[pasttense]

"The chances of the West Australian electricity grid becoming the first to fall victim to the so-called “death spiral” for utilities appears to have increased after it was revealed this week that the gap between the cost to generate, transmit and sell electricity and the charge to consumer has widened....
If the WA government was to lift the consumer price to reflect the actual cost of generation and delivery, this would put the retail price at close to 40c/kWh. That compares to around 15c/kWh for rooftop solar PV. The difference provides an awful lot of room for alternatives such as storage, and even micro-grids to fill the gap."
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/wa-grid ... iral-41428

[AndyA]

Have fun living in WA without an electric grid.
People seem to be cheering this like it is a good thing. Makes me laugh so hard. I've lived in Perth, and electricity is pretty important, if you want a coffee in the morning, or a shower at night, maybe some street lights, a train to take you to watch a game at subiaco oval, or maybe just a late night feed of mushy pea and ham soup. Lets do all that with battery power.

Still laughing.

[Timo]

Even in Oz, nothing is too big to fail. Small is beautiful. Even if the grid is used as an intermitent backup, testify! The BAU folks seem to demand that any discussion of alternatives is an all-or-nothing approach. This is total BS. Make coal the "alternative" energy source! We'll all be better off for it, even if we lose a few of our on-demand electric luxuries.

[AndyA]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Timo', 'E')ven in Oz, nothing is too big to fail. Small is beautiful. Even if the grid is used as an intermitent backup, testify! The BAU folks seem to demand that any discussion of alternatives is an all-or-nothing approach. This is total BS. Make coal the "alternative" energy source! We'll all be better off for it, even if we lose a few of our on-demand electric luxuries.

[rollin]

So what is the cost per ton of coal from Aussie mines? Are they hit with high fuel costs or just not operating efficiently, giving them a high cost per kilowatt despite subsidies?
Another thing that was not mentioned was the relative percentage of utility power to solar powered electric. I always get suspicious of biased articles with little information.

[americandream]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AndyA', ' ')Meanwhile in the real world, frenzied accumulation continues apace, be it PV panels or TV's. CO2 pollution rates are up every year as near term thinking propels us closer to disaster.

[theluckycountry]

2014 and the West Australian grid is in a death spiral? That was a dumb arse article .

Money supports the grid and WA has fabulous mineral and energy wealth, their doing just fine, except for the 3 Billion the Federal government just gave them to install some rebuildable crap. They'll live to regret that! You can easily judge the state of any nation's grid by the number and extent of Blackouts. It was pointed out long ago that as our our oil based industrial world transitions the downslope of PeakOil, blackouts will be a major feature. "Lights Out". And not blackouts from weather related events either, but ones due to Grid degradation.

Total Grid Collapse Strikes Cuba (Again)
https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/t ... cuba-again
Because they are communist? No, because they are dirt poor and can't maintain the infrastructure.

Here's an interesting stat.

Aging US Power Grid Blacks Out More Than Any Other Developed Nation
https://www.ibtimes.com/aging-us-power- ... on-1631086

This link is from 2014 no less, and that's a good thing because it filters out all the climate related blackouts like the Texas Winter one. And sure, radical weather events do cause blackouts but there are, believe it or not, regions of the world that regularly have freezing conditions and howling winds and yet somehow they have managed to build reliable grids.

Aside from War, Earthquakes, and hurricanes, there is no reason for a grid to fail, unless it was shoddily built or allowed to fall into disrepair. We have wildfires down here where I live, a horrific one a couple of years back, but no one lost power. Why? Because the grid operator keeps the lines free of trees, they have wide sections of cleared ground beneath them, so that they don't burn up. But such is not the case obviously in poorer nations that can't afford to maintain their grids.




Here is a Dream 08/2024
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')o keep the lights on, the U.S. needs to build enough regional power lines to move the equivalent of three dozen nuclear reactors’ worth of power.

[careinke]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('theluckycountry', '
')Aside from War, Earthquakes, and hurricanes, there is no reason for a grid to fail, unless it was shoddily built or allowed to fall into disrepair.