Lets hope so., it really should be the Death

Look forward to the back-end of Abbott.    Can't be long now.

Haven't been trying too hard to follow latest developments.   Unlike most of the serious posters  - I just cannot spend that same time.


Was rather excellent though... to see 'Bang Bang' losing face!!!!Hard as he tried not too.!!  

A TOUGH COOKIE OUR PM!!!!

And where are all the whining  haters now? on this Board???
Staying pretty quiet, far as I can see.  Mind you - I might log on for long spans, but I can't spend too much time on this thing...so - if I've missed anything interesting - let  me know  Pls? Maybe there 's a topic of interest re Obama/Gillard/Bang Bang I've missed.
Im a bit mystified  - why is the focus around the Pacific Power all about economics, on this board? What have I missed./?
Economic policy is like politics......... a distraction, a buffer Zone , a riot barrier.

'take care of the pennies and the pounds take care of themselves'.

'If (it's a big if) we could construct a world-wide HVDC grid, then 24 hour solar would be possible without even bothering about storage.

Now that's not too much of a pipe dream (don't take that wrong Jalane), because there are HVDC transmission lines 2000 km long. The longest so far is 2400km. ' - Muso

No probs...

Since I don't know what HVDC stands for.  Is it  High VoltageDC   ?? as opposed to AC/DC?



So we just need to develop better switching mechanisms?
Like those converters we use to change between diff volt.?
Shouldn't thing it will take long to solve that... given the exponential increase in tech these days.

But, after all, what do I know.??   SFA really.

Emma wrote on Nov 20^th, 2011 at 10:36pm:


It would probably work out as too expensive, but look into it yourself.  I think the government subsidy is going soon too.

BatteriesNotIncluded wrote on Nov 21^st, 2011 at 5:42pm:


Yes it is. The link between Tasmania and Victoria is HVDC for example.  It's "only" 400kV.  A Global network would need to work on 1000kV.

It's not a limitation of technology. It's just a question of having the insight to construct a global network. It could be possible to justify it on the back of conventional energy generation, but there is minimal solar electricity to share at the moment. It's a small proportion.

Emma wrote on Nov 20^th, 2011 at 10:36pm:

Your panels don't have to be on the roof, you could build a small structure just for your panels, I have a neighbour that did just that.

Emma wrote on Nov 23^rd, 2011 at 6:22pm:

You can do that too, I have another neighbour that has sell back to the grid solar power as well as a battery bank for themselves should they get a power outage, which is very common here. I live in the bush too, I live on stand alone solar with just batteries,and yes the batteries can be expensive but if you spend some time looking around there are some bargains on E bay and the like, I ended up getting some ex Telstra batteries that had only ever been trickle charged and they cost a tenth of the price had they been brand new.
If you live in the bush,do you have water tanks or a dam?
I'd invest in a fire fighter pump if you do, or a  generator.

Emma wrote on Nov 23^rd, 2011 at 6:22pm:


As far as I know, you can go with either grid connected (you don't use any of the Solar Power) or Standalone (you use all the Solar power). I don't think that there is a switched option. If I'm wrong, I'd be delighted if somebody would correct me. The standalone systems are much more expensive in Urban areas, but not too bad in Rural areas, because the government still subsidises that. You can claim Renewable Energy Certificates (REC's) Of course you still have to buy batteries, regulators and an inverter or two.

The grid connect systems are cheap everywhere because of the government REC's.  It's funded by large users of electricity who have to pay a levy.  

muso wrote on Nov 24^th, 2011 at 3:07pm:


Yes, but the countries in Europe are under a common government ( the EU) and the distances involved are much smaller..