100% ownership of Snowy 1.0 &amp; 2.0

Originally posted by acorn ↑

Hi Raider ,

I agree that the build time will be an issue . These things do always take longer and cost more than expected . I also agree that future battery technology and the management of will impact the project .

However , I look at it this way . The shift from fossil to renewables is a paradigm shift . It is the first time in 60-70 years that a major change has been made . It is likely that a version of this change will power the country for at least the next 50 years .

We could wait to see what happens with technology although we will be at the mercy of no policy . We've seen how bad that is .
Of course if everyone took that view and waited for the technology to develop , there wouldn't be the rate of change that we have now .

I am very confident that distributed storage and generation will be the norm at some point . But I think that will compliment the Snowy 2.0 . And , with this project we are hedging our bets . While distributed storage might be the thing , it might be developed slower than we think . It will also require significant upgrading of distribution networks as well .
And then there's the independence . Distributed storage will be controlled by the homeowner . We do need a couple of large retailers to be involved for the market to work properly .

We also will need a large batteries to absorb the predicted excesses of summer midday sun or large windy events whilst the distributed smaller batteries might not be available .

Renewables are great but we are still only playing around the edges .You can have all the renewables you like but it is the storage capacity that is the key .

Maybe in 50 years time Snowy 2.0 might be redundant . If that's the case I still think it will be worth the investment for grid stability in the meantime .

Expand

Acorn rather than play catchup, I' d like to think we could be ahead of the game- any game.
to wit;

Local R&D key to mastering future battlefields

Victoria’s Defence Industry Advocate and former Federal Minister for Defence Materiel and Science, Greg Combet says in order for Australia’s defence forces to maintain a capability edge, “we always have to be at the cutting edge so we need to invest heavily in research and development (R&D)”.

In recent years, the DMTC has been the catalyst for bringing Thales Australia,

university researchers, CSIRO and the Defence Science Technology Group (DSTG) together to explore alternative electrical power generation and capture technologies for military vehicles.

Lucas says developing autonomous vehicles is one area where Victoria and Australia could potentially lead globally: “Not by competing with the big boys, such as Google and Amazon, but by finding a niche. For example, the Department of Defence is very interested in self-drive fuel tankers to transport fuel to remote bases in the north and west of Australia

http://paidcontent.theage.com.au/vi...e/local-rd-key-mastering-future-battlefields/

Raider