Technology

At those prices why stop there
http://vertu.com/


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Hey, found a pic for you on the interweb thingy


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The web thingy tells me that the deepest hole is Kola Superdeep Borehole at 12,262 meters (about 7.5 miles).

 

Too shallow for nintendo

 

If you can get down lower, much much lower, its full of gold, just saying!

 

Here you go Klunk.

You can trade up from that 1980's mobile you carry.

http://flip.it/kgh30e

 

Just noticed my solar panels have ticked over 40,000 kWh of generation since they were installed.
And that’s given me over $21,500 of feed-in credit.
Not bad!


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Fixed for accuracy....

 

I was surprised by this post of Steve's last week, because (1) I thought he wasn't a communist and (2) having had a solar system for many years I couldn't believe his numbers. After 16 years, my PV's were corroded junk and my original investment not recovered, despite a 30% increase in power costs.

I've since learned that the feed in tariff in Adelaide is 56c / kWh. In Sydney, it's 8.5c / kWh. You'd think that one of Australia's smaller cities, in a state with one of the largest deficits, couldn't afford such generosity, but there's no limit to spending borrowed money when Labor rules. Just another $21,500 on the never-never.

Today I saw an article, written by an Adelaide person, which neatly summarises the fraud of rooftop solar PV power. Read on.

Domestic roof-top solar is touted as the answer to all our “bill problems”, and as the owner of a small system I can vouch for the effect on power bills, but I have a feed-in tariff of 56 cents/kWh and as long as this lasts I am doing OK. I recognise that non-solar households are subsidising me but that is due to political stupidity.

When the power system was designed,( by people who actually knew what they were doing), the model was to have large, centralised, reliable and economic power stations as close to the load centres as possible. Electricity was reticulated in a one-way system using various voltages which were progressively stepped down for ultimate consumption. Our houses use 240V. Main transmission lines run at 132, 256 or 500 thousand volts to reduce power losses due to line resistance, (Volts = I,(current) squared X R, (resistance)) so higher voltage give lower losses.

When it gets to our homes we want 240 volts so the local system draws from a High Voltage feeder, (usually 11,000 volts), through a transformer to get 240. In SA if folk look at the power poles in their street they will see 3 wires on top of the poles, (usually 11,000 volts), and 4 underneath – this is 415V 3 phase distribution system and the 240 volt supplies are taken off this. Every now and then there is a transformer between the 2.

Each transformer serves a “local” area containing a number of homes. Domestic solar systems can “share” their excess within the local area but nowhere else because the transformer will not permit a reverse flow when there is a higher voltage on the supply side. Electrical purists do not like water analogies but the best way to view the transformer is as a one-way valve.

If there is a power failure then solar systems will shut down as there is a need to ensure that there is no extraneous power supply that could endanger those who work to fix the problem. This is done by the solar inverter and it is a legal requirement that this happens. Once the inverter is off line a person’s solar system is no use to them and they will be in the dark until power is restored. A battery would be no use unless the system had the means to disconnect from the grid completely.

In short, the idea of having “virtual” power stations using lots of rooftop solar systems is bullsh*t.

Electricity suppliers hate solar because they miss out on charging for the “free” power distributed by the rooftop solar systems but have to be ready to pick up the shortfalls and of course the 12 hours of the day when the sun does not shine. To counter this they raise their prices so more “renewables” leads to higher prices.

 

I lost interest after you found out Steve is a communist

 

Fixed.

Sorry Steve.

 

I thought you'd like me more if I was...

Ian's not quite right. I'm not a Communist, but I am a tight-arse!

A few other facts to bring some more perspective to the article:
My most recent electricity bill shows that I receive 54 c/kwh. My understanding is this rebate ends at the end of 2021 or 2022, at which point I'll move on to whatever the current "normal" rebate is.
What happened in SA is that for a brief period of time the government ran a VERY generous rebate scheme. It think it ran out around 2011 or so, and I bought my system right at the very end of that time-frame. I remember there was some panic as our paperwork was submitted with only a few days to go and it needed to be approved before the cut-off date.
In the end my approval came through on the last day. If I'd missed out my rebate would have been less than half what it is, so that mistake would have cost me thousands of $.

Thus the vast bulk of solar systems in SA are not getting anything like 54c or 56c / kwh. It is much more in line with what other states get.

I'd also add that back then these systems were very expensive. My little system is only 3.5 kw, but it cost over $12k.
Nowadays a system like that would probably be, what, $2k at most? So although the rebate is less, the equation to break even is probably much the same.

I did, however, buy a decent quality system and when I had the panels cleaned and inspected about 18 months ago it was all in excellent condition and performing as good as new. I expect it to last many more years before needing to be replaced.

That having been said, what I will do is consider upgrading the system when my "good" rebate runs out, as one of the other rules was that if you changed anything about your installation, you lost the rebate.

Regardless, I'm not doing any of this to save the planet from non-existent global warming, I'm doing it because I hate paying our ludicrous electricity prices, which have been caused entirely by idiotic lefty policies.

 

One Very clever kid

 

What is your price to purchase FROM the grid?

 

28.63c / kWh

Interestingly, this is 4 TIMES the rate for my office in New York - that's how much greenies and frightened politicians have fuchsed-up Australia.

Meanwhile, according to NOAA – there has been a flat-line temperature trend since 1997 and Artic sea ice is at record levels.

 

Yep.

Incidentally, I pay between 36.38 and 38.84c /kWh

 

Expect that to go up now your government is making the same stupid mistakes the SA Labor government did.

 

Re feed in vs purchase prices: I would have thought Ian's is not too far off the mark (ie wholesaling a product for around 30% of its retail price) ; completely nuts and unsustainable that Steve gets more for feedin than he pays for purchase!

 

I pay 21c kw/h and feed in tariff I get is 11.4c kw/h My solar is 6.5kw which I paid $2995 installed

I usually get about $20-$30 credit to each bill. I haven't paid for a bill in quite some time now

 

Because you're subsidised by all the people who can't afford 3K or are tenants or have no roof to utilise.

Your saving is an illusion, like the entire renewable energy scam, to be paid for by our grand children.