The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
The Forum - On Line Opinion's article discussion area



Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Main Articles General

Sign In      Register

The Forum > Article Comments > How governments have destroyed the world’s most efficient energy market > Comments

How governments have destroyed the world’s most efficient energy market : Comments

By Alan Moran, published 30/3/2017

Hazelwood’s closure takes out 11 per cent of the Victorian-South Australian capacity of fossil and hydro availability.

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. Page 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. All
"In a statement plumbing the depths of credibility, the electricity market manager, AEMO, maintains that  the closure of Hazelwood will not compromise the security of the Victoria electricity system nor the broader National Electricity Market (NEM) next summer.  Looking around it says that there are adequate supply sources available to cover the loss of Hazelwood’s 1600 MW of reliable baseload power."

Catching the wishful-thinking disease of our PM, and Victorian and SA Premiers, does not inspire confidence in AEMO's capability and credibility.
Posted by Raycom, Thursday, 30 March 2017 12:14:57 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
A thorium based energy supply, would have several things going for it! #1, we have abundant thorium resources, thanks to the fact that there isn't a national market for it that our dig it up and sell it politicians couldn't access?

#2, It's is easy to find via airborne geographical electronic prospecting as significant alluvial prospects! [And previously used as an indicator mineral. We have enough to keep the lights on and industry rolling for a thousand years and thousands more if we start to mine igneous rock.]

#3, because as much as 95% of this material is consumed in the reactor! It'll out perform enriched uranium by around 180+ refueling cycles!

#4, Thorium produces far les waste and that waste is far less toxic and eminently suitable as long life space batteries!

#5,Thorium is carbon free power!

#6, thorium is less radioactive than a banana, is fertile not fissile!

#7, walkaway safe molten salt thorium reactors can be tasked with providing medical isotopes and without shutting down the reactor, which works at normal atmospheric pressure! Ditto adding spent nuclear waste to safely burn and reburn it until the remnant half life is reduced to just 300 years!

#8, And have other nations pay us billions for the service!

#9, For the money Malcolm is willing to stump up for a pump up snowy expansion 2 billion plus, we could build 20 or so walk away safe, molten salt, thorium reactors?

We need around 2.5 billion to build a new coal fired generator, or comparable large scale solar thermal, (which also uses thorium and lithium fluoride salt as the heat transferring mechanism) or 5 billion+ for a traditional nuclear, [uranium fueled], reactor!?

What we have destroyed with highly flawed ideological imperative, privatise or perish, is affordable energy and our manufacturing capacity/sector!
Alan B.
Posted by Alan B., Thursday, 30 March 2017 12:44:47 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Hazelwood officially lasted 46 years, lithium batteries last 10 years maybe. I read that the primary heat exchanger in a molten salt thorium reactor may need replacing every 4 years due to corrosion. A new design light water nuclear nuclear might last 60 years. The cooling pond, switchyard, transmission lines and some of the workforce at Hazelwood might suit a nuclear plant. That would be quite a shift from 1510 grams of Scope 2 emissions per kwh down to 12 grams.

What role Hazelwood fulfilled may take some blackouts or load shedding combined with power price rises to become clear. I'm not sure are politicians are capable of getting us back to the old days of reliable power.
Posted by Taswegian, Thursday, 30 March 2017 2:12:21 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
“What role Hazelwood fulfilled may take some blackouts or load shedding combined with power price rises to become clear. I'm not sure are politicians are capable of getting us back to the old days of reliable power.”

For starters, Weatherill, Andrews and Turnbull are incapable of getting us back to the old days of reliable power.
Posted by Raycom, Thursday, 30 March 2017 2:44:13 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Turnbull does not have the nouse to do anything. Look at the NBN. I think SA will Devore itself from the interconnector and go it alone.
Good luck to SA for looking after their own. They are not in the business of sharing their system with anyone. A E MO has run its race and lost.
Posted by doog, Thursday, 30 March 2017 2:44:25 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Weatherill has now done a shifty deal with one of the big generators so they will guarantee electricity to South Australia first. Good idea, although it will cost buggerlugs Andrews his Victorian job.
I have to agree with some of the previous comments regarding the regulator but the real way to fix this is tell them any break downs/brown outs will cost ALL the executives their jobs. That is out the door with no golden parachute and no provision for any legal action.
Lets start a new way of executive action, you either perform or out the door! Of course public service salaries have to start being reduced not increased. Do not say "Pay peanuts get monkeys" We have been getting monkeys so let us start paying peanuts.
Posted by JBowyer, Thursday, 30 March 2017 3:46:12 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. Page 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. All

About Us :: Search :: Discuss :: Feedback :: Legals :: Privacy