Intelligent solutions for the production of environmentally-friendly power and water

South Australia Needs Power

Electricity demand in South Australia is outstripping supply, increasing the likelihood of blackouts. Without investment in new electricity generation capacity, South Australia faces economic disruption.

South Australia's disappearing buffer against blackouts	South Australia's ratio of peak-to-average electricity demand is Australia's highest by far
Source: 2006 Annual Planning Report, Electricity Supply Industry Planning Council (South Australia)	Source: A Transmission Network to Power South Australia, ElectraNet SA

Much of the problem revolves around South Australia's hot summer climate. Air conditioner use is pushing the state's ratio of peak-to-average electricity demand to nearly one-third higher than in Victoria and New South Wales and nearly half again higher than in Queensland.

This high volatility is occurring in a state that already has among the world's highest percentage of renewable energy generation, predominantly from wind power. As a result, South Australia suffers two forms of grid instability: gyrating peaks on the demand side, and intermittent wind power input on the supply side. One solution to this instability is to build up spinning capacity. This is idle, warm capacity (like natural gas turbines) kept constantly on line to generate power for short periods to keep blackouts from occurring. This is inefficient and expensive. Another solution is use stored energy that can be drawn down on demand. The Victoria-Tasmania Basslink cable now offers Tasmania's hydro power as a kind of 'battery' for meeting South Australian peak demand. Unfortunately, though, rising electricity consumption is expected to exhaust this 'battery' within just a few years.

	"Solar thermal plants are the energy sources of choice whenever large instantaneous control capabilities are required, an essential need in a decarbonised economy. " The Clean Fuels Institute, New York 2006
The percentage of South Australia's electricity provided by wind is among the highest in the world
Source: Wind Energy In South Australia

In South Australia, concentrating solar power can generate base load power during the day and, using solar thermal storage, provide the peaking power South Australia needs. In sunny weather, parabolic troughs can generate baseload power during morning while building up stored thermal energy. In the afternoon, that stored energy can be drawn down to provide peak power at the same time as the solar plant provides its maximum daily output due to strong afternoon sun. Another advantage of concentrating solar power is that concentrating solar power output doesn't generally generate its power at the same time as wind turbines because maximum winds and strongest sunlight usually happen at different times of day. As a result, the two forms of renewable energy tend to offset each other's fluctuations, reducing grid volatility.

As the weather gets hotter, electricity demand rises	Summer demand reaches a peak in the late afternoon/early evening	Solar thermal storage helps follow load demand
Source: Submission to the Electricity Demand-Side Measures Task Force, Electricity Supply Industry Planning Council, 2001, page 4	Source: Request for Proposals, ETSA Utilities, 2006,	Source: US National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Embodied Energy

In addition to providing low-cost, potentially large-scale solar electricity, concentrating solar power also has life-cycle emissions, which are greenhouse gas emissions when fabrication, installation, generation, lifespan and retirement are all taken into account. Fossil fuel plants, for instance, not only create emissions when they burn coal or natural gas, but they 'create' emissions through upstream extraction and delivery of feedstock fossil fuels. Adding all these up and creating a payback (or energy amortization) calculation indicates wind, hydro and solar power have embodied energy payback periods measurable in months. Fossil fuel and nuclear plants take years to pay back the energy consumed in building and running them.