Charismatic

Looks like things are going to be a "bit sketch" at the end of this summer, basically there won't be enough electrons to go around if it's unusually long, hot or dry. Might need to practice your best rain dance or it'll be Scrabble by candle light.

Clappy

In this part of the world large quantities of geothermal energy are being released naturally from right under the ground so it has baffled me for a long time why that energy is not utilised more for electricity production.

BEVS

Now see this. I mentioned the same to him indoors & he seemed to think there would be no probs.

Lighting and cooking I can sort. Cold showers = not so keen.

Charismatic

Buy a little generator then? Good for earthquakes as well, $349 at Bunnings.

Charismatic

If generators put prices up now to build a new power station (geothermal or otherwise) it would only antagonise people already squealing about electricity bills while it may be many years before electricity prices actually fall as a result. We need a lot of new electricity generation capacity, not just this year but over about a decade to replace non-renewable sources, but no one wants to spend the money to do it. The alternative would be to build a big, new coal fired power station but that's politically unpalatable and unlikely to get approval (until the lights go out.)

Bo-Jangles

Cold showers will be the least of concerns if tanks run dry and there's no water. LOL

scrubbedexpat094

Surely all we need is some Kiwi ingenuity, some number 8 wire, make sure it's suitable for New Zealand conditions and she'll be right, bro!

Charismatic

Still a few power cuts would boost future demand for midwives and educational services.

scrubbedexpat094

Better do my RTP quick smart then!

escapedtonz

Geothermal generation is utilized quite a lot in NZ.
I dispatch quite a significant amount of MW's to geothermal stations around Wairakei and Kawerau which are relatively close to all the thermal action near Rotovegas. Yes there may be more "fuel" available, however the cost to build a Geothermal Power Station is significantly high, a significantly difficult process and hugely technical. It isn't something you can turn on and off. It can take months to get sufficient quantities of the Geothermal fluid to the surface so it can be used and once there the station needs to maintain a steady stream of extraction and re-injection as shutting down a well or insufficient re-injection can effectively force the Geothermal fluid elsewhere and it may never return. Due to this issue Geothermal stations are a base load generator, offering at $0.01 per MW per hour to ensure they remain dispatched at all times up to their offered limit. Hardly gives you much profit from your hundreds of millions of dollars investment unless you are generating balls to the wall 24/365 for the next 25 years. Not my idea of a commercially viable business.

Charismatic

The line between the north and south island was turned off for maintenance this morning and, as a result, electricity is about half the price in the south island currently: https://www.electricityinfo.co.nz


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escapedtonz

Ha Ha....the line - Love it!
Nope it wasn't turned off. It was a planned outage on HVDC Pole 2 only which also meant the Bipole was unavailable.
Pole 3 remained in service and still able to transmit 780MW in either direction at full voltage +/-350kV.
Yes the result of the outage was price separation between the islands which is pretty typical but a few discrepancies in forecast demand and wind generation made it worse than it normally would be resulting in the outage being forced back for the peak then taken again but restored early.
Going to attempt it again from tomorrow and hopefully things will align a little better.

Charismatic

If that chart is right South Island prices are about 0.03 $/MWh in the South Island and circa 650 $/MWh is the North Island.

escapedtonz

Yes the chart via the link is accurate. Prices may be adjusted slightly after going through the Final Pricing process but I'd expect they'd be very similar.
The South Island is enjoying the low priced South Island hydro that is currently being offered. There has been increased water inflows this past couple of weeks and the generators want to shift the water and generate from it instead of spilling so they offer it at a cent so they are guaranteed to be dispatched.

Unfortunately for the North Island there is insufficient low priced hydro generation to meet the North Island demand and there hasn't been the same level of high inflows to cause the generators to offer all their hydro at low cost. They are effectively still being cautious and protecting their market position and kind of conserving water. The current cost of gas is high due to the offshore gas field valve issues so the thermal generation which nowadays is usually run solely on gas is offered at a much higher price than it normally would be. Compounding this is we have also had little wind generation which is usually offered at 1 cent. Fine when we have 400-500 MW of North Island wind to play with, but not the case at the moment. Luckily the Bipole outage is only planned to last the weekend.

Charismatic

Never mind - it rained a lot and everything is back to normal.