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Stop Solar Systems
Closure Rally:
Save Jobs
& fund renewables.
Date and Time:
Sun, 11/10/2009 - 2:00pm - 3:00pm
Location:
45 Grosvenor St Abbotsford
(off Victoria Street, take 109 tram from city)
Contact Name:
Chris
Contact Phone:
0403 013 183
Stop Solar Systems Closure
Networkers,
Please note:
My co-writer on this blog, Denis Wilson from The Nature of Robertson,
has left a comment below on this post.
Please read it. It gives another point of view.
He wonders how viable this plant
and a similar one near Broken Hill are.
Comments please.
Rally
save the jobs,
fund renewables.
The Federal Government must guarantee Australia's first large scale solar power plant.
The building of this plant near Mildura in North West Victoria is in doubt after company Solar Systems went into administration, making 100 workers redundant in the process. This is a huge blow to the effort to transition to renewable energy, and shows why government support of renewables needs to be stepped up.
Construction on the plant would have provided 1000 renewable energy jobs and powered 45,000 homes. Solar systems has already built 3 working solar power systems for remote Aboriginal communities. They had just installed a new production line capable of producing hundreds of solar receivers per week - each receiver is capable of powering 30 - 50 homes.
Join the protest at Solar Systems Abbotsford factory
on the bank of the Yarra river,
to demand the government put up the investment to save the plant.
on the bank of the Yarra river,
to demand the government put up the investment to save the plant.
2.00pm Sunday October 11
45 Grosvenor St Abbotsford
(off Victoria St, take 109 tram from City)
call 0403 013 183 for more information.
This information came from here.
Networkers,
Please note:
My co-writer on this blog, Denis Wilson from The Nature of Robertson,
has left a comment below on this post.
Please read it. It gives another point of view.
He wonders how viable this plant
and a similar one near Broken Hill are.
Comments please.
Hi Miss Eagle
ReplyDelete.
I have long held reservations about the efficiency of this particular proposal, and another similar one near Silverton (beyond the "Nine Mile") near Broken Hill, NSW.
.
Sure the land might be generally suitable (cheap). And yes, there is lots of sunshine there - but NOT JUST THERE).
.
What is never discussed is the heat created and energy lost in transporting the energy over long distances using the relatively inefficient power lines we use in Australia.
.
These are mostly aluminium power lines, and aluminium is not a great conductor (but it is much cheaper than Copper).
A similar power plant closer to the city would be vastly more efficient.
.
If the company chooses not to proceed with the plant, then let us assume they have finally done their sums and realised this.
.
Why then, should a bunch of well-meaning Greenies be hoodwinked into supporting an inefficient proposal?
.
The net result would surely be to use "people power" to persuade Government to subsidise the plant (surely that is the point of the demonstration) when it ought be built closer to the market place. There is much flat land between Geelong and Ballarat, and near Adelaide. and many other places close to the major population centres.
Decentralised power generation has to be the best way forward. Small and medium wind farms dotted around the place, near population centres, and mining centres surely makes much more sense.
.
There, that's my two-bob's worth.
Cheers
Denis
Hi Denis,
ReplyDeleteYou raise an excellent point regarding transmission loss. However your negative assumptions are actually the reason why this power station should go ahead - the finance people have done their sums and to build a solar power station in Mildura saves bucket loads of money due to reduced transmission loss.
Currently, almost all of Victoria's power comes from the LaTrobe Valley... meaning it has to get piped up to Mildura... pretty far indeed, with quite a lot of loss.
Now the Mildura project was for a 154MW station. Roughly enough to power 45,000 homes. The population of the Mildura municipality is 50,000. Wow - what a match! The people of Mildura source their power from their own backyard, saving all that transmission loss from the LaTrobe Valley.
If only the residents actually had cheaper power bills due to this! I expect that is a bit too much to expect.
:-)
Regards,
David Turner
Solar Systems Research
Thanks David
ReplyDelete.
Being a long way away from this project, I had understood that it was much larger - to help power Victoria - from up there in the Sunraysia district.
.
If, as you say, it is intended for local use, then that makes me feel much better about it.
.
Of course, every unit of power made there and used there, is one less that has to be produced from brown coal in the Latrobe Valley.
.
Thanks
Denis