9 November 2015, One Step off the Grid, Community renewables development guide launched by Victorian govt. Victoria’s community renewable energy sector got a boost this week with the state government’s release of a guide to developing community owned-projects, as part of its upcoming Renewable Energy Action Plan. State energy minister Lily D’Ambrosio launched the Guide to Community-Owned Renewable Energy for Victorians at the annual general meeting of Australia’s first community-owned wind farm, Hepburn Wind, in Daylesford. According to a media release, it will help local groups make informed decisions about establishing community renewable projects, including wind, solar, small-scale hydro, geothermal, bioenergy (from waste products) and energy storage technologies. The guide also covers the development of sound business proposals, sources of possible funding (including crowdsourcing, grants and financing options), selecting the most suitable technologies, managing the project, stakeholder consultation and connecting to the grid. Read More here
Tag Archives: Renewables
6 November 2015, Renew Economy, Praying for rain – Tasmania. On the back of four years of dry and the shadow of El Niño looming large, recent rains across parts of inland Queensland must come as great relief. While plenty of follow up will be needed to restore surface water stores and recharge aquifers, we should be thankful for such mercies. As I sat down on Thursday morning (November 5) to start this piece, it began raining proverbial “cats and dogs” in Melbourne, bringing relief to parts of Victoria, including my garden (the 2-3 cm of rain that fell across Melbourne was twice as much as fell in all of October). However, the news is not so positive in Tasmania, which seems to have largely missed out on rain again, after several near record dry months. And that is compromising the health of Tasmanian hydro storages. By the end of October, Tasmanian hydro capacity was already below 30% capacity, and falling calamitously, despite a dramatic reduction in Tasmanian hydro power output. Read More here
5 November 2015, Arena, Making the case for energy-independent suburbs. A new investigation by Brookfield Energy Australia (Brookfield) could pave the way for the new Huntlee residential development in the NSW Hunter Valley to be built off-the-grid and powered by renewable energy. The $1.1 million initial study is receiving $442,000 from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). Huntlee, developed by LWP Property Group, will be the first new town in the Hunter Valley in 50 years and will house 20,000 new residents in 7,500 homes. ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht said substantial connection costs and the falling cost of renewable energy made it a good time to explore the option of forgoing grid connection. “If this latest work shows renewables, battery storage and enabling technologies can reliably and cost effectively power new suburbs, it could set a precedent for residential developments and potentially accelerate the uptake of renewables in Australia,” Mr Frischknecht said. “There are a number of regulatory challenges and constraints and technical risks facing microgrids. Brookfield will share key insights about overcoming these barriers with the energy industry.” Brookfield Energy CEO Richie Sheather welcomed today’s announcement. “We are excited to be exploring sustainable alternative solutions for energy and water infrastructure solutions and see an emerging competitive market for large-scale local microgrids leveraging high penetration renewable,” Mr Sheather said. Flow Systems, a Brookfield company, is spearheading Brookfield’s sustainable multi-utility initiative across Australia. Read More here
5 November 2015, Climate News Network, ‘Dragon water’ could power the planet. The quest is on to develop new technology that can tap the intense heat deep below the Earth’s surface and supply the whole world with electricity. An ambitious project is being launched to drill deep into the Earth’s crust to harness super-heated “dragon water” that would generate massive quantities of renewable energy. Unlike traditional geo-thermal heat, which exploits hot rocks to produce steam for turbines, this project goes far deeper − to where the pressure and temperature are huge but the potential benefits are 10 times as great. There is an infinite amount of energy beneath the Earth’s crust. The problem is the technology to harness it. The European Union (EU) believes that deep drilling techniques developed by the oil industry can be adapted to extract the energy. It has earmarked €15.6 million for a project in which potentially the world’s most energy-rich geothermal well will be drilled at Larderello in Tuscany, Italy. Formidable challenge The technical challenges are formidable because of the intense heat and pressure that will turn steel brittle and wreck electrical equipment, so the plan is to develop engineering tools that can withstand the conditions. Iceland, which already exploits traditional geo-thermal energy successfully, has tried and failed to harness super-heated rock. But it has not given up, and a second attempt is being planned. The EU believes using oil company expertise in drilling deep wells will be the key to success. Read More here