World-first 'solar train' about to be launched in Byron Bay

Photos from RenewEconomy

A two-carriage train with lightweight, flexible, 6.5kW solar panels and 77kWh batteries will be travelling 3 kilometres on a disused railway track by the end of this year. It will transport clients to and from the Byron Bay town centre and the Elements of Byron resort in NSW, Australia. The main station also houses 30kW of solar which charges the train’s battery during stops and exports excess power to the grid. The solar panels on the train will also charge the battery. The solar/battery option was decided upon after community consultation indicated that there was resistance to the idea of a diesel train.

For more information see the full article from RenewEconomy, By Giles Parkinson, 27 Oct 2017.

Postscript: Byron Bay's world-first solar train gets ready to trundle. RenewEconomy, December 15, 2017.

From RenewEconomy

Puerto Rico children's hospital gets solar and battery power from Tesla

Solar array at San Juan's Children's Hospital (photo by Tesla)

In the wake of two hurricanes (Maria and Irma), the San Juan's Hospital del Niño (Children's Hospital) in Puerto Rico was struggling for power when relying on two generators and diesel rations. Now Tesla has installed a large array of solar panels and batteries which are enough to supply the needs of the hospital which cares for up to 3000 children.

Elon Musk says this is the ‘first of many’ similar projects that Tesla will set up on the island. The company will therefore create a series of microgrids with independent solar power. Maybe this approach is viable for disaster prone areas as large scale electricity networks are costly and time consuming to restore.

For more information see:

Struggling Puerto Rico children's hospital gets solar power from Tesla, from abcNews, 25 Oct, 2017.

Tesla turns power back on at children's hospital In Puerto Rico, from The Two-Way, 25 Oct, 2017.

Don't write off hydrogen as a storage of renewable energy for transport

Hydrogen Fuel cell electric car, Copenhagen (photo: Julie May) 

A number of car makers and industries are looking to use hydrogen as a renewable energy source but one of the challenges is transporting it over long distances. According to ABC News renewable hydrogen could fuel Australia's next export boom after a CSIRO breakthrough.

How renewable hydrogen is produced (From ABC News)

The Australian CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) has come up with a way to transport renewable hydrogen that has been converted to liquid ammonia (NH3) by ‘cracking’ the conversion of ammonia back to pure hydrogen at the destination making it ready to be used for transport.

There have been many improvements made in handling hydrogen as a 'fuel' such that it is no longer dangerous. For example, it is not burned as a fuel in a vehicle but used in a fuel cell to make electricity to drive an electric motor. Fuel cells use an electrochemical process to convert hydrogen and oxygen into electricity and water. They have no moving parts and no open flames. See the simple illustrations in Team Macquarie: Hydrogen Myth Busters. Some advantages of hydrogen include a much faster time to refuel vehicles, a longer range between recharging and it is more applicable to larger forms of transport.

Some car companies are looking at hydrogen fuel cell vehicles such as General Motors, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes and possibly others. A good argument for fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) vs battery electric vehicles (BEVs): Why the automotive future will be dominated by fuel cells. Of course there are arguments against FCEVs in favour of BEVs. It will be interesting to see what happens. All I know is that the battery in my plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) will not last that long and will need to be replaced after a few years!

Using renewables on my house to drive my car (2015-2019)

Audi A3 e-tron (photo by Julie May)

My first plug-in car, the Audi A3 e-tron, was a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) that drove in pure electric for up to 50 km and then in hybrid mode using petrol and battery. My house has solar panels and home battery installed which partly charged the car. The details of these renewables are to be found on this website page called My House. All these items were purchased to reduce my carbon footprint and my bills in retirement.

Being retired, I charged the car in daylight to make use of the solar panels and battery. For four years of driving, 81% was done in pure electric and 19% in petrol. By using my renewable energy power to charge the car, I calculated that it cost 3 cents per kilometre to drive whereas petrol and diesel cars cost 10-12 cents per kilometre. The fuel consumption for 37,000 km was 1.5 L/100km as most driving was around town. For a long trip, say Melbourne to Canberra ,the fuel consumption was 5.6 L/100km

Canberra’s electricity grid is moving towards 40% powered by renewables in 2017 as it heads towards 100% renewable electricity by 2020. [Canberra reached 100% renewable electricity on October 1, 2019] This means that with my own use of renewables and some renewables from the grid, the CO₂ emissions from the car were much reduced. It feels good to do my bit but the bonus is - it is a pleasure driving in electric, so the next car is all-electric with some autonomous features. See 'My Car'.
Updated: October 3, 2019.

India taps renewable energy to ensure all homes have power in 2018

Source: India Energy Storage Alliance

“The Indian government has pledged to broaden the roll-out of solar and battery storage to households without power in rural and remote towns and villages, as a part of a newly launched $2.5 billion project to electrify all of the country’s households by the end of 2018.”

One quarter of all homes in the country are yet to be electrified, that is 300 million people are not yet on the grid. Many homes will be eligible for free electricity connections but 80% of the funds will go towards electrifying rural homes. Here solar power packs of 200-300W will be added with battery banks to un-electrified homes, along with LED lights, a DC fan and a DC power plug, and repair and maintenance for five years.

India originally had a goal to have 40% renewable energy by 2030 but now believes it can surpass this goal by 2027. It has currently cancelled the development of new coal-fired power plants as it is less expensive for them to install rooftop solar and solar farms. From the article entitled “India joins the renewable energy revolution, accelerates targets”.

To read the full article from RenewEconomy see India taps solar, storage to ensure all homes have power in 2018. By Sophie Vorrath, 27 Sept, 2017.

Off-grid trial gives Western Australian farming community cheaper, more reliable power

Ros and Bernie Giles trialling off-grid power on their farm (from ABC News)

Western Australia (WA) is a large, sparsely populated state so providing reliable power to the fringes of the WA network is a challenge.

• Fed up with frequent outages and voltage spikes, six farming households in Ravensthorpe, 500 kilometres south of Perth, chose to take a leap of faith and try living off the sun and lithium batteries.
• WA's energy utility Western Power offered the systems for free in the search for alternatives to the massive cost of replacing ageing poles and wires.

For more information see the report from ABC News, by Katherine Diss and Mark Bennett, 19 Sept 2017.

See also a similar report: Horizon Power extends WA off-grid solar and storage trial from RenewEconomy.

Energy Queensland managing distributed renewable energy to become a 'virtual power plant'

Energy Queensland is a large Queensland government-owned utility that is working with GreenSync to manage distributed renewable energy resources, such as rooftop solar, to help manage demand and drive down prices. GreenSync is a Melbourne-based start-up business which will use a cloud-based, load control internet system to manage extreme electricity demand during severe temperature events and, in general, add grid support. This will create Australia’s largest 'virtual power plant'.

There are many potential customers with rooftop solar or other distributed energy sources in Queensland. For example, the so-called Sunshine State leads the nation on rooftop solar uptake, with 34% of houses said to have put PV panels on their roofs. Distributed renewable energy customers, such as these, would be enrolled into the virtual power plant platform ahead of peak summer demand.

The Queensland government has a goal to achieve zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and to have 50% renewable energy for electricity by 2030.

For more information see Energy Queensland taps people power to shore up summer grid. By Sophie Vorrath, 6 September, 2017 from One Step off the Grid.

New solar farm opened for the Australian Capital Territory

Williamsdale Solar Farm (from RenewEconomy)

The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Government has a goal to have the territory’s electricity provided by 100% renewable energy by 2020. It is well on the way towards that goal by already having several solar and wind farms providing electricity now. The latest of these is the 11MW Williamsdale solar farm which was officially opened today. It was funded by investors led by Australia’s Impact Investment Group which aimed to deliver a return of 10% per annum. The government has pledged to buy the electricity for 20 years. With this success, Impact aims to launch a second solar investment fund. The ACT Government (Canberra) is keen to help mitigate climate change and also has a goal to have zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

For more information see Impact plans second solar investment fund as Williamsdale opens. By Giles Parkinson, 5 October, 2017, RenewEconomy

South Australia leads with renewables as saltwater pumped hydro storage takes shape

Renewable energy developments in Spencer Gulf, SA (from RenewEconomy)

The South Australian (SA) state is at the end of the largest electricity network in the world, that of eastern Australia. Its connection to that network has been unreliable plus the SA Government has a more ambitious Renewable Energy Target (RET) than that of the current Federal Government. Therefore the state government has decided to go it alone when increasing renewable electricity generation and reducing carbon emissions overall. The State has a goal to be 50% renewable in electricity production by 2025 and have net zero emissions by 2050.

South Australia already has substantial solar and wind power but, to be independent of the eastern electricity network and have reliable power, the state needs more renewable energy and adequate power storage for peak demand times. The linked article at the bottom outlines: the seawater pumped hydro storage project and mentions the quickly developing 100kWh Tesla megabattery facility; the planned solar thermal storage plant at Aurora; the Sundrop farm powered by solar thermal; and the approved plan to build the Adani Whyalla Solar Farm.

Pumped hydro works by having two nearby reservoirs of water at different elevations such that there is a steep enough decline between them to generate electricity from water falling down pipes to turbines. Water from the lower reservoir, or the sea in this case, is pumped uphill at times of excess supply to the upper reservoir. This upper dam is a potential store of energy that can be released to make hydroelectricity when demand exceeds supply.

For more information see: South Australia leads again as saltwater pumped hydro storage takes shape by Simon Holmes a Court, 29 September, 2017, RenewEconomy.