Discussion · bonfire.cafe

@strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz · 2 months ago

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day ...

"No one will be any doubt that the days of treating energy prices as a private commodity and expecting the market to save New Zealand jobs and regional New Zealand, that type of folly in our view, has run its course."

#ShaneJones, 2025

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/572613/shane-jones-calls-for-renationalising-of-power-market

The solution though is not fast tracking more coal and gas, but taking advantage of how easy and cheap it is to decentralise renewables compared to building thermal generation.

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Strypey

@strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz replied · 2 months ago

The obvious one is #RooftopSolar. Apparently the electricity from the largest centralised solar plant in Aotearoa could have been supplied by covering rooftops, instead of land that could be farms or reserves;

"... the total land area of the solar farm [is equal to] 14 of the largest building rooftops in Auckland.

The map below distributes this power more evenly to communities by utilising the rooftops of schools and supermarkets, totalling 167 buildings."

https://www.interest.co.nz/public-policy/129748/more-rooftop-solar-cities-would-help-solve-nz%E2%80%99s-energy-crisis-%E2%80%93-and-build

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Strypey

@strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz replied · 2 months ago

OK, so we'd need 20 of those to replace Huntly's total generation capacity. But rooftops are something we have no shortage of.

Even better, the most common place for electricity to be used is under rooftops. So if rooftop solar became a standard part of any new build (ideally compulsory for commercial and industrial builds), generation would scale up along with usage.

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Eliot B

@bigblen@mastodon.nzoss.nz replied · 2 months ago

@strypey I very much agree! Much cheaper to install when a house is built, with correct wiring, meter, and safe roof access already part of the job. Of course building houses with less energy use to start with would help a lot too.
About 1.2kW (4 panels) per house would be a good baseline IMO. Use microinverters so more can be added incrementally (I did this).
It covers the house base load through the day (when power is expensive).
In summer also powers heatpump on low.

Strypey

@strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz replied · 2 months ago

The most common criticism of solar is that peak generation doesn't match peak usage (before and after office hours). But that just means we need to think about a solar installation as panels+storage. Not just panels and grid connection.

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Strypey

@strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz replied · 2 months ago

For community-scale usage, like households, schools and businesses, the best option right now is probably sodium ion batteries. They're much cheaper and safer than lithium ion, and last much longer at the same level of usage. Plus they can cope with being completely emptied and refilled (deep cycling).

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mike805

@mike805@noc.social replied · 2 months ago

@strypey Are sodium ion batteries commercially available on any scale? I see a few on eBay but nothing like the abundance of LFP batteries.

How does the lifespan compare? I have LFP batteries and they are pretty robust but they are not very old.

Strypey

@strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz replied · 2 months ago

@mike805
> Are sodium ion batteries commercially available on any scale?

Only for a couple of years. The people I know who have been testing some got them imported from a supplier in China. Retails sales will naturally scale up along with demand.

> How does the lifespan compare?

As I said, they ...

> last much longer at the same level of usage. Plus they can cope with being completely emptied and refilled (deep cycling).

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Strypey

@strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz replied · 2 months ago

There are also so-called "grid-scale" options, like vanadium flow batteries. In Aotearoa we have the option of pumping water from lower hydro-lakes into higher ones when the sun is shining, then using it for generation at night and in the morning.

What a shame we are saddled with a government who are looking backward to the fossil fool age for ideas, and cancelling forward-looking grid-scale battery projects initiated under the last one;

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/503885/scrapping-nz-battery-project-short-sighted-otago-energy-expert

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Knee Neart

@KneeNeart@sunny.garden replied · 2 months ago

@strypey haha,I literally knew you were gonna quote Shane Jones just reading the first line... Cos thats exactly what I said when I read the article

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