SA Zinc Mine To Be Converted To Compressed Air Energy Storage Facility
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Energy News Biulletin.
This is the first paragraph.
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency has announced a $6 million spend for company Hydrostar Australia to progress the nation’s first energy storage project using compressed air, with another $3 million provided by the South Australian government’s renewable energy fund.
There are other articles about energy storage in Australia, but then I suppose the country, can create lots of solar energy during the day and storing some of it is important.Using compressed air to store energy underground, seems increasing to be mentioned in the media.
South Australia Launches AU$50 Million Fund For Grid-Scale Energy Storage
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on Energy Storage News.
This is the first paragraph.
In order to address intermittency in its grid, the South Australian Government has introduced a AU$50 million (US$36 million) Grid Scale Storage Fund (GSSF) to help accelerate the deployment of new large energy storage projects, including pumped hydro, hydrogen, gas storage, solar thermal, bioenergy and battery storage.
It is a must-read article, which shows the way progressive governments are thinking.
This Is What I Call A MOAB
Jamestown is a small Australian town of a few over fourteen hundred souls, probably home to several million flies and some of the most venomous spiders and snakes known to man.
I have never visited the town, but I must have flown nearly over it, when I flew a Piper Arrow around Australia with C.
Just to the North of the town is the Hornsdale Wind Farm, which consists of 99 wind turbines with a generating capacity of 315 MW.
But this is not what brought the wind farm to my attention in an article in today’s Times under a headline of Biggest Ever Battery Plugs City’s Energy Gap.
This is said.
The battery array was built after a high-stakes bet by Elon Musk, 46, the US technology billionaire behind Tesla electric cars, that he could meet a 100-day building deadline or he would give the system away.
Wikipedia has a section on this battery.
This is said.
South Australia received 90 proposals and considered 5 projects. Tesla, Inc. is building the world’s most powerful lithium ion battery adjacent to the wind farm. It has two sections; a 70 MW running for 10 minutes, and a 30 MW with a 3 hour capacity. Samsung 21700-size cells are used.
It will be operated by Tesla and provide a total of 129 megawatt-hours (460 GJ) of storage capable of discharge at 100 megawatts (130,000 hp) into the power grid. This will help prevent load-shedding blackouts and provide stability to the grid (grid services) while other generators can be started in the event of sudden drops in wind or other network issues. It is intended to be built in 100 days counting from 29 September 2017, when a grid connection agreement was signed with Electranet, and some units were operational. The battery construction was completed and testing began on 25 November 2017. It is owned by Neoen and Tesla, with the government having the ability to call on the stored power under certain circumstances.
It certainly seems to be the Mother-Of-All-Batteries! Hence MOAB!
The Times is reporting that the battery system has cost £30 million.
This works out at about £233,000 to store each Megawatt-Hour stored.
When you consider that we have five offshore that are bigger than the Hornsdale Wind Farm, surely it is only a matter of time before we add a battery to one.
These MOABs are an intriguing concept!
Australia’s Dual Citizenship Row
This article on the BBC is entitled Barnaby Joyce: Australia Deputy PM Disqualified From Office. This is said.
Australian Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce and four other politicians were wrongly elected because they held dual citizenship, a court has ruled.
The High Court of Australia decision means three of the politicians, including Mr Joyce, are disqualified from office. The others quit in July.
Australia’s constitution prohibits dual citizens from being elected.
So what are the rules in the UK?
This page on the UK Parliament web site is entitled Who Can Stand As An MP?. This is said.
People wishing to stand as an MP must be over 18 years of age, be a British citizen or citizen of a Commonwealth country or the Republic of Ireland
Candidates must be nominated by ten parliamentary electors of the constituency they wish to stand in.
There of course a few other rules with respect to things like criminal records.
But it would appear that Barnaby Joyce would be free to stand in a UK Parliamentary election, as he is an Australian citizen.
Andrew Bonar Law, who up until now, is the only Prime Minister born outside the British Isles, was born in Canada.
And This Happened In Victoria
I bet the other Australian states are laughing at this story of a naked man stuck in a washing machine.
I suspect too that the England cricketers are pleased, as there’s another funny story in the country.
To Australia Before Breakfast
The Royal Academy had a special show of their Australia exhibition for Friends from 08:30 to 10:00 this morning.
As my boiler is in the process of being changed and my house was extremely cold, I decided to go and took a 38 bus through the rain.
The exhibition was well worth a visit and for me, the paintings of the desert, brought back happy memories of an amazing holiday some years back, where I hired a light aircraft and flew us both round a lot of Eastern Australia.
But as there were few visitors, at that time in the morning, it was almost like your own private view.
This should be done more often.
Imagine being able to walk round an important gallery like that showing the Turners at the Tate Britain by yourself.
I don’t need to imagine, as I did that last night.
Praise For Kings Cross From Down Under
One of my Internet alerts is for Kings Cross Square and I picked up this article praising the area from the Sydney Morning Herald web site.
Afterwards, Australian visitors, will only need to go to Highgate Cemetery to feel at home.
Magnificent Skies
Living in London, you rarely get a clear sky with no light pollution.
But here in Central Sweden, about fifty kilometres north of Vasteras, we got some of the best skies I’ve ever seen.
Perhaps the best were in Alice Springs in Australia, when C and I flew around the country in a Piper Arrow. We were staying in this hotel and a local student had brought his telescope and set it up in the courtyard. He was showing anybody who wanted to view, the southern sky. Sadly, in the evening we were there, only C and I took up his offer. C would talk about it afterwards any time, we saw a magnificent sky.
My one regret on this Swedish trip, was not to bring a decent star chart with me. Another guy, who knew more than I do about astronomy, felt the same too.
It just shows how clear the skies were.
Next time, I go to the area, I’ll be better prepared.
An Explorer And His Cat
They had a news item on BBC London today about a statue to Matthew Flinders being erected at Euston, which is where he is buried.
I did know a bit about Flinders, but I was puzzled to see that he is being shown with a cat. This story on Wikipedia tells the tale of the cat, Trim.
There aren’t many cats, who have their own page on Wikipedia and even fewer who appear with their master (?) in statues.
Piers Morgan On The Royal Baby
With so many congratulating the Duchess of Cambridge on a successful birth, there had to be one or two that were funny. I like this one from Piers Morgan.
My money’s on an Australian cricket birth – all out by tea.
Obviously, it was on the news that the Duchess had gone into labour.
The Anonymous Widower 