So after all the hype and excitement at the meeting in Kalbarri on Monday I came away no more encouraged that I should sell my back up generators and just the strangest feeling that this sudden interest in keeping the lights on in Kalbarri had more to do with an upcoming election than the uninterrupted supply of power to the townspeople.
First question is how long will a 2.0MWhr battery keep the power online in the town when the feeder line from Geraldton is offline?
If the battery bank is the reference power source to allow the wind power and rooftop solar power the the town I suspect that there will be a very narrow window of opportunity to correct any faults.
The short duration faults are annoying but are not the main problem it is the major problems that go on for 12 to 48 hrs and even if extra solar Pv in a private large array was added a bout of low wind or prolonged cloud cover which can happen during stormy summer thunder storms or winter fronts.
The power line from Geraldton is the base load and when it goes offline what is needed is another source of base load reference power to keep the other power sources within the town online and stable.
Western Power is a poles and wire supplier and maintainer not a base load power generator and unfortunately the folly of splitting up our power supply system was all too obvious on the day.
CWE Price at posting:
3.8¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
