It seems a bit like forever since I did a post and it's my first REAL post since moving off the Substack for reasons.
This is a bit of a turn-up for the books, and it's also a good candidate for a good lampooning. Poor old AGL is complaining because they've put in what's currently (interesting how we're suddenly seemingly in a race for sustainable/renewable energy hey?) the biggest baseload battery in the country.
(BTW Are they "baseload" batteries? Am I using the term all wrong? There's a link under my beg banner above to chat with me on Mastodon. I'm happy to discuss this and adjust my wording. Oh and BTW your support and subscription would be awesome, too!)
Anyway - back to the bitchin'.
So AGL put a battery in - but batteries take away the need for gas turbine generators. Gas generators are used for smoothing out the infamous "duck curve" that represents how people use loads of electricity in the morning when they get up, make breakfast, have showers, etc, (one end of the duck) then usage drops off and then in the afternoon when people come home from work electricity usage goes up again and then gradually drops off as people drop off to sleep. (And that's the other end of the duck...)
Large power plant generators are good for providing a steady stream of electricity. But if you try to drive them harder to meet the two ends of the duck curve they need a LOT of fuel just to change speed, and then if operating outside their comfort zone they consume more fuel and are subject to more wear. Gas turbine generators are easy to start and stop, can supply the short-term energy requirements, but are not really suited to long-haul generating.
And now big batteries are able to do the same thing, only without burning extra fossil fuel. The big generators can chug along at a slightly higher overall output to charge the batteries during the low usage times, and so they can still run slow and steady and within their designed loads.
Now here's the thing
Along with batteries, most energy companies are also investing in wind and solar power plant. So those provide electricity to the grid (and those batteries) during daylight and times of suitably strong wind, and further remove the need for the big engines to ramp their speed up and down. I wrote in another post how the energy companies are revelling in a billion-dollar windfall with the savings. Their biggest fuel-sucking power stations are either shut down for good, or running at lower loads because the sustainables are putting energy into the grid.
And AGL's other business on Torrens Island is - look, I'll quote that article:
"On the other hand, the Torrens battery represents a real and present danger to the economic and technical viability of AGL’s main business at Torrens Island – gas power generation and services."
Doncha love it when a company shoots itself in the foot - and it's still better than business as usual?
My take-away:
AGL has been one of the biggest-polluting energy companies in Australia and was (and maybe still is) responsible for almost 10% of Australia's TOTAL emissions, and also one of the most inflated energy prices. I mentioned a few paragraphs back about the billion-dollar windfall energy companies were enjoying? Well, the other news article about this just phrased it as a "billion-dollar shock to the energy system." Waaayyy different message, huh?
The thing is that these energy companies are in a golden period where their capital costs are far lower than if they were commissioning new coal-fired plant to keep up with our increased power demands, they're enjoying far lower costs per megawatt to generate that energy as stated, their running costs go down with each coal-fired power station they decommission. And yet they're able to gouge more and more out of their customers.
They're making hay while the sun shines, because they know that eventually the ill wind's going to blow and their customers will start refusing to pay these inflated rates. They're grumbling now already because the government took away their excuse that gas and coal prices were raising their costs and is as far as I know still looking at capping electricity prices too, and they know beyond a shadow of a doubt that their bullshit won't work for much longer.
So my advice is to send letters to Bowen, send emails to your local members and ministers, write letters to the editor and the comments sections of newspapers both in print and online, and raise awareness. Write to CEOs and local managers of energy companies.
Old plant is being shut down and replaced with less-expensive-to-build wind and solar infrastructure, their fuel costs are going down, operating costs are going down, rooftop solar and home batteries are flattening the Duck Curve - and energy prices are going up.
Get writing those emails and letters!
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