Dutton goes nuclear

[old man emu]

It seems that sunny Spain has an electricity generation problem. As a result of the climate providing extensive periods of clear skies, Spain is producing more electricity from renewables than its population can consume. As a result, companies generating electricity from burning fossil fuels are suffering from people's disinterest in investing in them. They are finding it harder to sell their product.

 

This video is an attack at the apparent bias of the BBC in reporting on renewables, but it does show the extent of electricity generation through renewables that is occuring in the country. You might recall that Ireland is taking advantage of its windiness to generate electricity to sell in the EU. Perhaps Spain might enter that market too.

 

The problem with making a quid from renewables in Australia compared to Spain is that our population is roughly half that of Spain and that population occupies a space 1/15th the size of Australia. Also, Spain is part of the European landmass, so connecting into other countries' power grid simply requires erecting the transmission lines. Australia has nowhere to connect to.

 

 

[onetrack]

Mike Cannon Brookes and his company Grok Ventures, are backing the Sun Power solar generation and power cable project to deliver major electrical power to Darwin and then to Singapore via Indonesia, from a huge solar farm in the upper NT.

 

However, I think he's dreaming, if he thinks he can shove huge power levels through a 4,300km long cable to Singapore. He's relying on new and improved technology to provide a better power transmission rate, but you can't get around physics laws - and also the problems of running a massive electrical cable through the massively unstable Ring of Fire geographic zone.

 

Twiggy Forrest has already baled out of the project, so if even the greatest corporate optimist and general corporate BS-artist can't see a way ahead with the project, then I'd consider it's a dead loss.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/07/sun-cable-mike-cannon-brookes-takes-charge-of-world-changing-solar-project

 

[onetrack]

Just an error correction above - the project is called Sun Cable, not Sun Power.

[facthunter]

Just put it into storage. The ONLY thing that will provide a quick response and you wouldn't need to be on a large unreliable grid. Pumped hydro is OK all along the east coast. Inland it might have to be battery. . Nev

[onetrack]

The Japanese are on the ball again, when it comes to wind turbines. They have adapted aircraft wing design for turbine blades (airfoil design), along with contra-rotating vertical turbines, to produce a substantial improvement in wind turbine design, with their VCCT (Vertical Coaxial Contra-rotating Twin-blade) turbine, which has all of the features listed below ....

 

1. Quiet (<40dB)

2. No flickering blade shadows

3. Can produce power at wind speeds as low as 7mph (11.26kmh)

4. Can still operate effectively at wind speeds up to 70mph (112kmh)

5. Is extremely bird and wildlife-friendly, with little chance of bird or bat strike (except for the dumbest birds and bats, of course)

6. Is durable against lightning strikes, strong wind gusts, and typhoons

7. Is low maintenance

8. Has a small site footprint

9. Is a complete standalone system

10. Has a low visibility outline, with 23 feet (7M) in height, all that's needed for residential/small commercial installations

11. Is scalable in the current design from 0.3kW up to 20kW. Has potential to be scaled up to 1mW.

 

The contra-rotation balances out inertial forces and provides a gyroscopic effect.

Somewhat surprisingly, the VCCT turbines have been in use in Japan for 15 years, but it's only now that the Hawaiians have decided that the design suits their needs.

 

https://interestingengineering.com/energy/us-to-put-japans-tiny-cylindrical-turbines-to-the-wind-test

 

https://kanoawinds.com/vcct-wind-turbine-details/

 

The manufacturer videos in the last link are very interesting.

[nomadpete]

I rather like this one.

 

https://worldwidewind.no/pages/technology

 

At last, a new engineering solution to an old problem.

 

It looks like the cutter out of a jumbo blender. Maybe not a device that would be popular near the kite surfers at the beach!

Edited July 16 by nomadpete