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 > Drifting back to diesel power > Comments

Drifting back to diesel power : Comments

By Viv Forbes, published 28/4/2017

When I was a kid on a dairy farm in Queensland, we relied on green energy. The only 'non-green' energy used was a bit of kerosene.

  1. Pages:
  2. Page 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. All
I read this article in Pickering Post.It takes me back to the country town of where I was born and bred. The town's power supply was a diesel in a shed near the railway station. It worked very well, and "outages" were nowhere near the problem they are in Adelaide 2017.
Posted by ttbn, Friday, 28 April 2017 11:00:45 AM
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
Yes Viv, electricity grids powered by wind and solar will require a 'diesel in the shed' - at least some fuelled standby for those long cold winter periods. Open cycle gas turbines, which can run on gaseous or liquid fuels including biofuels are best for this purpose as they are relatively cheap and fast ramping. So having this standby, combined with storage - battery, pumped hydro, molten salt or combinations of these - is cost efficient and there are already many of them operating on the SWIS grid to back up coal.

Have a look at http://www.sen.asn.au/swis_coal_retirement_2021_1
Click 'briefing note's and read how WA can go to >90% wind and solar electricity for less cost than the existing coal / gas system. It will become even cost effective relative to fossil fuels as gas prices rise and solar costs fall below $50/ MWh and wind below $60/ MWh as is predicted. A website worth you reading is Renew Economy. This article on PV cost trends is enlightening http://reneweconomy.com.au/lazard-solar-pv-storage-costs-fall-2016/
Posted by Roses1, Friday, 28 April 2017 11:38:33 AM
Find out more about this user Visit this user's webpage Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Great post Viv, thankyou, but I doubt you will get through to those who don't want to know.

When someone knowingly tells you a total untruth they are called a liar.

Are they still a liar if they have been so thoroughly conned that they actually believe what they are telling you?

What do you call someone who is well enough educated to see through the con job, if they would just look at all the information available on the subject?

What is wrong with the English language, that we don't have a word that covers this situation?

What ever they should be called, Roses1 is obviously one of them, along with a fair number of others who frequent this site.

Hey hang on, we do at least have a term if not a single word. Useful idiot does cover it fairly well, if not completely.
Posted by Hasbeen, Friday, 28 April 2017 12:13:30 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
Hasbeen you continue your usual egregious trolling without any substantiated arguments. Readers with half a brain can see right though your game. You know that the biggest liar is yourself. You apparently gain some perverse please from trolling but it won't deter honest contributors like myself.
Posted by Roses1, Friday, 28 April 2017 1:13:46 PM
Find out more about this user Visit this user's webpage Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Roses 1

You being one of those readers with "half a brain"?
Posted by ttbn, Friday, 28 April 2017 1:21:30 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
Lazy, deceptive article.

The "before candles" joke previously applied to Auckland when they had an extended outage in the late '90s. It doesn't translate well to SA: most Croweaters had their power restored before they even had an opportunity to buy candles. The exceptions were mainly due to power line damage by tornadoes; nothing to do with renewables.

And the so called "burst of green destruction" was nothing of the sort. SA did not close any gas fired power stations; there had been a plan to close one of them, but that plan was abandoned after the closure of the last coal fired power station was announced.

AIUI there was a time when SA was hurriedly bringing in diesel generators: in early 2001, after the investment drought of the 1990s and before any wind turbines were there.
Posted by Aidan, Friday, 28 April 2017 2:06:28 PM
Find out more about this user Visit this user's webpage Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
  1. Pages:
  2. Page 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. All

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