that night time is a low demand time.
For his information it gets quiet dark around 5pm just before the
ovens and stoves go on for the evening meal. The tv is almost certainly
on also at that time. Oh, don't forget the reverse cycle air conditioner.

The Germans discovered that the wind can also drop to calm everywhere
at the same time.

Geothermal, hot rocks is the great possibility.

Mark,

Pre commercial essentially means not yet commercially viable.

At a cost of about 40c/kWhr Solar thermal storage is 4x the cost of nuclear or any other form of renewable power.

Given the 200ha the 50MW (average 20MW) occupies, economies of scale are difficult, and if built in central Australia, where the sunshine time is greatest, the huge water consumption would be a problem.

So while it might look promising, it is still decades away from approaching viable. The base load myth is far from busted.

You know, the idea of pumped storage just might work even in a “clever country”. For instance the Blue Mountains are not out of reach from Sydney and I am sure that there would be sites there that could be used as storage.
It could even perhaps alleviate the incredible cost of running desal plants for potable water for the City.
That is just one place along the whole NSW coast,
I am pretty sure although I am not into surveying that as most of Australia’s population live in the coastal strip that it would be feasible in most States. Certainly in Tasmania.
But of course the Greenhouse mafia would object to this strenuously.
When you consider that the WA premier thinks that his canal from the Kimberley’s is “all down hill” and the water will run down with gravity, anything is possible.