Posts filed under ‘solar power’
Hydrogen fuelled zero emissions garbage trucks for Moreland
Moreland Council has invested in changing it’s fleet of diesel garbage trucks to zero emissions, which will reduce heavy vehicle fleet carbon emissions, pollution, noise, and reduce fuel costs in the long term.
The plan is to use electric heavy vehicle garbage trucks powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. The hydrogen will be generated by solar PV at the Hadfield depot, and by wind power purchased through the electricity grid, hence the hydrogen fuel cells will be renewables powered.
Moreland Council have entered into partnership with hydrogen technology company H2U and vehicle manufacturer CNH Industrial to deliver the pilot project. This pilot project is one of the first in the world using hydrogen fuel cells in a heavy vehicle fleet.
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Opposing the rule to charge solar owners a fee to feed-in to electricity grid
The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) is considering allowing a charge on solar owners for feeding their electricity back to the grid. We think this is grossly inequitable and very problematic for reducing emissions and continuing to encourage take up of solar renewable energy by households and businesses.
The following submission was made on the rule change:
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New Victorian Solar Feed-in Tariffs to recognise Greenhouse gas avoidance
SolarPV in Moreland (Via MEFL)
New solar feed-in tariffs (FIT) are being introduced by the Andrews Labor government in Victoria, based on the time-of-day – peak, off-peak and shoulder – which better reflects current electricity pricing. The new tariff structure will also compensate solar households with a tariff component taking into account the environment value of greenhouse gases avoided.
Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D’Ambrosio announced the changes as a fairer way to pay people for the solar and wind power they produce for the electricity network.
“Victorians should be fairly compensated for the power they generate – plain and simple.” said Lily D’Ambrosio. “Households will now be compensated through the most cost effective and fairest system available, which is through a time-of-use feed-in tariff.”
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Victoria steps up with renewables target and ban on fracking
Premier Dan Andrews and Energy and Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio launching Victoria’s renewable energy targets
In mid June Victoria stepped up it’s Renewable Energy target to 25 percent renewable energy share by 2020, and 40 percent by 2025. And this week Premier Daniel Andrews announced a permanent ban on onshore unconventional gas exploration and development and hydraulic fracturing (fracking).
While phaseout of coal generators is important, and we are hopeful that Hazelwood closure is in the near term pipeline, these are important announcements for climate action at the state level. It shows the state Government is treating the climate issue and their citizens with the seriousness that it deserves.
Moreland roofs now generate 12MWh power annually from Solar PV
Welcome to the local solar revolution.
Moreland City Council has just installed an extra 100kW of solar PV panels – 390 new panels in all – on the Coburg Civic Centre roof. This adds to the existing 9kW system that was already functioning.
These panels will meet 30 per cent of the building’s energy needs, as well as saving 160 tonnes of greenhouse gases every year, with an estimated saving of $23,000 from Council’s electricity bill each year,
Read more at MEFL: Coburg Town Hall gets solar-powered.
We think this is great news. Keep up the good work City of Moreland in transitioning to zero net emissions.
It is not only our Council that has been going solar, another item from the MEFL newsletter uses figures from the Clean Energy Regulator to show that at the end of February 2015:
- 3,961 solar power systems had been installed in Moreland with a capacity of 10,708 kW
- 414 solar power systems (1,622 kW) have been installed the 2014-15 financial year
- 86 households have installed solar (244 kW) through the current bulk-buy coordinated by MEFL’s Positive Charge initiative
- On average, householders in Moreland have installed 3.9 kW solar power systems
I also checked the latest figures for March 2015. In December 2013 I looked at the penetration of solar PV in Fawkner and more broadly across Moreland. Figues in brackets are from November 2013 data, so you can compare the change.
| Suburb | Total Dwellings | Dwellings installed | Percent | Installed capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fawkner 3060 | 4520 | 328 (246) | 7.3% (5.4%) | 940kW (571kW) |
| Hadfield, Glenroy and Oak Park 3046 | 11482 | 811 (635) | 7.10% (5.5%) | 2167kW (1391kW) |
| Coburg 3058 | 11303 | 1092 (835) | 9.7% (7.4%) | 3178kW (1990kW) |
| Pascoe Vale 3044 | 9127 | 680 (546) | 7.5% (6%) | 1716kW (1238kW) |
| Brunswick 3056 | 7014 | 504 (389) | 7.20% (5.5%) | 1264kW (835kW) |
| Brunswick South, Brunswick West 3055 | 3933 | 303 (246) | 7.70% (6.3%) | 756kW (563kW) |
| Moreland LGA | 51330 (56139) | 4027 (3343) | 7.80% (6.1%) | 10950kW (7666kW) |
Congratulations Moreland. We now have a power station the equivalent of a 12MWh of annual generation capacity operating during the day on the roofs of Moreland. A good proportion of this energy would be used near production, saving in energy transmission losses. Of course Moreland is not the only municipality enjoying the solar PV revolution. Here are the latest stats of some Melbourne northern region solar PV installations:
| Municipality | Total Dwellings | Dwellings installed | Percent | Installed capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moreland | 51330 | 4027 | 7.8% | 10950kW |
| Moonee Valley | 36135 | 3050 | 8.40% | 8583kW |
| Darebin | 46499 | 4400 | 9.5% | 11316kW |
| Hume | 54920 | 8007 | 14.6% | 24692kW |
| Whittlesea | 52770 | 7394 | 14.00% | 20888kW |
| Banyule | 43137 | 3681 | 8.50% | 9959kW |
| Maribyrnong | 23539 | 2026 | 8.60% | 5753kW |
| Melbourne | 10236 | 551 | 5.40% | 2132kW |
As you can see from this table the urban/rural fringe municipalities of Hume and Whittlesea have a much greater penetration of solar PV, now exceeding 14 per cent. These are not wealthy areas, with new estates where people have a substantial mortgage but also see solar PV as a cost effective way of saving on their utility electricity consumption. Moreland at 7.8% is second lowest after the City of Melbourne.
This graph shows the solar PV monthly aggregate installation across Moreland postcode areas time series:
Click to open larger version
There is still a lot of opportunity for take up of solar PV in Moreland.
If you are thinking of doing so, Moreland Energy Foundation (MEFL) offshoot Postive Charge offers a solar PV bulk buy to save when purchasing.
This is one reason why consumer demand for electricity is falling.
But due to the loss of the carbon price from July 2014, utility scale energy production from both black and brown coal is rising. We need action at both state and Federal level to enhance emission standards that will result in the closure of some of our ageing coal fired clinkers like Hazelwood, which is the most polluting and inefficient power station in the industrial word, and produces substantial population health impacts and social costs.
Victorian Premier warns 100,000 premises may lose power during extreme heatwave
The Premier Denis Napthine warned Victorians that 100,000 premises may lose power during the extreme heatwave due to demand on the state’s electricity grid. Thank you Premier, for your incompetence at managing electricity generation in Victoria.
Climate scientists have been warning of the increased frequency and intensity of heatwaves, with a long term trend of increasing temperatures and 2013 being our hottest year on record. (See this 2009 study by Alexander and Arblaster – Assessing trends in observed and modelled climate extremes over Australia in relation to future projections (PDF))
Much of the electricity system is about managing peak demand through ensuring adequate generating capacity in the network. Victoria’s continued reliance on aging brown coal fired generators with impediments to diversification through renewables has let down the electors and residents of Victoria, badly. We are now seeing the results of poor climate and energy policy at the state level.
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Part 2: Labor’s climate policy funding shuffle dance
This is the second part of our special series on the Labor Party’s 2010 climate policies. Part one is here. This edition, we discuss the funding shuffle dance that is Labor’s renewable energy policies.
Renewable energy (which includes ‛clean coal’ – who knew?)
Renewable Energy Future Fund (is this superannuation for wind farms?)
Well, it’s $652 million to support renewable energy projects, and development of low emissions technologies. It will also be used for energy efficiency programs for households and business. Sounds good, investing in new renewable technologies, doesn’t it? Except, as the Beyond Zero Emissions report outlines, we already have the technology to transition Australia to 100% clean energy.
But hey, we can always improve on existing technology, right? And household energy efficiency is a really effective, cheap way to reduce emissions, so that’s a great use of taxpayer dollars. Only problem: $9 million of this renewable energy money will be used to pay for the Big New Focus Group (BNFG) Huh. Wonder what else they’ll drain this one for. Don’t worry, it’s just a Future Fund, and the future never arrives! Right?
Connecting to the matrix
This is a new policy announcement – $1 billion over a decade to connect renewable energy projects to the electricity grid. Now, if we could only take that $2 billion going into ‛clean coal’ research and put it into actual renewable energy, we might have something substantial to connect to the grid. And how about the rest of the $9 billion we spend on fossil fuel subsidies? We could connect up a lot of renewable energy projects with $9 billion!
Solar Flagships (conjuring up confused images of ships with flags and solar panels)
This was announced in last year’s budget and was supposed to be a $1.5 billion program to establish large solar-power stations. This is great, yes? This is what Australians want – large scale renewable projects! So how’s it going so far? (more…)
