South Australia Energy Experiment Continued....

[SHOZ]

Australian Firm Issues Tender for 640 MWh of Energy Storage Services

Brisbane, Australia-based Lyon Group yesterday said it is seeking interest for contracts to cover up to 640 MWh of storage capacity across Victoria, South Australia and Queensland.

The company said that the market services tender includes a new $600 million combined large-scale solar and battery storage project at Nowingi in north-west Victoria. Construction is set to begin on the Nowingi project this summer.

“Lyon is able to offer multiple services from the same battery system, and flexibility in contract size to accommodate various users,” Lyon Group Partner David Green said in a June 20 statement. “Lyon will enter into commercial contracts for real services provided by physical assets. This is not a theoretical exercise.”

The tender also includes services from the already announced Cape York solar-storage project, with a solar capacity of 55 MW and storage capacity of 20 MW/80 MWh; and the Riverland solar-storage project, with a solar capacity of 330 MW and storage capacity of 100 MW/400 MWh, according to the company’s website

 

[Shannow]

https://www.lazard.com/perspective/levelized-cost-of-storage-2017/

Lazard's Levelised Cost of Storage...to convert into cents per KWh divide number by 10...i.e. the $282/MWh for Li is 28.2c/KWh round trip lifecycle cost, assuming that it was charged with free electricty.


https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/...ysis#gs.1TQJBAs

Quote:
As an example, Lazard calculated that utility-scale crystalline-silicon PV now has an LCOE range of $46 to $53 per megawatt-hour of generation -- less than the lowest levelized cost for coal, at $60, or natural gas, at $68. But adding a battery and bidirectional inverter to the PV system to deliver 10 hours of storage with a 52 percent capacity factor brought the cost up to $82 per megawatt-hour.
.
.
.
“Although alternative energy is increasingly cost-competitive and storage technology holds great promise, alternative energy systems alone will not be capable of meeting the baseload generation needs of a developed economy for the foreseeable future,”



Today's news is that Australia's Quality of life index has declined in recent years due to increasing energy bills

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2017/12/11/energy-poverty-low-income-australia/

Quote:
About 42,000 large, low-income families will take the greatest hit from rising energy prices, with Australian children being the biggest victims, according to new research.

Using census data and the Household Expenditure Survey (HES), a KPMG report released on Monday suggested that large families with a low income are the most vulnerable to “energy poverty” due to increasing gas and electricity bills.

About 12 per cent of an average, low-income family of five’s weekly income is absorbed by these expenses every week – about $78 of their weekly earnings of $650.



In preparation for summer, the market operator has employed a bunch of strategies. Not just getting refrigerated supermarket storage sites to run their backup diesel generators (pretty green eh ???)

https://www.aemo.com.au/Media-Centre/AEMO-releases-summer-readiness-report-for-2017-18

Quote:
AEMO identified the need to enact the RERT procurement process following analysis highlighting a risk to power supply across Victoria and South Australia on extreme consumer demand periods for the coming summer. The RERT mechanism also facilitates the 143 MW of demand response across Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales procured through the joint AEMO and ARENA demand response trial.

“As the independent market and system operator, AEMO’s primary role is to maintain system balance by procuring resources to meet the demands of the system at a time and at a location where it is necessary.


This year market operator will be paying industry to stop using electricity during the peaks.

Oh, and per the other thread, it's pointless digging holes and filling them in again to look green...you really SHOULD get more energy out of those systems than you invest...a factor of 1.5 or 2 is ridiculous.

 

[PimTac]

Maybe this is the greenies ultimate idea? Make electricity so expensive that no one will use it thus reducing human impact on “global warming”.

 

[SHOZ]

Tesla’s Battery in Australia Is Surpassing Expectations

Following the early success of the South Australia model, Victoria has also secured an agreement to get its own Tesla battery built near the town of Stawell. Victoria’s government will be tracking the Hornsdale battery’s early performance with interest.

Generation and Consumption

Over the full month of December, the Hornsdale power reserve generated 2.42 GWh of energy, and consumed 3.06 GWh.

Since there are losses associated with energy storage, it is a net consumer of energy. This is often described in terms of “round trip efficiency,” a measure of the energy out to the energy in. In this case, the round trip efficiency appears to be roughly 80 percent.

The figure below shows the input and output from the battery over the month. As can be seen, on several occasions the battery has generated as much as 100 MW of power, and consumed 70 MW of power. The regular operation of the battery moves between generating 30 MW and consuming 30 MW of power.

Generation and consumption of the Hornsdale Power Reserve on the 6th of Jan 2018

The Hornsdale Power Reserve responding to a drop in system frequency.

 

[OVERKILL]

I don't like the term "generated" here, because it is storage, not generation. Batteries don't generate power.

They also don't list the cost of that round-trip storage. Is it paid per kWh?

 

[Yah-Tah-Hey]

I didn't know Australia uses fifty cycle power. Why is that?

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
I don't like the term "generated" here, because it is storage, not generation. Batteries don't generate power.

They also don't list the cost of that round-trip storage. Is it paid per kWh?


Agree, it is really a "capacitor" in the grid. Regarding to "round trip cost", I think a lot of the time they are paid to take power when there's over supply (i.e. so the coal plants don't have to shut down and start back up) at night and then sell it back for a revenue.

Recently there are lots of new politics going around that said net metering will go away soon, so what you generated on your solar panel may not be paid for or fed into the grid when it is in low demand.

Having gone through Enron bankrupting our PG&E and causing rolling black out during the 2000s, I'd say buffering and not having monopoly power during peak hours is good. Based on my PG&E Smart Rate plan a few years back, if you can eliminate these peak hours (2pm-7pm) for 15 days/year, you can lower your rate 2c/kwh throughout the entire year.

Just because you can generate doesn't mean you can get it for cheap.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: PimTac
Maybe this is the greenies ultimate idea? Make electricity so expensive that no one will use it thus reducing human impact on “global warming”.



It is also the generators' idea too. See my Enron example above and how just 15 days of peak load (at 60c/kwh) ended up costing the rest of the year 2c/kwh more (at 16kwh). The fundamental issue is demand is not "stable" and you have to over build capacity one way or another, having an unstable supplier like solar and wind makes it even harder, but not having them you still have either price gouging or over capacity.

 

[Shannow]

SHOZ have been waiting for that...here's the next one....

https://electrek.co/2018/01/14/teslas-ma...-charge-itself/

The comments from the koolaid drinkers below the article are utterly amazing.

Note that the battery is being used as an arbitrage machine, not for the good of humanity. It's being operated to maximise revenue, not grid stability.

In order to charge itself 70-80% means it was running at 20%, and wasn't there in case the wind dropped...and again, the battery is 6% of an hour's demand in South Australia, and contributes 0.05% of the connected NEM when discharging.

Look at the cycles in you article (well either), and tell me that's conductive for the battery achieving a 25 year life...Industry analysts reckon that this mode of operation limits life to 5 years.

 

[Shannow]

Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
I don't like the term "generated" here, because it is storage, not generation. Batteries don't generate power.

They also don't list the cost of that round-trip storage. Is it paid per kWh?


Lazard's levelised cost of storage reckons that the round trip through a lithium battery is worth around $250/MWh per free MWh, losses included.

So there has to be a $250/MWh difference for the battery to be workable in a market....thus the arbitrage machine.

Originally Posted By: PandaBear
Agree, it is really a "capacitor" in the grid. Regarding to "round trip cost", I think a lot of the time they are paid to take power when there's over supply (i.e. so the coal plants don't have to shut down and start back up) at night and then sell it back for a revenue.



Coal plant turndown is a myth being perpetuated...they can run 35% to 100% any time of the day or night.

As I've posted many, many times. In order to harvest the same MWh in a 24 hour period, you need to replace 1,000MW thermal with 3,000MW nameplate of wind, or 4,000MW nameplete of solar...then have somewhere to store it until you need it (at $250/MWh - 25c/KWh).

At the point they are coming into the system as disruptive, they push the price down, and drive players out of business (as has been done in SA), then if there's no storage they push the price negative until storage is built...enough for 16 hours + not assuming cloudy windless days.

This tesla battery can soak up 80MWh of surplus generation...that's less then 0.3% of today's Electricity in South Australia (which makes one wonder what on earth the headlines that keep attracting people are there for, doesn't it).

Quote:
Recently there are lots of new politics going around that said net metering will go away soon, so what you generated on your solar panel may not be paid for or fed into the grid when it is in low demand.


Oz paid people 60c/KWh for rooftop, then 40c, and now about 10c, with retail rates at 30c/KWh to buy.

They HAVE to drop net metering, it makes no sense your panels all generating at the same price that it costs to meet the evening peak.

Look at the Hawaiian tarrif rates to see what the future is.

I discussed this with a 30 year veteran in Electricity markets about 3 years ago that "off peak" hot water and EV charging between 11PM and 4AM was going to go the way of the dodo, and their modelling was consistant with that...Hawaii and Ca are showing that to be a fact.

 

[Shannow]

Breaking news...heatwave across the Australian Electricity grid.

South Australia goes to $14,000/MWh ($14 per KWh) for hours...and the mega battery didn't stop it. Market operator had to intervene, and suspend market operation, fixing the price at 14c.

BTW, only just realised that the 2.42GW "generation" uoted for 3.6GWh import is a round trip efficiency of 67%...that's utterly woeful...

 

[OVERKILL]

Another fun update to this:

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/02/04/tes...outh-australia/

Quote:
But Musk and his audacity have caused the scales to fall from the eyes of more people Down Under. Now, Tesla and the government of South Australia have announced a stunning new project that could change how electricity is generated not only in Australia but in every country in the world. They plan to install rooftop solar system on 50,000 homes in the next 4 years and link them them together with grid storage facilities to create the largest virtual solar power plant in history.

And here’s the kicker: The rooftop solar systems will be free.

The cost of the project will be recouped over time by selling the electricity generated to those who consume it. “We will use people’s homes as a way to generate energy for the South Australian grid, with participating households benefiting with significant savings in their energy bills,” says South Australia’s premier Jay Weatherill. “More renewable energy means cheaper power for all South Australians.”


However, the article seems a tad contradictory, firstly stating:

Quote:
More renewable energy means cheaper power for all South Australians.


Then:

Quote:
South Australia has some of the highest electricity prices in the world. Electricity costs are not as high elsewhere, which means the economics may not be quite as favorable elsewhere


Now, SA power generation is, IIRC, entirely renewable in the first place. The deficit in supply/demand is made up via imports from multiple interconnects, the tripping of one of which lead to the installation of the Tesla battery.

Now, if you have some of the highest electricity prices in the world due to wind and solar, I am having a hard time with how adding rate-funded solar + storage is going to make that less expensive for anybody save for those being subsidized by the rest of the ratepayers. Reminds me a bit of Ontario's GEA disaster, which made similar claims.

 

[Shannow]

https://www.aemo.com.au/-/media/Files/Me...-in-the-NEM.pdf

Here's AEMO's view of the state of the nation now and looking forward.

Interesting is the cost of generation versus capacity factor for simple cycle GTs...obviously you need to get your money back and run them.

This year, they have had to "intervene" in the South Oz market to keep the grid stable.

On high demand, low wind days, obviously price drives the thermals and peakers into the market.

On windy days, and especially windy days with low demand, they have to FORCE the thermals and peakers into generating to provide the grid stability, and then kick some of the wind off when the interconnectors are maxxed out.

At that point, they run two sets of books...what happens to the spot price at that point, the "real" market. and what would otherwise have happened with the respective before intervention bid stacks, as though they hadn't intervened.

Each generator gets paid THAT price, for their generation, and those who are forced on or off are paid compensation.

Then there's a 100 day settlment process.

If they do it twice in one day...they have two of those processes.

 

[Shannow]

https://www.aemo.com.au/-/media/Files/El...equirements.pdf

Quote:
AEMO has published a “Power system requirements” paper to help readers understand the technical and operational needs of the power system, based on the laws of physics that remain constant even as modern power systems like the NEM transform – and explained on EnergyLive some of the key technical concepts in everyday language.

 

[Shannow]

re the whole "orderly transition"...this is through yesterday, and the heatwave.

Price is in MWh, move the decimal one to the left to convert to cents per KWh (wholesale).

 

[PimTac]

I believe I read off of your local ABC that a large generator was being fired up somewhere.

What happened to Elon's magic battery backup?

 

[Shannow]

Originally Posted by PimTac
I believe I read off of your local ABC that a large generator was being fired up somewhere.

What happened to Elon's magic battery backup?


They defended that the other day as "not being very big"

They had it at 30MW yesterday...3 hours.

 

[Cujet]

Originally Posted by Shannow

e.g. we have ones that don't let you install home panels on a suicide plug...which is a good thing.


It's common for people to use suicide cords to connect generators.

But I propose a new kind of suicide plug....

 

[fdcg27]

Originally Posted by Shannow
Originally Posted by HosteenJorje
250 MW of gas fired generation sitting idle?

NG prices have skyrocketed with Oz's exports now being a multiple factor of our domestic consumption...$9/GJ at 11AM today (Sunday), will be in the $10s or $11s during the week, more when the heating season starts.

A Decent CCGT with a heat rate of 7 (GJ/MWh) would have a fuel cost of $70/MWh (7c/KWh)...the gas thermals $120/MWh fuel costs.

The CCGTs can't make enough on the peaks to justify manning when the wind is blowing and the brown coal electricity is flowing from Victoria.


Why don't the citizens of your country enjoy the fruits of a common geologic heritage providing for ample NG reserves?
We certainly do here, as well as enjoying refined liquid products priced to reflect their newfound abundance in our land.
Why should they have to watch LNG tankers carrying away NG that could be available to them at a profit to those lucky enough to have the rights to recoverable reserves, albeit at profits smaller than those realized by carting the stuff off to NG-poor but otherwise rich nations?
This electric scheme sounds more like classic old-school crony capitalism dressed in a cheap green suit than anything reflecting any real environmental concerns.
That the greenies are eating it up like sheep in fresh pasture only makes the whole thing easier, given the reality that everyone involved is getting fat at the expense of the ratepayers.

 

[crinkles]

Originally Posted by fdcg27
Originally Posted by Shannow
Originally Posted by HosteenJorje
250 MW of gas fired generation sitting idle?

NG prices have skyrocketed with Oz's exports now being a multiple factor of our domestic consumption...$9/GJ at 11AM today (Sunday), will be in the $10s or $11s during the week, more when the heating season starts.

A Decent CCGT with a heat rate of 7 (GJ/MWh) would have a fuel cost of $70/MWh (7c/KWh)...the gas thermals $120/MWh fuel costs.

The CCGTs can't make enough on the peaks to justify manning when the wind is blowing and the brown coal electricity is flowing from Victoria.


Why don't the citizens of your country enjoy the fruits of a common geologic heritage providing for ample NG reserves?
We certainly do here, as well as enjoying refined liquid products priced to reflect their newfound abundance in our land.
Why should they have to watch LNG tankers carrying away NG that could be available to them at a profit to those lucky enough to have the rights to recoverable reserves, albeit at profits smaller than those realized by carting the stuff off to NG-poor but otherwise rich nations?
This electric scheme sounds more like classic old-school crony capitalism dressed in a cheap green suit than anything reflecting any real environmental concerns.
That the greenies are eating it up like sheep in fresh pasture only makes the whole thing easier, given the reality that everyone involved is getting fat at the expense of the ratepayers.



Couldn't have said it better. However, we need nuclear energy now, if there is to be any changing to the current situation which shall go unmentioned.