Damn hot here

[PCH (Paul)]

Originally Posted by el_draco

Hows your Spanish amigo? Eppa Eppa aundera aundera... Eeeha!

For the record, SG is saying "Arriba, arriba - andalay andalay", which means "rise up, let's get going!"

[croweater (Richard)]

The spot price in SA at the moment is $13,100. Because our factory has a 30mw gas turbine generator we have shut down our machine and selling power back to grid. Instead of a paper factory we are effectively now a power station! Cheers Richard

[AndrewJ]

Bring on Elon Musks power walls, and we can dispense with the lot of these leeches.
The more i hear on the news tonight re how "investors" appear to be playing sillybuggers with the electricity market when they have the public over a barrel, the more i believe there needs to be a corporate equivalent of the abcc. Wont happen tho.

Andrew

[AndrewJ]

Gday Gary
One for you as you are into "join the dots" engineering ( Im a mech :-) )
I had read recently that DC power distibution was coming back in a big way, esp in China.
Given all the synch problems etc involved in AC power, is any real research being done re changing to a DC distribution system???
With the power walls slowling getting better, this could solve a lot of problems, esp re using yr own solar panels when the grid goes down,
as there are no freq synch problems etc
All house lighting could swap to LED with virtually nil losses
but i have no idea what other things would be affected???

Andrew

[gary]

Originally Posted by AndrewJ

Gday Gary
One for you as you are into "join the dots" engineering ( Im a mech :-) )
I had read recently that DC power distibution was coming back in a big way, esp in China.
Given all the synch problems etc involved in AC power, is any real research being done re changing to a DC distribution system???
With the power walls slowling getting better, this could solve a lot of problems, esp re using yr own solar panels when the grid goes down,
as there are no freq synch problems etc
All house lighting could swap to LED with virtually nil losses
but i have no idea what other things would be affected???

Andrew

Hi Andrew.

I have posted on HVDC (High Voltage DC) Systems in the past here on
IceInSpace -

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...d.php?t=138232

http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/poli...in-the-baltics

Rather than bring DC to the power point, HVDC is a bulk
transmission technology aimed at low losses over vast distances.

It offers the prospect of global power grids.

China has indeed rolled out the largest amounts of HVDC grids in the world.

Compared to current AC power distribution networks, the cost of
HVDC is more expensive over shorter distances but becomes cheaper
over greater distances. For example, transmission lines in the ballpark
of longer than 700km are currently good candidates.

The potential opportunity for countries like Australia is to create large
renewable energy generation and to export it to S.E. Asian and beyond
using HVDC networks.

The investment is sizeable, however with the burgeoning demand for
power in the region coupled with the vital impetrative to switch to
renewables ASAP to mitigate the effects of climate change, it may prove
not only viable for Australia but also become a major export and
source of revenue for the country.

Low-voltage DC networks within houses are a different matter.
I-squared-R losses dominate and so AC still make sense in household
wiring, especially in larger houses.

[Jen]

Hey Gday Pete hope things are well with you 😘😘😘 yep swan hill got to 45 today 😱😱😱 woohoo I love summer ☀️☀️☀️😎😎

[AndrewJ]

Gday Gary

Compared to current AC power distribution networks, the cost of
HVDC is more expensive over shorter distances

Currently, costs are going up at way greater than inflation for a poorer supply, so at some point it will break even.
I was more thinking of if each house had a DC "reservoir" based on the power walls/etc, ( i think of it as having a large load levelling capacitor at each household thet can cover say 24 hrs running )
On loss of power, each house could safely island itself from the grid and still provide local power, and reconnect later when the grid came back.
DC to AC converters are getting much more efficient, but if more effort went into designing household appliances to run off 12/24V DC, would that be a feasible way forwards?
ie fully distributed supply source, with a grid based "top up" system.
I know it would pi$$ off all the industries that rely on flogging 240V AC,
and make a lot of their money based on fixed "supply charges", not actually from supplying electricity, but who cares if it ends up in a more robust 'grid'.

Andrew

[el_draco (Rom)]

Originally Posted by PCH

For the record, SG is saying "Arriba, arriba - andalay andalay", which means "rise up, let's get going!"

Yours is good...

I stand corrected.

[el_draco (Rom)]

Originally Posted by gary

In the United States in the early 90's, a character by the name of
Kenneth Lay was one of those who lead the push for the US to create
an electricity energy market.

Lay was the CEO of the now infamous Enron.

In 2000 and 2001, what became known as the "California energy crises"
resulted in California having a shortage of electricity and blackouts
caused by an artificial shortage illegally orchestrated by Enron.

Energy traders intentionally took capacity offline for "maintenance" on
days of peak demand to raise the market price.

The deregulation of California's energy market made it possible and the
blackouts affected millions of people and businesses.

Many will remember the 'Enron scandal' that resulted in Enron going
bankrupt and Kenneth Lay being indicted by a grand jury and being
found guilty of securities fraud.

Lay died of a heart attack whilst on vacation awaiting sentencing.

Many Electrical Engineers had warned that the power grid had been
engineered with the primary goal of reliability and warned it had
not been designed to become a dynamic platform for market traders.

What this says is simple... down with "the man" and his over complicated , profit orientated systems and bring on stand alone renewables.

[Exfso (Peter)]

Originally Posted by Jen

Hey Gday Pete hope things are well with you ������ yep swan hill got to 45 today ������ woohoo I love summer ☀️☀️☀️����

Hey Jen, managing ok except this damn splint on my right hand is very hot. I have to keep taking it off which is a bit of a no no...