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I should have specified intermittents. Hydro is pretty well base load if managed well. Has good heavy stuff turning with synchronous generators. As I understand some pumped hydro uses inverters so they get the varispeed/load for pumping operations. need to be confirmed. Offshore wind is very expensive, still is intermittent. Contribute to the grid by supplying power to it but don't really contribute to the cost of it if you export enough to cover off what you draw. Someone has to pay for it and unfortunately that will be people who can't afford it, renters and industry. The grid is getting larger as well that needs to built and maintained by these people. Inverters don't contribute to the grid. See Spain april 2025. from what I understand was caused by solar inverters playing up at a solar farm. I know you won't believe me! Will try to find some links. grid scale grid forming inverters haven't really been tested. They are installed at Broken Hill but weren't commissioned at the time of their blackout. Would have been a real good test since their GT's hadn't been maintained and were unreliable. They may have been able to run the town on solar and batterys.

IRAN has a Lot of Damaged Infrastructure to repair. Little Water and galloping inflation due to sanctions. Nev

When i moved to my new property I installed a new solar array & a battery. Total cost after subsidies. $11,600.00. I have charged my EV exclusively from the solar supplemented by the battery when solar generation falls below 7kW. I am now a VPP (virtual power plant) & buy & sell energy on the wholesale market. Also for doing this I am getting another $675.00 rebate. The company I am with charges $25.00 a month to manage my system. I was getting 2.7c/kWh & now I get much more as I sell what is in the battery when the price rises during peak demand. The sun is almost gone today & the export price is 19C/kWh so my battery is exporting. This will stop when I begin using power for cooking etc. My battery is usually full by 10am & unless I have the EV charging my solar production is constrained so i don't export at a negative value. The software they have is called Smartshift & it manages the Inverter. I have been a wholesaler for only a few weeks but I am well in credit after paying the monthly fee. My original payback was 5-6 years & now with my EV costing zero to run & the ability to export only when the spot price is hign, that has reduced to 2-3 years

Lots of aluminium smelters running of renewables - mainly hydro. But, here some that are all or part running off solar. Many of those that are currently part solar, are looking to expand solar capacity.. Except for the Alcoa plant in Portland, where they are looking to go offshore wind. Energy is one function of the issues with Bell Bay. They are basically a small smelter with similar operating costs - power being the most variable. They ae suffering economies of scale issues and whilst power proces are one thing - and significant, they are just a small fish in a sea of bigger fish.

There was someone on the ABC radio a couple of days ago saying the high fuel prices might be here for most of the year. I think he was some type of energy consultant.

In Europe, they are now doing what is called balconnny solar. It's pretty much plug and play, and renters can take it with them if they move. There are also other schemes, such as solar sharing schemes. These are in their infancy; however, but they are evolving as technology improves. Solar systems for apartment buildings Community Solar Banks Program The Australian Government’s Community Solar Banks Program is supporting the installation of shared solar and clean energy technology in apartment buildings and other multi-unit dwellings. The government’s investment will provide shared solar systems and help to lower electricity costs for up to 25,000 households. Shared community solar banks help households who can’t install their own systems. This will allow more households to benefit from renewable energy, including people who: rent their homes live in apartments can't afford to install their own system. The Australian Government is partnering with states and territories to deliver the program. To find out what support is available in your state or territory and how to apply, visit the Community Solar Banks Program page .

Surprised your mate's still alive being that many murders there. 🙂

The decision to build lots of multi storey residential units will put a strain on things - not a lot of rooftop space to handle 10 to 15 levels of home units.

I understand that point, but it assumes the way we generate and distribute electricity can’t evolve. The old model—large central power stations feeding passive consumers—is already changing. The grid is becoming more dynamic, with energy coming from multiple sources. Households like mine don’t just draw from the grid—we also contribute to it. Over time, things like microgrids or suburb-level battery sharing could become part of that evolution. There’s also an energy security angle. A system that relies less on a few large power stations and more on distributed generation is generally more resilient—failures are less likely to cause widespread outages. Since installing my system, I’ve generated about 36 MWh of electricity. If that had come from coal, it would have required roughly 15–18 tonnes. That’s a significant amount of fuel avoided, even at the household level. I do recognise the tension: I still rely on the grid, and without a battery I’m exporting a lot of energy. But that just reinforces the point—the grid needs to adapt to a two-way flow of energy rather than a one-way model. In my case, I haven’t installed a battery yet because my usage is low and the payback period was around 20+ years. That said, batteries offer other benefits like backup during outages and helping stabilise the grid. My next step will likely be an EV with vehicle-to-load (V2L). That effectively gives me a battery I can use to store excess solar and provide backup power. More advanced options like V2H or V2G are still expensive, but even V2L starts to shift the model. I accept that this kind of change may disrupt traditional generators and retailers—but that’s not unusual. Energy systems have always evolved, and this is just the next stage.

Get one IF you want to. It helps to stabilise the grid for everybody. Rapid response is critical and battery is the best The amount of storage you get for the Money spent is not much. It won't do Much if there's an extended Power interruption. I don't see that feature as a Prime one.. Near Lightning or Voltage spikes will Knock it around and May require to be reset. Mine is not sorted yet. Nev

It would be a BIG Mistake to think that Those running IRAN are stupid.. It's clear where the Bulk of the stupidity resides. Nev

Very like what l try to say here back at the start in that Iran can wait. Watch a bit of this guy like him but professor Pape says Iran knows there's more than 1 way to topple a regime and that if they string this out until November, Chumps done. Bloody good point, they might not be saints but they ain't dumb either. Andddd, they'll be making 100billion dollars a yr on shipping tolls, while they're waiting, just to ice the cake.

Yep all good for domestic, thinking about getting a battery myself. The problem is we are taking people off to fund the grid. This will be industry and people that can't afford the solar and batterys or afford the house to put them on. We need to look at the bigger picture as we can't do without a grid.. Yes I am being hypercritical with a battery purchase.

Did she, must look it up.

And He has a really Dumb Dog. I have a Mate who actually Lives where that series is done. Nev

Any extra solar and storage Helps everyone. Don't listen to the Nay sayers on this one. Nev

I met a Girl once who was Pretty unreal. Nev

He's giving "nice" People with Dementia a bad Name. America, Decency and NATO destroyed. It was an INSIDE JOB. Nev

Mary Trump Warned everyone very clearly in her book. How much better off would the World be IF a few more had listened? Liz Cheney is on the Ball also. Nev

Gees, what bloody timing eh and l'd suppose the whole place needs to completely closed until this is safe again now. Maybe they should call Pootin he's been trying to put these things out all over Russia a couple of yrs now must be getting good at it, well if he can still get workers to do it anyway. 😅 l'm sure he'd be happy to hear from us right. 😁 Actually, l've never even heard of a fire at the Geelong plant before. Not much faith in Chump putting this to bed anytime soon. Amazing though really isn't it in the world knock on effect it'll have now ,,,, even if he could stop it today they reckon it'll take everything, 12mths min to get back to normal in pricing and supplies world wide and in what we pay for anything not just fuel. lndustry, trucking, farmers, groceries, the lot, housing and building supplies, everything. Great job Chump and how bizarre. He won on promising to get their housing down, costs of living, groceries , everything, world respect, it was all gonna be so wonderful. Here he is blowing it all to smithereens not only for them and not only in this, but worldwide right through and making himself and country a laughing stock.

Yeah he managed to piss off most of his supporters with that one. Kicking lots of own goals, Donny - the dementia is setting in.

I'm not. I hope this doesn't hurt our relationship.

No, 'In god we trust' refers to himself pictured above the text....... except when he is actually jesus playing doctor. I've seen a picture of that, too. On the interwebby thingo.

I'm surprised he let them keep "in god we trust" on it. Didn't think his ego would allow any deity apart from himself on the coin.

I like the rest of your post, except for this bit. I think you are not allowing for the rapidly rising number of households that are what you call 'jumping the gun'. My solar and battery do all the smoothing needed for my intermittent solar. It has hardly stopped raining for a fortnight, and my battery dropped down to 80%. That is, nil from the grid in that time. A lot of people (finances permitting) are not waiting for the government to solve the problem.