An Australian View of Grid Tie impacts

westbranch

http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/wa-grid-may-become-first-big-victim-of-death-spiral-41428

Note new term, "Death Spiral"

Cariboocoot

Re: An Australian View of Grid Tie impacts

If solar generated electricity is so much cheaper than grid power as to make the choice a "no brainer" then there is clearly something wrong with the way the grid is generating power.

karrak

Re: An Australian View of Grid Tie impacts

Cariboocoot wrote: »

there is clearly something wrong with the way the grid is generating power.

Its called political interference, incompetence, short term thinking and lack of vision

Originally the government owned State Energy Commission generated power and distributed gas and power. Then economic rationalism came along and dictated that the the gas part be sold off and that power arm had to be more efficient and provide a better return on investment. Engineers were replaced by bean counters and maintenance on the grid was reduced. To push up revenue, incentives and a marketing drive to get people to use more power were initiated. A couple of large disastrous bushfires caused by aging power infrastructure and lack of maintenance and near collapse of the system during hot weather due to demand saw the government decide it had to spend more on capital works and maintenance. During all this the organisation was split into three separate units, generation, distribution and marketing by one government with the politicians making the condition that there be a moratorium on power prices, then it was merged back together by the next government. Meanwhile they plough on with the same business model of large centralised brown coal fired power stations and distribution systems and the need for ever increasing sales to finance the costs.

Cariboocoot

Re: An Australian View of Grid Tie impacts

karrak wrote: »

Its called political interference, incompetence, short term thinking and lack of vision

Originally the government owned State Energy Commission generated power and distributed gas and power. Then economic rationalism came along and dictated that the the gas part be sold off and that power arm had to be more efficient and provide a better return on investment. Engineers were replaced by bean counters and maintenance on the grid was reduced. To push up revenue, incentives and a marketing drive to get people to use more power were initiated. A couple of large disastrous bushfires caused by aging power infrastructure and lack of maintenance and near collapse of the system during hot weather due to demand saw the government decide it had to spend more on capital works and maintenance. During all this the organisation was split into three separate units, generation, distribution and marketing by one government with the politicians making the condition that there be a moratorium on power prices, then it was merged back together by the next government. Meanwhile they plough on with the same business model of large centralised brown coal fired power stations and distribution systems and the need for ever increasing sales to finance the costs.

Oh that! We have that here: BC Hydro is a Crown Corporation and has been regularly tampered with based on whether the election is coming up or just passed. This is why it has gone from being a net exporter of power to a net importer of power and the (for the moment) opposition party denies this and claims we don't need any expansion of generation.

Politically they held off on rate increases for years. Government changed; rate increase was past-due and now needs to be a whopping 5%. Opposition which kept rates artificially low now complains about the need to correct a problem they created.

When rates were really cheap (three cents kW hour) all-electric housing was encouraged. Now they are outrageously expensive to run, and the capital cost of switching to NG is prohibitive. So what does the homeowner due? Suffers due to decades of political mismanagement and interference.

Sound familiar?

Of course if solar generation is so much cheaper there's no reason why the power company itself can't invest in it. Other than obstinacy and lack of vision.

westbranch

Re: An Australian View of Grid Tie impacts

Cariboocoot wrote: »

Oh that! .

Politically they held off on rate increases for years. Government changed; rate increase was past-due and now needs to be a whopping 5%.

Actually they proposed a 25% increase over 5 years

We got :
"10-year plan for BC Hydro rates

The Province of B.C. has announced a 10-year plan for BC Hydro’s rates that calls for an initial increase of nine per cent on April 1, 2014.

Bill Bennett, Minister of Energy and Mines and Minister Responsible for Core Review announced a 10 year plan that will keep electricity rates as low as possible while BC Hydro makes investments in aging infrastructure and new power projects to support British Columbia’s growing population and economy. "

I don't remember what happens after 2014

Cariboocoot

Re: An Australian View of Grid Tie impacts

westbranch wrote: »

Actually they proposed a 25% increase over 5 years

We got :
"10-year plan for BC Hydro rates

The Province of B.C. has announced a 10-year plan for BC Hydro’s rates that calls for an initial increase of nine per cent on April 1, 2014.

Bill Bennett, Minister of Energy and Mines and Minister Responsible for Core Review announced a 10 year plan that will keep electricity rates as low as possible while BC Hydro makes investments in aging infrastructure and new power projects to support British Columbia’s growing population and economy. "

I don't remember what happens after 2014

Yep. It's still a case of catch-up though as the economy and population has been growing for quite some time now, with many of the essentials locked in a time warp. This is causing us problems in many areas. Pretty amazing how cheap the hydro rates will still be after their "massive" increase: 15 whole cents per kW hour. I bet the folks in California would love to see rates like that!

It's going to cost me about $2 per month more, I figure. Guess I should invest $10,000 in some GT solar to offset that, eh?

westbranch

Re: An Australian View of Grid Tie impacts

Just made a return trip to Kelowna and was pleasantly surprised to see a bunch of 'infrastructure upgrading' going on over that 5 hr drive. So I guess they really are fixing things...
Still waiting for our 35 yr old + lines to be upgraded on our section.

Cariboocoot

Re: An Australian View of Grid Tie impacts

westbranch wrote: »

Just made a return trip to Kelowna and was pleasantly surprised to see a bunch of 'infrastructure upgrading' going on over that 5 hr drive. So I guess they really are fixing things...
Still waiting for our 35 yr old + lines to be upgraded on our section.

That's why I have generators. Although to be honest the power rarely goes out here and never for very long.

Someday I'd like to visit Kelowna without the reason for the trip being they have a bigger hospital than Kamloops.

westbranch

Re: An Australian View of Grid Tie impacts

BTW there is a dealer in Westbank that has pretty competitive prices, before shipping, on MN products and other brands..., I stopped there to get a few things, had to preorder, etc.

CDN_VT

Re: An Australian View of Grid Tie impacts

Must be nice Westbranch , on the island we are at the mercy of couriers , post office is more expensive that UPS..

westbranch

Re: An Australian View of Grid Tie impacts

Only a 5 hr drive one way...