Forum Archive Index - February 2003

["Hans Van der Voorn" <vandervoorn@xtra.co.nz>]

The storage capability belongs to the gas or hydro owner so they get the
money.

Hans
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tony de Bruyn" <tony@ltdrisk.com>
To: <sharechat@sharechat.co.nz>
Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2003 8:56 PM
Subject: RE: [sharechat] CEN and Windpower


> 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
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Message sent by Snoopy
> e-mail  tennyson@caverock.net.nz
> on Pegasus Mail version 2.55
> ----------------------------------
> "Sometimes to see the wood from the trees,
> you have to cut down all the trees."
>
>
>
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