Forum Archive Index - February 2003

[Tony de Bruyn <tony@ltdrisk.com>]

Windpower cannot be stored as such, but when you have it together with gas
and hydro(which can be stored) then your windpower replaces gas or water
that would have been used. That way, you CAN store it.
tony

-----Original Message-----
From: sharechat-owner@sharechat.co.nz
[mailto:sharechat-owner@sharechat.co.nz]On Behalf Of
tennyson@caverock.net.nz
Sent: Wednesday, February 12, 2003 06:21
To: sharechat@sharechat.co.nz
Subject: [sharechat] CEN and Windpower



My attendance at the Contact Energy AGM provided a forum where I was
able to gain insight into where our largest energy retailer stands on
renewable energy.

Say 'renewable energy' to Contact and they immediately think of the
Clyde Dam.  Wind energy is merely an inconsequential blip on the
outer rings of the radar screen.  Why is this?

It is not that there isn't good technology available to produce wind
energy (there is), nor that resource consents for windfarms are hard
to get (they are but not impossibly so).   Of course I have never
heard of a public company that didn't want planning procedures to
move more quickly!  The main problem, as perceived by 'Contact', is
matching power generation and power demand.

Unlike hydro energy, wind energy is not easily stored.  When the wind
blows the windmills get power.  If the wind blows most in the middle
of the night then that power is wasted unless there is a demand for
it in the middle of the night.  The spot price market regime we have
for power in New Zealand makes it difficult for windmills.  Unless
they can generate power at peak times to cover their higher overall
unit generation costs (compared with thermal or hydro),then the
overall economics of a windfarm can be called into question.  Wind
being fickle, the ability to generate power at peak times from a
windmill cannot be guaranteed.  The big picture is gradually
changing.  Gas is getting scarcer while demand for power continues
to grow.  At some stage in the future there will be a crossover point
where wind power does become very economical.  However, if you
compare the marginal cost of developing a brand new gas powered
station today with a new windmill farm, electric power generation by
gas costs only half as much per unit.  Until this changes we can
expect windmills to remain an outer blip on the radar screen in the
southern outpost of (Edison) Mission control.  My impression is that
if there were some sort of battery storage technology that could be
coupled to the windmills, then the whole economics of windmills could
change rather quickly.

In the meantime, Contact's renewable energy program is based around
optimizing the performance of the Clyde and Roxborough dams.  There
is a plan to increase the flow through Clyde.   But when you consider
that of all the hydro storage available in the South Island,
Contact's capacity represents only around 10%, then you can see that
Contact are not calling the shots in this game.   It is
principally the decisions made by rival Meridian that determines the
levels of the southern hydro lakes.

SNOOPY




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