The WA town of Onslow is trying out solar power together with batteries - how do you accommodate ever increasing amounts of intermittent and often uncontrolled generation without compromising the security of the electricity system?
The landmark trial taking place in Onslow is seeking to answer that question and could hold lessons for energy systems around the world, including the National Electricity Market on Australia’s east coast.
lovely to hear about sleepy old Onslow; last time I was there must have been 20 yrs ago and have some funny stories to tell but we have been advised to stick to topic so some other time on some other thread “tales of the outback” maybe?
I hope it is a huge success - we need more trials like this 
It’s a great idea but I see that the Onslow system (like Musk’s for sure & others too I should imagine) uses a battery and it must be a ruddy big one too.
So I’m wondering how the batteries and indeed the entire system is comparable in terms of durability, cost and environmental impact?
I’m not in any way knocking what is undoubtedly a great trial, just being curious.
Yes, interesting. Solar and batteries. The location is probably conducive to the local climate and conditions. So, definitely a plus for that. But Northern Europe is less sunny and much more industrial.
The there have been various moves to move solar into the Sarah Desert. The there problem is distance. Very high DC voltages (like 8,000 kV) can some what ameliorate that.
Bottom line is that we are quite some what away for main stream solar.
Something has to be done because solar power has turned the power grid on its head. It was never designed to have multiple local feed in points and a way has to be found to control input without making the system unstable. Onslow is testing out the ways and means
The battery in SA has been very successful in stabilising power in that state and has had its capacity nearly doubled from 100MW to 193MW SA has 60% of its power supplied by renewables
