Power grid common sense (for a while) but it won't last long
My local power station (Eraring) which is very near a much smaller also still operating power station (Vales Point) has now announced it will keep operating until at least 2029 instead of shutting down next year (2027).
Eraring opened in 1984, and is (like Bayswater power station near Muswellbrook) a VLS (Very Large Supplier) of reliable, dependable, frequency-stable AC power created by burning pulverised coal to create steam to drive massive turbines to create electricity that is then fed into the power grid.
There is a very old (closed in 1986) shell of a power station at Wangi. Another one (Munmorah) closed about 10-ish years ago.
The output capacity of Eraring is 2.92 gigawatts. Vales Point is 1.32 gigawatts, while Bayswater is 2.7 gigawatts. The recently closed Liddel power station near Bayswater put out 2 gigawatts, Munmorah was 1.4 gigawatts.
Once Eraring, Vales Point, Bayswater and the only other still operating one (Mt Piper - 1.4 gigawatta) close down there will be no more coal fired baseload power stations in NSW removing over 8 gigawats of reliable frequency-stable AC power supply off the grid.
The four power stations combined supply well over half of the total NSW existing electricity demand, and this is *without* more than a few percent of the population owning electric cars.
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To run smoothly, power grids must not only match supply and demand, but also maintain “system security”, including inertia, which comes from the steady frequency that has traditionally been provided by the spinning turbines of gas, coal and pumped hydro plants.
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WIth solar + wind + big batteries you do *NOT* get grid stability or almost automatic frequency stability regardless of the power factor loading put on the turbine's very large alternators.
You also do *NOT* get 'cheaper energy' by removing these single-source highly integrated energy transformation systems (traditionally coal or gas fired, or hydro) out of the grid infrastructure and replacing those with every second home and every second plugged in to charge EV becoming a micro-battery for the grid.
So-called renewable energy transition plus the implementation of the commercial AEMO wholesale power trading market (like a sharemarket but for energy companies) has already pushed electricity retail prices up by about 50 pct in just a couple of years.
Eraring opened in 1984, and is (like Bayswater power station near Muswellbrook) a VLS (Very Large Supplier) of reliable, dependable, frequency-stable AC power created by burning pulverised coal to create steam to drive massive turbines to create electricity that is then fed into the power grid.
There is a very old (closed in 1986) shell of a power station at Wangi. Another one (Munmorah) closed about 10-ish years ago.
The output capacity of Eraring is 2.92 gigawatts. Vales Point is 1.32 gigawatts, while Bayswater is 2.7 gigawatts. The recently closed Liddel power station near Bayswater put out 2 gigawatts, Munmorah was 1.4 gigawatts.
Once Eraring, Vales Point, Bayswater and the only other still operating one (Mt Piper - 1.4 gigawatta) close down there will be no more coal fired baseload power stations in NSW removing over 8 gigawats of reliable frequency-stable AC power supply off the grid.
The four power stations combined supply well over half of the total NSW existing electricity demand, and this is *without* more than a few percent of the population owning electric cars.
----
To run smoothly, power grids must not only match supply and demand, but also maintain “system security”, including inertia, which comes from the steady frequency that has traditionally been provided by the spinning turbines of gas, coal and pumped hydro plants.
----
WIth solar + wind + big batteries you do *NOT* get grid stability or almost automatic frequency stability regardless of the power factor loading put on the turbine's very large alternators.
You also do *NOT* get 'cheaper energy' by removing these single-source highly integrated energy transformation systems (traditionally coal or gas fired, or hydro) out of the grid infrastructure and replacing those with every second home and every second plugged in to charge EV becoming a micro-battery for the grid.
So-called renewable energy transition plus the implementation of the commercial AEMO wholesale power trading market (like a sharemarket but for energy companies) has already pushed electricity retail prices up by about 50 pct in just a couple of years.
