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Forum Index : Solar : 25-year impact of solar PV in OZ?

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lizby
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Joined: 17/05/2016
Location: United States
Posts: 3012
Posted: 04:26pm 07 May 2019
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Can anyone point to an analysis of the impact of solar PV installations overall in Australia in, say, the past 25 years, including inflation-adjusted nationwide metered cost per kilowatt hour then and now, overall generation including rooftop/off-grid solar, with percentage of solar generation and other generation?

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MasterCATZ
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Joined: 25/03/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 52
Posted: 01:10am 08 May 2019
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well I know the impact on my street is the line voltage is scary close too 260v then when the sun goes down its 230v transformer down the road keeps blowing as well ,

we only have 1x 5kw system feeding into the grid everything else here is offgrid

I believe PV generation was 3% 2017 and over 20% last year and at the moment 29%

Australian Energy Council have all the info

something like this might be what you are after ?

https://www.energycouncil.com.au/media/15358/australian-energy-council-solar-report_-january-2019.pdf


2018
https://www.cleanenergycouncil.org.au/resources/resources-hub/clean-energy-australia-reportEdited by MasterCATZ 2019-05-09
 
Boppa
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Joined: 08/11/2016
Location: Australia
Posts: 814
Posted: 04:27am 08 May 2019
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Solar
There are issues with high uptake (for example my suburb has a very high uptake (nearly every house has panels), and although there is a 5kw limit on single phase houses here, we haven't had too many overvolts disconnects to date (it is a Australian requirement for inverters to have an overvolts mains disconnect if the mains voltage rises too high)
I suspect that as we have a quite large industrial area feeding from the same substation, their demand damps the voltage down ie the houses are producing a lot, but it's also being used heavily in the same area- rather than needing to 'backfeed' through the substation and delivered elsewhere

THIS gives daily generation outputs by state and type
 
lizby
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Joined: 17/05/2016
Location: United States
Posts: 3012
Posted: 01:23pm 08 May 2019
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Thanks. Interesting reading. Looks like large scale PV has lagged, but there's a huge amount under construction. Also looks like it is gas rather than coal which is being displaced by solar and wind--in comparison to the U.S., where cheap gas is replacing coal and conditions are not in all places as favorable for PV.
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LadyN

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Joined: 26/01/2019
Location: United States
Posts: 408
Posted: 06:09pm 08 May 2019
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  lizby said  in comparison to the U.S., where cheap gas is replacing coal and conditions are not in all places as favorable for PV.


You might be biasing heavily to city or urban areas where storing gas is not as expensive.

Storing, transporting, pumping gas is extremely expensive and risky. Propane really helps.

I live in rural California where propane, solar and good old lumber are our saving grace. The trucks, tractors, gennys and tools use diesel.

The only use of gas here are cars that we use to commute to the city or the smaller power tools.

Politicians are ruining solar for us - with every passing day, there is less incentive to grid tie!

Very very sad!

Most places provide an insulting credit for grid feedback, pushing break even into decades and if you take the fees and higher prices you pay for grid tie power plans into consideration, you actually end up paying for grid feedback.

I am helping my family go grid dependent using PV.

What this means is that I am attempting to build a system that load shares with the grid (our farm is very old, so we had a grid connection ever since my grandpa was a kid)

Not everyone in my community has grid feed however. They cant afford the connection costs and since their credit is bad, the utility company is not interested either.

As utility prices go up, we plan to purchase batteries instead of paying increasing fees.

Right now, even at 30c/kWh which is what dad pays for our power, grid power is still cheap compared to batteries but prices for batteries are falling fast and utility prices are only going up.

The future for my community seems to be local solar powered power stations with battery backup.Edited by LadyN 2019-05-10
 
lizby
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Location: United States
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Posted: 08:58pm 08 May 2019
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  LadyN said  
  lizby said  in comparison to the U.S., where cheap gas is replacing coal and conditions are not in all places as favorable for PV.


You might be biasing heavily to city or urban areas where storing gas is not as expensive.

Storing, transporting, pumping gas is extremely expensive and risky. Propane really helps.

By gas I meant natural gas--for utility generation.

http://sparkoffreedomfoundation.org/2018/01/25/economics-replacing-existing-coal-power-plants-natural-gas/

"between 2008 and 2016, coal’s share of U.S. electricity production declined from 48 percent to 30 percent ... natural gas production has risen from just 21 percent of U.S. electricity in 2008, to 34 percent in 2016"
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LadyN

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Joined: 26/01/2019
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Posted: 09:02pm 08 May 2019
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  lizby said  By gas I meant natural gas--for utility generation.


Ah, I see.

I generally understand "gas" as to refer to "gasoline" but it maybe a rural thing as natural gas is a no go here.

We would really love natural gas as it's very very cheap but I think it does not make sense to transport it over anything other than pipes?

I am wondering because if they can transport propane, why not natural gas?

I don't know.

Apologies for my assumptions and jumping to conclusions.
 
lizby
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Posted: 11:54am 09 May 2019
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  LadyN said  if they can transport propane, why not natural gas?

Propane liquifies at a moderate pressure (and gasifies immediately when released from that pressure through the regulator on your tank), so higher energy densities can be achieved than for natural gas at ambient temperature (for that pressure).
Edited by lizby 2019-05-10
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azhaque
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Joined: 21/02/2017
Location: Pakistan
Posts: 117
Posted: 02:29am 16 May 2019
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  LadyN said  
I am wondering because if they can transport propane, why not natural gas?


They can. Its called LNG. Bulk transportation is thru ships, as below.





Retail sales are usually through piped infrastructure, being the cheapest but can be transported by trucks or rail.

In Pakistan imported LNG from Qatar is in use for the past 3-4 years as our local gas fields have been depleted down after about 50-60 yrs of use (read abuse).

Used for domestic supply, electricity generation (other industrial use e.g. boilers, making Urea fertilizer etc.) as well as transportation as a replacement for diesel or petrol as more eco friendly fuel.


azhaqueEdited by azhaque 2019-05-17
 
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