Brian Ross wrote on Sep 30^th, 2016 at 5:43pm:


All it takes is the shadow from one rope or stay holding up the mast to reduce that panels output to zero.

I might upgrade to one of these now they have the molds sorted-
www.f-boat.com/pages/trimarans/F-33New.html

From the second link -

'Here are the power outputs for the shaded and unshaded modules at 10:35 am, which looks like a good representative point for test 1:

    Panel 1- Horizonal 1.7 inch dia pipe shadow          Power out = 142 watts  (down 11%)
    Panel 3 - Diagonal 1.3 inch dia pipe shadow         Power out = 133 watts  (down 17%)
    Panel 10 - 2 by 4 Horizontal shadow                     Power out = 92 watts    (down 43%)
    Control panels -- No shadow                             Power out = 160 watts     (base)

http://www.builditsolar.com/Experimental/PVShading/PVShading.htm

A 500kv line is about 1.3", each phase. If your array is under the powerline, the shadow/s will affect more than one panel.

Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg says preliminary inquiries shows South Australia's growing dependency on renewable energy was

not the reason

for the cascading blackouts across the storm-hit state last week.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/32782769/renewables-not-reason-for-sa-blackout-govt/...

Bobby. wrote on Oct 2^nd, 2016 at 9:04am:



EASY:



the preferred method  politicians use to fill  their pockets and screw the taxpayer while simultaneously making you think they're doing you a favour.

Privatisation of power lines is a great idea for the future, but the whole dynamics of electricity distribution will be changing.

The main problem on this last occasion was the reliance on importing power from long distances requiring big power lines.

So in a way Xenophon was correct.

A better system would be localised power generation AND storage,,,,, renewable if you like.

Economy of scale means fossil fuel generators need to be large, which in turn means long power transmission lines.

In the future with smaller locally produced power is not going to require those huge transmission line,,, which is why I don't want to be a long term shareholder via government ownership.

http://www.mumbidawindfarm.com.au/

This image says it all




Australia’s media has now got on top of initial attempts by some politicians to try and blame Wednesday’s state-wide electricity black out in South Australia on renewable energy generation rather than the real cause, automated safety equipment shutting the system down after strong winds knocked down 22 high voltage transmission towers.

But there’s an electrical elephant in the room.

The big question that needs to be asked about South Australia’s electricity black out is: Why did so many transmission towers collapse in the storms?

Depending on where you were in the state, the wind speeds in the South Australian storms averaged 50kph to 65kph with gusts of up to 90kph to 115kph.

When Cyclone Yasi hit far north Queensland in early 2011 it was category 5 cyclone with wind gusts up to 285kph.

Cyclone Yasi was one of the most powerful cyclones ever recorded in Queensland. It took out street electricity poles and wires, damaged substations and blacked out 180,000 homes between Cairns and Townsville.

But, despite having 2 to 3 times stronger winds than the South Australian storms, Cyclone Yasi’s winds caused just 2 high voltage transmission towers to collapse.

Land slippage and erosion from cyclone related rain and flooding toppled 1 tower and undermined another 2 in southern Queensland, but Yasi’s super high winds only knocked down 2 towers in far north Queensland.

In April of 2015 severe storms in NSW blacked out 200,000 premises between Sydney and Newcastle and in the Hunter Valley.

Winds gusting up to 135kph up rooted trees, knocked down local street power lines and damaged electricity circuits and infrastructure, but the NSW
high voltage transmission towers stood their ground.

What is wrong with South Australia’s transmission towers?

Here are few questions the Adelaide media should be putting to the power companies and the South Australian government.

Why did 22 South Australian high voltage transmission towers fall over in winds that weren’t as strong as the April 2015 NSW storms and were nowhere near as a strong Cyclone Yasi?

If you look at the photo above, from a lay-person’s glance, the concrete foundations of the tower seem short, small and under-weight to be anchoring a tower of that size and height.

Have South Australia’s electricity companies been skimping on the concrete they use in foundations or the thickness or amount of steel beams they use in constructing towers to reduce costs?

Are South Australia’s transmission towers designed or built differently to other states?

Are South Australia’s transmission towers built to world’s best practice?

It would also be interesting to know how many of the collapsed transmission towers were built since privatisation of South Australia’s electricity industry in 1999?

https://medium.com/@andynehl/why-did-so-many-of-south-australias-electricity-tra...

i had more concrete then that just to hold the kids swing in place ....

I hope the SA govt. does the right thing, jails the company directors responsible for schemozzle and seizes the assets from the companies and puts them back into public hands.