"A huge 500MW/1000MWh battery at the site of the shuttered Wallerawang coal fired power station near Lithgow has won planning approval from NSW state government authorities."
"The Wallerawang battery – to be developed by Greenspot – is one of the biggest of a number of big batteries proposed for NSW, the country’s biggest and most coal dependent grid, and which is plotting for a dramatic and rapid transition to renewables and storage."
A huge 500MW/1000MWh battery at the site of the shuttered Wallerawang coal fired power station near Lithgow has won planning approval from NSW state government authorities.
The Wallerawang battery – to be developed by Greenspot – is one of the biggest of a number of big batteries proposed for NSW, the country’s biggest and most coal dependent grid, and which is plotting for a dramatic and rapid transition to renewables and storage.
Planning approval was announced by the state planning authority on Thursday, noting it was located on the site of a former 1240MW coal generator that closed in 2014, on land that contained a recently harvested pine plantation, was shielded from nearby homes, and is close to existing energy infrastructure.
The Department of Planning also noted that the project would require a capital investment of $404 million, create 100 construction jobs, and provide $2 million in community enhancement projects via the local council.
Greenspot is likely to develop the battery in at least two stages, firstly with a 300MW facility – most likely with two hour storage, depending on market conditions – and hopes it can become part of a new industrial facility at the site.
It is located just outside the Central West Orana Renewable Energy Zone, where the first auctions for grid access rights for wind, solar and storage projects will be held later this year, but it is located on the main transmission line linking the zone with the major load centres in Sydney.
“The Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zone is expected to unlock 3 gigawatts of wind and solar generation by the mid-2020s,” Greenspot CEO Brett Hawkins said in a later statement issued on Friday.
““We have secured an approval for a major energy storage project here at Wallerawang which can play a role in making that a reality.We intend to team up with leading energy market players to move through the grid connection, financing and construction phases and ultimately to operation in the National Electricity Market.”
Greenspot has said that it hopes a final investment decision can be made later this year, and if that is the case then the first stage of the Wallerawang battery operational could be operational by the summer of 2023/24, in time for the closure of the Liddell coal generator in the Hunter Valley.
There are several other large scale storage projects also proposed in the area, including the similar sized Great Western Battery proposed by Neoen, which has already built the two biggest batteries in Australia, the Victoria Big Battery near Geelong, and the Hornsdale Power Reserve in South Australia.
The Neoen project is still in the planning approval process, and would seek to plug into the same sub-station. It is not clear if both projects would go ahead at the same time.
"Australian solar park could generate hydrogen for less than $2/kg"
"A new study shows that hydrogen could be produced for as little as AUD 2.85 ($1.98) per kilogram, supporting Frontier Energy’s plans to make green hydrogen from a 500 MW solar project it is developing in Western Australia."
Heat Pumps Proved Themselves During A Harsh Maine Winter
Heat pumps are incomprehensible to many people. How can a thing that looks like an air conditioner keep people warm in the winter? The state of Maine wants to install 100,000 heat pumps in the next 3 years and is off to a good start. 27,000 of them were installed by Maine residents last year. Presently, about 60% of all homes in Maine are heated by oil furnaces — one of the highest percentages in America. And all those furnaces mean lots of carbon emissions.
Maine may not have the harshest winters in the United States, but it certainly comes close. Old time Mainers like to say their weather is “10 months of winter and 2 months of damn poor sleddin’.” Outside of cities like Portland, its residents tend to be skeptical of new ways of doing things, and that reticence extends to heat pumps.
To address those concerns, Efficiency Maine conducted an experiment last winter to see if heat pumps would keep homes in Maine comfortable even when temperatures outside dipped to -20º F. Lots of people who have heat pumps today also have an oil furnace as well, on the theory that a heat pump can’t make heat when the temperature drops below zero.
Eficiency Maine knows it has to explode that myth if state residents are going to switch to heat pumps as their sole source of heat. Last heating season, it replaced oil furnaces in 19 homes — 10 mobile homes and 9 conventional wood frame homes — with heat pumps. The results from homeowners were overwhelmingly positive. The homeowners praised the evenness of the heat and said their heat pumps kept them toasty warm even when it was bitter cold outside, according to a report by Energy News.
“We’re reaffirming our expectation that they work in cold climates and will keep you comfortable through the entire winter,” said Michael Stoddard, executive director of Efficiency Maine. “We want to see the heat pumps being used to their full capacity.”
Heat Pumps Pass The Test
Efficiency Maine also conducted case studies that assessed the performance of 10 homes that were already using a heat pump as their primary heat source. They were of various sizes and ages, and used a variety of heat pump technologies. They also had a range of backup system types, including oil, wood, electric, propane, and kerosene. The participating homes were metered from February to June of 2021, so researchers could understand how much energy was used, how well the systems performed, and how indoor temperatures fared when temperatures dropped outdoors.
Over the study period, 7 of the 10 homes did not need to use their backup heating. As outdoor air temperatures rose and fell throughout each day, the indoor air temperatures stayed within a narrow range, avoiding the temperature spikes and plunges so often associated with fossil fuel furnaces. All participants reported they were satisfied or very satisfied with the performance of their heat pump systems during the study period.
George Hardy and his wife Catherine of Dexter, Maine, were among the satisfied customers. “Here, it got 21 below last winter,” he said. “I was a little worried about the heat pumps, but they held out. They kept us warm.” The Hardys already had one heat pump in their home, which was built in the 1890s, when they joined the pilot program. They received a second heat pump, which replaced their previous oil-fired forced hot air system.
They said they have not one negative thing to say about their experience. From November through April — the most heating-intensive months of the year — they paid a total of $1,000 for electricity. By way of comparison, heating a home with an oil furnace for a full year would have cost more than $3,000 even at last winter’s much lower heating oil prices.
Their heat is even and reliable, and they now get to enjoy air conditioning during warmer months as well. “I don’t hesitate to leave it on in the summer because I know it’s going to cost us hardly anything,” Catherine Hardy said.
Sharp-eyed readers will note the electricity use was measured over a 6-month period while the fuel oil costs were estimated over 12 months. So there is a little slippage when it comes to comparing both heating sources head to head. But keep in mind the Hardy’s utility bill includes all their electricity usage, not just the amount used to run their two heat pumps. The data suggests using the new technology can save homeowners a lot of money when it comes to heating their homes.
Skepticism Persists
Melanie Merz, executive officer of the Home Builders and Remodelers Association of Maine, told Energy News that while interest in heat pumps and other alternative heating arrangements has certainly increased recently, she doesn’t believe the market is ready for wide scale adoption of heat pumps quite yet. Consumers are still uncertain about adopting such a new technology and are worried about heat pumps’ ability to perform in Maine’s harsh winters, she said.
She added that builders are generally concerned about making their homes attractive to buyers, and the higher up-front cost of heat pumps can be a deterrent, despite evidence that heat pumps save money in the long term. “We all conceptually know that there is an eventual return on investment, but are we willing to sacrifice going with tried-and-true products?” Merz asked. “I don’t think we’ve reached any sort of tipping point in the market.”
While it seems likely Maine will achieve the goal of installing 100,000 new heat pumps in the next three years, whole house adoption will need to become much more common to make a real dent in the state’s home heating emissions. Achieving that goal will mean educating consumers and convincing more contractors to encourage customers to go with heat pumps, Stoddard said.
He added that there is evidence some movement in the new home marketplace is already underway. About two of every 10 new homes built in Maine now are all-electric, but more must be done to convince buyers and builders alike that heat pumps are both environmentally and financially wise, he said. “It’s human nature for them to stick with what they know has worked in the past. It’s sort of a culture shift,” he said.
The Takeaway
Those of us who are familiar with the EV revolution are well familiar with how hard it is to change attitudes. Many of us never flew in an airplane — until we did. We never used a microwave oven — until we did. We never used a cell phone — until we did. Many of us watched TV on cable before streaming services became available.
The chances are, new home buyers in Maine will demand heat pumps long before builders realize a shift has taken place in people’s attitudes. Who wants to buy a new home and be locked into paying higher than necessary heating bills for the next 20 years? Does anyone insist contractors leave out the insulation to save a few bucks or use old single-pane double hung windows with sash weights? Of course not.
The changeover won’t happen right away, but once the word gets out that heat pumps work in the winter in Maine and save homeowners significant money on their heating bills, it will happen much faster than Melanie Merz and the home builders of Maine might think possible.
Our race for Senate could actually have a big effect on bringing down sky-high prices for working families in PA.
Think about it this way, Frank.
Option #1 — We can elect Dr. Oz, the dude who’s worth over $100 million and likes to brag about modeling designer watches, custom-made suits, traveling the world, and having a basketball court + a gym in his home.
Then we’d have a Senator who owns eleven homes including a mega-mansion, and never has to worry about the gas or grocery bill. Paying an extra $10, $20, or $30 for gas or groceries means nothing to a dude like that.
But it matters to the rest of us. Which brings us to Option #2.
Dr. Oz might not stand up to the special interests and corporate executives who are raising prices on us, but I will.
Send me to Washington, and I’ll fight to crack down on immoral price gouging. Unlike Dr. Oz, I know we need bold action NOW to make more shit in America, fix our broken supply chains, and take on corporate greed to bring down the cost of everything, for everyone.
Sh*t is just too expensive right now! We all know it. (Well, all of us except ultra-millionaires like Oz.) The next Senator we elect in PA needs to do everything in their power to bring prices 📉— and literally no one thinks that’s Dr. Oz, lol.
Thanks for being with on this team,
John ❤️
John Fetterman Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania
During my career in finance, I had the privilege to work for A.G. Edwards, a century old Wall Street firm led at the time by Ben Franklin Edwards III, the fifth generation of the Edwards family to steward the company. Once, when Edwards was visiting our branch in New York, he shared with us his philosophy on how to deal with a rogue broker. He said he would use a scalpel to remove him from the organization, making sure to get any cancer he might have spread.
When an amoral agent has run amok in an organization, the entire cancer has to be removed with the skill of a surgeon or it will metastasize throughout the organization.
Against that backdrop, what can possibly account for President Joe Biden allowing Trump appointees to remain at the helm of critical federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies?
If ever there was an administration that needs a scalpel taken to its corrupt infestations, this is it.
The Secret Service is now under a criminal investigation for destroying text messages sent by its agents on the day of the insurrection at the Capitol and the day before. But the Director of the Secret Service, James Murray, is a Trump appointee and remains at the helm of the agency.
The man who kept from Congress for more than a year the fact that the Secret Service texts had been erased, Joseph Cuffari, is also a Trump appointee. He sits as the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the parent agency of the Secret Service. After sitting on knowledge of the missing texts for more than a year, he has now declared that he’s launching a criminal investigation into the matter and ordered the Secret Service to cease its own search for the missing texts.
On Monday, the Chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Carolyn Maloney, together with the Chair of the House Committee on Homeland Security, Bennie Thompson, who is also chairing the January 6 House Select Committee, sent Cuffari a letter. The letter demanded answers and opened with this:
“We are writing with grave new concerns over your lack of transparency and independence, which appear to be jeopardizing the integrity of a crucial investigation run by your office. According to recent reports, your office learned that the Secret Service was missing critical text messages as part of your investigation of the January 6 attack against the U.S. Capitol in May 2021—seven months earlier than previously revealed. The Committees have obtained new evidence that your office may have secretly abandoned efforts to collect text messages from the Secret Service more than a year ago. These documents also indicate that your office may have taken steps to cover up the extent of missing records, raising further concerns about your ability to independently and effectively perform your duties as Inspector General (IG).”
Adding to the taint around Cuffari, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday that he “previously was accused of misleading federal investigators and running ‘afoul’ of ethics regulations while he was in charge of a Justice Department inspector general field office in Tucson, according to a newly disclosed government report.”
The Washington Post has also reported that text messages of former top officials at the Department of Homeland Security have gone missing for the period leading up to January 6. Those officials include former acting homeland security secretary Chad Wolf and former acting deputy secretary Ken Cuccinelli, as well as the sitting Deputy Under Secretary for Management at the DHS, Randolph “Tex” Alles, who served previously as Trump’s Director of the Secret Service.
Adding to the taint around Trump’s appointees that remain in the Biden administration, yesterday Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) questioned FBI Director Christopher Wray, a Trump appointee, during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Senator Whitehouse indicated that the FBI had been stonewalling his investigation into how the FBI conducted its background check on Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, for four years.
According to Whitehouse, the FBI had received over 4,500 tips on a tip line it had set up to receive information about Kavanaugh. But instead of investigating those tips at the FBI, the FBI simply handed over the tip information to the White House. Following the hearing, Senator Whitehouse released this statement:
“In a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) today received confirmation from FBI Director Christopher Wray that the FBI sent tips that the agency had collected about Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Trump White House without investigation. The tips were collected through the FBI’s existing tip line as part of a supplemental background investigation after allegations of sexual misconduct emerged during Justice Kavanaugh’s 2018 confirmation process. Wray also confirmed that the Trump White House directed which witnesses the FBI was permitted to interview.”
President Biden needs to find his scalpel – and fast.
Read the full statement from Whitehouse here. See the video clip below for the exchange between Senator Whitehouse and Wray during the Senate Judiciary hearing yesterday.
