But the race to renewables had already been won by a large state with low population in Australia.
But in 2020 renewables produced 60% of the state’s electricity – partly because it’s a dry state ideal for wind and solar energies, and partly due to good government policy even though the electricity system was privately owned.
In smelters, melted iron ore solidified without applied heat and was very difficult to extract.
The first big-battery was at Hornsdale in South Australia, and is owned by a French renewable company called Neoen.
However, a mega-battery, rated to 300 MW, will be built by Tesla near Melbourne, Victoria, this year.
By not having to purchase higher electricity costs, consumers saved $40 million in 2018, and $116 million in 2019.
GP: Battery storage was chosen because the issue was not a shortage of gas power plants – south Australia has had plenty of those.
Neoen, the investor, has already got its money back in three years, and the savings to consumers are considered to be a multiple of its original cost.
GP: Electricity prices are their lowest in years due to the impact of rooftop solar and large-scale renewables, and the small amounts of battery storage.
· Giles, you said a couple years ago that new-build costs of renewables + battery were on a par with gas-fired power plants, for two-thirds of the world’s population.
As more wind and solar enter the system, the only place left for gas will be in peaking plants, or open-cycle turbines, which cost even more on a MWh basis.
embraces Biden’s goals of green electricity and vehicle electrification, a simple supply-demand equation leads to oil and gas production falling by 24-32% by the years 2035-2040.
As a petroleum engineer, I worked on fracking for 18 years in a major oil company.
My new book called, “The Shale Controversy: Will it lead the world to prosperity…or calamity?” examines the pros and cons of fracking, then dives into global warming, the dilemma for oil companies, and potential solutions to the dilemma.