kgwilson

If you want more expensive energy build new coal fired power stations and you will also get added pollution and greenhouse gasses we are trying to reduce. Plus it would take up to 8 years to build. The problem is venture capitalists and banks won't touch this option with a barge pole. Why? Among many reasons it is just not financially viable. The grid was neglected for 20 years by successive governments & population increase along with increased demand for electricity and the costs associated with upgrading the grid are enormous. Add the constant complaints from people who don't want transmission lines on their land and the costs of compliance and you get a logistical and financial nightmare. Storage is the answer. See Octaves comments. I have 9kW of Solar & an 18.6 kWh battery & don't use any grid power and I charge my EV for free as well. Rooftop solar produces more power during the day than all of Australias fossil fuel power generators combined. There is so much the wholesale price in the middle of the day is almost always negative. I sell most of my stored energy during peak demand & keep enough to cover my use overnight & during the peak morning period. Not everyone can do what I do but there are 4 & a half million houses with rooftop solar & all of these could have a home battery. The state and federal home battery subsidies have been so successful that half of the original $2.3 billion expected to last to 2030 was used up in 6 months. Now an additional $4.9 billion has been added along with changes based on battery capacity.

He wouldn't last 5 minutes anywhere else either. The US is the only place where there are enough stupid people to elect a convicted felon, 6 time bankrupt, accused rapist, malignant narcissist, poorly educated conman because he appeals to fundamentalist christians and is a billionaire.

I watched this program on the ABC & could not believe the stupidity of the reporter. He borrowed an EV & knew nothing about the cars capability. If he did he'd know that the satnav will tell him all of the chargers within range & guide him to one. You cannot fill a petrol car in 2 minutes & pay for the fuel etc. He should have already downloaded the apps before leaving. He was at an Evie 350kW charger & if he already had the app & registered the vehicle as most people do, all you do is plug the charger cable in to the car, it charges, you then click stop remove the cable & drive away. You are automatically charged & details are stored in the app. Everything Sam Evans said is spot on. I felt like complaining but then thought why bother. Anyone with half a brain & an interest in going Electric will make their own mind up. I did & it was the best car purchase decision i have ever made. My fuel cost is zero as I charge from my solar panels. When going long distance I check the location of chargers on route & know the range. The car has a longer range than my bladder so when I need to charge I take a break & have a bite to eat. If it is down to 20% charge 20 minutes later it is at 80%. This is usually quicker than than I am. Often I will go & unplug & move the car so someone else can use the charger. It is coming up to 3 years & 45,000 km since I bought my MG4. First service in 2 years & nothing had to be done except update the software. The only downside is that the new facelift model is now 10k less than I paid but now EVs are no longer an expensive way to get in to a new car with the latest small models cheaper than their petrol equivalents.

The Nickel mining story was aired 6 months ago. Almost all of the nickel is for the stainless steel industry, not EVs. The presenters fossil fuel bias and links have been well established. Channel 7 had to close comments within a couple of days as almost all were highly critical of the claims made. NMC batteries for EVs are now in the minority but even so 98% of all minerals including lithium, cobalt and nickel are recovered in battery recycling so are not wasted and reduce the need for expanded mining. LFP is now the dominant technology for EV batteries but sodium batteries are becoming available and making major inroads in to the battery storage industry. They are also between 30% & 60% cheaper given the abundance of sodium & ease of extraction. Start with evaporating sea water to get NaCl, common salt, separate the 2 elements and you have sodium and chloride.

The Trump photo passports are a special edition to celebrate the 250th anniversary & cost more than a normal one. It is a great way to get extra special attention from immigration officials around the world especially countries Trump has bad mouthed which is all of Europe, UK, China, japan, all of Oceania, most of central & South America & both immediate neighbours. No sane American who travels would want one. BTW the photo of the Aussie flag is probably genuine as the flags were being installed on lamp posts by workers from the Washington municipal authority. Someone discovered it fairly quickly & they were taken down but it is an indictment on the American education system that teaches only American geography, history etc so council workers & obviously some of their superiors wouldn't know the difference. King Charles speech to Congress was eloquent and covered a number of touchy subjects that criticised the US & Trump without naming names & he received a lengthy standing Ovation. Trump had no idea that he was being told to pull his head in & thought it was wonderful.

It isn't just Trump. The US has always done as it pleases. It used to be "Not our fight" as in only getting in to WW1 in 2017, then in WW2 Roosevelt couldn't get the support of Congress & only got involved after Pearl Harbor. Since then we have honoured the treaties like ANZUS & got involved in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan sent peacekeepers to other places the US has screwed up. Trump has just insulted every ally the US has ever had as in his comments about Afghanistan. He starts a war then complains NATO won't come to his aid. NATO is a defence treaty, an attack on one is an attack on all, not if one member attacks someone then everyone else attacks as well. Complains Australia won't help with the blockaid on Hormuz when we were never asked. The list of his stuffups and insults is endless & reportedly is considering recognising Argentinas claim on the Falklands as punishment for the UK not supporting him in his crazy actions against Iran.

And it is a fusion reactor with no radioactive waste, something we have not been able to replicate for any length of time so the simple option is to use it and we are via solar, wind, hydro and every other form of energy capture and use other than those that have been stored as fossil fuels for millions of years.

He isn't even good at golf. There have been numerous videos posted of his caddies shifting balls to more favourable positions & prior to his foray in to politics was a poor investor as well having been bankrupted 6 times. This time of course he has posted sycophantic Yes men & women to all the important and influential roles, dismantled many of the departments that provide checks and balances and breached the constitution and rules more times than you can count and the Senate & Congress have become paralysed. He thought he had control over the supreme court having appointed sympathetic judges but obviously some of these actually have a conscience. His tariffs were deemed illegal & the Epstein files got released though missing all the important stuff that would implicate him, his ICE thugs have been called to account after murdering 2 protesters in Minnesota so he was getting into pretty hot water. A diversion was required. What better diversion than to start a war. It is all beginning to unravel now & he is becoming more erratic and lashing out via his social media platform. Then picking a fight with the Pope was the last straw. There are a lot of loyal catholics in the US so how he is going to survive this one is hard to say. Only his appointees & the MAGA nutters seem to be supporting him right now. Most of his media supporters from Fox News and right wing influencers have railed against him. He was called insane just this month by Marjorie Taylor Greene, former Georgian congress woman initially one of his staunchest allies. Not only that but the protests against him in the US have grown to massive proportions with over 3200 events in all 50 states in late March estimated at more than 8 million participants. As well he has virtually no friends left in Europe & the rest of the World except Israel, Russia & North Korea. I hope we are witnessing his downfall and that it won't be too long before the world can sigh a collective relief.

He keeps confirming with every post that he is a complete and utter F@#$wit.

They had Cyclone Vaianu last week and in its wake it left a massively unstable weather pattern and the huge downpours and local flash flooding has caused much more damage than the cyclone did. Here on the NE coast of NSW it is tinder dry. The grass is now completely browned off & crunchy to walk on. We are supposed to be getting showers today & the rest of the week but nothing at all as yet with a blue sky, full sun and a lot of wind.

In the first Trump administration he lied over 35,000 times according to the Washington Post. Now that publication has been taken over By Amazon Billionaire Jeff Bezos it has become far less critical. There are now multiple organisations reporting and debunking his lies. In one 69 minute interview in 2024 he lied over 150 times.

This is the second major attempt by Bartlett/7 Spotlight to get misinformation and some disinformation across to try and improve ratings. The first was a few months ago when they went through Nickel mining in Indonesia claiming it was used in EV batteries. In fact none of it was, it was all used in the Stainless Steel industry & the highlighted poor working conditions for Indonesian miners were already being addressed by the new Indonesian government. 7 had to close comments on the program within days because almost all were very negative. Pandering to the dwindling numbers of right wing fossil fuel advocates & anti EV populists is a great way to see ratings drop.

Totally agree regarding Induction cooking. We installed a Bosch Induction cooktop back in 2008. Then it cost about $3,500.00 but the performance was amazing. While it had 4 cooking zones there was a power option than combined 2 of the zones together with the output in 1 zone. It would boil a litre of water from cold in 45 seconds. Control is superb and instant & the cooking surface never gets baked on spillages as it stays cool only getting hot from the transfer of heat from the bottom of the pot. We are renovating the house we purchased last year & installing a new kitchen. Cooking appliances are all AEG & the induction cooktop has a matt finish which is very scratch resistant & is wirelessly connected to the rangehood so the lights & fan are switched on & the speed managed automatically while cooking & both together cost less that the original Bosch from 2008.

The maximum I have seen on the wholesale market is 25 cent/kWh at between 6:30 & 7:00pm. There is no solar being produced then so it is only export from batteries that can get that much. For most of the day the wholesale export price is 5 cents maximum to negative 3 cents. The best retail solar export plans I have seen are 10 cent/kWh & that is only for the first 10kWh per day then it reduces by half but this is countered by their high kWh charges when importing.

Baseload is a term that used to describe Coal Fired generation as it couldn't be turned off and had a very limited window of generation variation. The only people who use this now are those who are living in the past or conservative politicians who don't understand electrical generation, usage or demand. Terms like "we have to keep the lights on" and "what do we do when the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine" just displays their ignorance. The generation industry, distributors and anyone with a smidgen of intelligence know the problem is "Peak Demand" so we need available energy to meet this. For many countries this occurs in the middle of Winter when heating demand stresses the electricity supply but in Australia it is in the Summer when heat waves stress the network due to massive use of Air conditioning systems. Rooftop solar has had a huge impact on reducing this during daylight hours and now with large multi megawatt batteries and home batteries set up as VPPs the problems are reduced. Add community batteries and pumped hydro and other storage to the mix and we go a long way to a fully sustainable renewable energy nation. Already rooftop solar produces more energy in Australia than all of the fossil fuel energy producers do combined during the middle of the day.

Trumps mental capacity is now openly being discussed at high levels after the profane midnight rant to open the Effin strait, to then declaring it closed, and having a go at the Pope. Albos meeting with the Malaysian PM to shore up fuel supply was notable for Anwars direct jab at Trumps sanity. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-18/fallout-iran-war-spreads-focus-donald-trump-mind/106576096 Meanwhile American Troops in the middle east are running out of food & morale has sunk to a major low point. Hegseth spent all of the food budget on lobsters and steak before the conflict began & now they are being served rubbish & not much of it either. This is simple logistics and supply that the incompetent US political system and military don't seem to be able to comprehend. https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/360966583/trumps-troops-served-grey-meat-and-few-boiled-carrots-n

Since I have been trading on the wholesale electricity market the export price is a maximum price of zero from 7:30am going to -1 cent by 10:30am and -2 cents from 11:30 up to -3 cents and back to zero at about 3:00pm. It doesn't get back to positive territory till after 4:30pm and rises to 22-25 cents during the peak evening period of 5pm till 7:30pm. It is during this peak evening period that my battery exports to the market and that offsets all of my electricity grid imports for the rest of the 24 hours by some considerable margin so my credit grows daily. The other thing I didn't know before I signed up to become a VPP was that I am entitled to an additional battery rebate based on battery size, the maximum being 25 kWh so I completed the application & will be getting $676.00.

Managed inverters do contribute to the stability of the grid as it is the inverter that manages the battery and decides when to charge or discharge and whether to import or export. I signed up with Amber a few weeks ago and it has been interesting watching what the software is telling my system to do as it uses algorithms to check the spot price which changes every 5 minutes and how much energy I am using and whether my battery is charging or not and what the current export price is. I had run the EV battery down to 20% with a few longish drives over 3 days & decided to charge it today. I have the car set to charge only between 10am & 2.30pm. By 10 am my battery that was depleted overnight as it exported during the peak time from about 5.30pm & 7pm had regained about 55% of charge. The charger consumes 7kWh & the solar now is generating about 6kWh. In January this would have been 9kWh. So the solar was used to power the charger & the rest of the house & the balance supplemented by the battery. When the battery depleted to 29% the system stopped drawing from it & began importing energy and the solar then was all used for charging the battery. At that time the spot price was 11c/kWh & the export price was -1cent. My charger does not have OCCP (Open Charge Point Protocol) so cannot be managed except manually. I changed the charger via its app to charge at 20 amps when it had been charging at 32 amps. The inverter then stopped importing power and supplied the charger & house & began recharging the battery with the surplus. For the last few days the inverter has used its curtailment function to reduce solar output once the battery is full to prevent export at very low or negative export prices The Amber software is in learning mode for the first 30 days so gets more accurate over time. The Amber App today shows that in the past 18 days I am $31.03 in credit. Ambers charge is a flat $25.00 a month so that is covered. The daily supply charge from Essential Energy of $1.92 has already been included. It will be different as the seasons change and if we get a lot of cloudy weather or rain.

Yes but not sustainable. If all the seats were this price all the time the total revenue would probably not even cover the total cost of fuel let alone the rest of the business, assets and airport costs. Plenty of routes run at a loss and the high volume profitable ones subsidise them. Loss leaders are standard business practice everywhere from supemarkets to hotels, airlines, cruise ships etc.

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

In 2017 the ANU identified 22,000 potential pumped hydro sites In Australia. https://arena.gov.au/assets/2018/10/ANU-STORES-An-Atlas-of-Pumped-Hydro-Energy-Storage-The-Complete-Atlas.pdf So despite our flat geography there are 22,000 potential batteries for the huge amount of solar energy we are generating from rooftops and solar farms right now. These are the current projects. Numerous pumped hydro schemes are in development along Australia's east coast, driven by NSW and Queensland's transition to renewables, with key projects including Snowy 2.0 (2,200 MW, NSW), Borumba (2,000 MW, QLD), Pioneer-Burdekin (5,000 MW, QLD), and Phoenix (810 MW, NSW). These projects, targeting completion between 2025–2035, aim to provide large-scale, long-duration storage to firm wind and solar capacity. Key Queensland Projects Borumba Pumped Hydro (2,000 MW/48,000 MWh): Located near Gympie, slated for 2030 completion. Pioneer-Burdekin Pumped Hydro (up to 5,000 MW): Proposed near Mackay, touted as a massive long-duration storage project for 2032–2035. Kidston Pumped Storage (250 MW/2,000 MWh): Currently in development, expected in 2025. Mt Rawdon Pumped Hydro (2,000 MW): Planned for the early 2030s. Key New South Wales Projects Snowy 2.0 (2,200 MW/350,000 MWh): Connecting Tantangara and Talbingo reservoirs, expected fully operational by 2028-2029. Phoenix Pumped Hydro (810 MW): Located near Mudgee within the Central-West Orana REZ, expected 2029. Western Sydney Pumped Hydro (700 MW): Located at Lake Burragorang, currently deemed critical infrastructure. Oven Mountain Pumped Hydro (900 MW): Scheduled for 2030. Muswellbrook and Dungowan: Regional projects aiming for 2027-2029 completion. Strategic Regional Potential Mine Conversions: Research indicates significant potential to convert retired mines, such as the Coppabella Mine or pits near the old Liddell Power Station, into pumped hydro sites. Existing Reservoirs: Potential exists to upgrade existing infrastructure like Lake Lyell, Windamere, and Burrendong dams. These projects are often located in renewable energy zones (REZs) to pair with solar and wind, or near high-voltage transmission lines to support grid stability

Well he didn't impress the Hungarians neither did Just Dumb Vance. The UK & the EU have a collectively larger economy by some margin than the US & Trump has alienated the rest of Nato and pretty much everyone else. The only thing the US has is a bigger military with the biggest most sophisticated weapons and some excellent technology though no better than Europe, China or even Australia. The problem is the country is run by the billionaires with Trump as their figurehead. The US has never been invaded but they are always at war with someone as well as themselves. They haven't invented many things on their own but have exploited most of the inventions from elsewhere, mostly the UK & Europe. The UK & Europe have some very large armament companies but have been happy to play second fiddle while the US has provided most of the defence hardware. Not any more. The invasion of Ukraine and Trumps re election has changed everything, The US is an empire in decline, it is already technically bankrupt and Trump is costing the county dearly. I don't know when it will eventually implode but I am sure it will eventually. There are companies that have been deemed to big to fail like GM but there is nothing that will save a country when it all turns to custard/

He'd be perfect in the infantry & when in a foxhole could stand up & see further than anyone else. Mind you the enemy could see him better than anyone else too.

Trump has signed an executive order that bone spurs are inherited in his family only.

Back to Trump. Many of the MAGA faithful are starting to line up against Trump including his old mates that are ex Fox news. Also British PM Sir Keir Starmer has not pulled any punches by stating he is Fed Up with Trump and appeared to compare him with Putin & that the ceasefire has to include Lebanon. https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/360962790/starmer-says-he-fed-trump Trump has lashed out at ex Fox News reporters Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, and Alex Jones in a tirade of insults. Owens has hit back with "Time to put Grandpa in a home" & Kelly asking "Why can't he act like a normal human" https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/360944966/iran-war Trumps disgusting attacks on anyone & everyone are really getting to a large portion of his faithful & it seems that only the Evangelistic Christian nutters that Hegseth belongs to aren't wavering. He is trying to introduce conscription with automatic registration in the Selective Service System of all 18 to 25 year old males later this year. His erratic behaviour is getting worse by the day & he could go too far & try to cancel the mid term elections with another emergency. Who knows. He has surrounded himself with inept and incompetent sycophants & Hegseth has already got rid of a dozen of the US military's best generals. No wonder they have failed miserably against Iran.