Future energy sources?

[AlexO]

India's reliance on coal comes at a price, Indian coal tends to be of low quality, generating 30% or more fly ash. So apart from air pollution, dumping of Fly ash is causing significant damage to the environment. Dumping is occurring in agricultural areas, forests and next to rivers.

https://thelifeindia.org.in/status-of-fly/

Most coal fired stations operate on low quality coal. They work because the coal and rock (brown coal) is pulverised to almost dust that ignites easily. The fly ash by product is often used as land reclamation material.

[Bandung_Dero]

You must have been accommodated on the Hugh W Gordon (service barge) as well then along with we low life contractors??

Too long ago!

A new technique has been developed for remedially strengthening soil under the supporting piles of a production platform by injecting EPOSAND epoxy grout deep into the soil from a borehole drilled below the pile tip. The technique was successfully used in the upgrading of the foundations of the North Rankin offshore gas production platform, situated on the Australian North West Shelf.

https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... _Australia

[jackspratt]

Nope - I was comfortably ensconced on a middle floor of Allendale Square, handling the import logistics for a lot of the equipment used in the project(s).

[Bandung_Dero]

Well there you go then, thank you for being on the team that awarded our contract and a pox on those responsible for supplying that noisy, stinking barge with it's cramped accommodation and VERY average galley.

[tamada]

Well there you go then, thank you for being on the team that awarded our contract and a pox on those responsible for supplying that noisy, stinking barge with it's cramped accommodation and VERY average galley.

Who did the catering then? I wasn't Poon Bros. WA was it?

[Bandung_Dero]

Who did the catering then? I wasn't Poon Bros. WA was it?

Poon Bros = bad BUT would have been a treat, they catered for Hamersley Iron when I worked for them in Dampier mid 70's.

[tamada]

Who did the catering then? I wasn't Poon Bros. WA was it?

Poon Bros = bad BUT would have been a treat, they catered for Hamersley Iron when I worked for them in Dampier mid 70's.

They were also crap on Esso 2 out of Blackall in the early 80's. I reckon it was you that enlightened me with, "Who called the cook a c**t? You mean who called the c**t a cook?"

[rick]

India's reliance on coal comes at a price, Indian coal tends to be of low quality, generating 30% or more fly ash. So apart from air pollution, dumping of Fly ash is causing significant damage to the environment. Dumping is occurring in agricultural areas, forests and next to rivers.

https://thelifeindia.org.in/status-of-fly/

Most coal fired stations operate on low quality coal. They work because the coal and rock (brown coal) is pulverised to almost dust that ignites easily. The fly ash by product is often used as land reclamation material.

Well in Western countries what happens to fly ash is somewhat better regulated. In India not so much. As for use in land reclamation, a lot of it is quite toxic - maybe good for filling in a hole, but not when used on agricultural land or near water sources.

[Bandung_Dero]

They were also crap on Esso 2 out of Blackall in the early 80's.

If I remember rightly the 1st one, who didn't last too long, was pissed by the evening meal and didn't take him too long to turn our new mobile kitchen into a cess pit. The younger guy, who replaced him, was quite good and stayed a long time. I had forgotten they were Poon employees.

[tamada]

Much closer to home is the release of nine onshore blocks for exploration for oil and gas next year. The incentives would need to be attractive though. I recall the second Prayuth administration was hoping to realign Thailand's exploration concessions along similar lines to the PSC's of neighboring countries.

No supermajors will be interested in such small beans but plenty of local companies with a bit of spare cash should be able to invest in the most promising prospects.

https://www.nationthailand.com/business ... y/40044489

[Barney]

The hits keep coming
Bye Bye Albo

https://youtu.be/D0ejedsaM6M?si=Pc77m9Z9U6tU8_LR

[tamada]

"The WSJ Editorial Board writes, every once in a while Trump says something that shocks DC with its blunt truth. So it was during last week’s press conference when he observed wind power isn’t economic without subsidies.

Wind farms “only work if you get a subsidy,” he mused. “The only people that want them are the people that are getting rich off windmills, getting massive subsidies from the US government. And it’s the most expensive energy there is. It’s many, many times more expensive than clean natural gas… You don’t want energy that needs subsidy.”

The media pounced and proclaimed wind energy is among the cheapest and fastest-growing power sources. But that’s only because of rich subsidies, which were sweetened by the Inflation Reduction Act. Federal tax credits can cover 50% of the cost of building an offshore wind farm and more than 80% of the cost onshore.

Even the Biden DOE, in a 2023 report, estimates power from new onshore wind farms costs more than from gas-fired plants if you exclude subsidies. Wind with tax credits is about 25% less expensive. On the other hand, offshore wind costs two to three times more than gas power even with subsidies.

These estimates don’t account for the cost of backup. Power from so-called peaker plants and batteries costs three to four times more than from baseload generators. It’s far cheaper to run gas, coal and nuclear plants around the clock than to use wind (and solar) some of the time and have to back them up with other forms of energy.

The reality is most wind projects wouldn’t be built without federal subsidies and state renewable mandates. The wind production tax credit was established in 1992 to boost an “infant” industry, but politicians from find a way to extend it every time it comes close to lapsing.

Democrats used a budget reconciliation trick to ensure that the wind and solar tax credits never expire by sunsetting them when US emissions decline by 75% from 2022 levels. But that won’t happen before 2050 under the DOE forecast—if ever. Perhaps the GOP should use the same nebulous sunset when they extend the 2017 tax cuts.

It’s encouraging that Trump says he wants to end the renewable subsidies, which would reduce power-market distortions that are driving up electric rates. Perhaps he can persuade Republicans from wind states that, after 33 years of subsidies, wind power should be able to stand on its own as an adult.

Our Take: The Board asks, “Why is the U.S. giving welfare to wealthy wind developers when gas power plants don’t need taxpayer dollars?” The answer is because everyone from Lazard to the The New York Times to confused politicians refuse to let go of a phony green dream."

Doug Sheridan
Managing Director & Founder of EnergyPoint Research in Houston, Texas.

Published and cited in numerous publications, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, CNBC, Fortune Magazine, The Sunday Times, and other trade, business and financial media.

Background in energy, energy transition, energy policy, corporate finance, capital markets, economics, economic policy, project evaluation, and data analysis.

Education: B.A. Economics & English, Vanderbilt University; MBA University of Michigan Ross School of Business

Interests: U.S. and world history; historical biographies; economic theory; art and architectural history; live music, and travel.

Contact: info@energypointresearch.com

[rick]

Strange. According to a debate reported in Hansard, Wind power is over 50% cheaper than gas......

https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/202 ... 20turbines.

[jackspratt]

It’s many, many times more expensive than clean natural gas…

Clean natural gas ........ relatively, perhaps.

[tamada]

Strange. According to a debate reported in Hansard, Wind power is over 50% cheaper than gas......

https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/202 ... 20turbines.

The comments I introduced were solely a US point of view on the US wind renewables industry and the cost inflation wrought of government subsidies. You have brought an excellent and insightful reference to the UK government's debate, thanks @rick.

To me, it does appear that the The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Lord Callanan, is frankly all over the shop on wind renewables. How can being part of the network of global interconnectors assure greater energy independence. Being dependent on more sources doesn't mean we are any more independent. If one goes down, we all go down together, no? I recall reading recently about how Norwegian energy customers are getting upset because the increased demand for Norwegian-made energy from their cloudy and windless interconnected European neighbours has forced up their price at the meter.

He acknowledges that the current stop-start application of existing energy sources to bolster wind alternatives is expensive but suggests having a greater variety of equally expensive stop-start energy sources will somehow magic away these high costs. Spreading the load is not commensurate with reducing the costs. Instead of one or two large bills, you end up with more smaller bills that add up to the same grand total.

When he is finally drawn to the question of getting local companies interested in investing in a home-grown industry with home-made components, he says we need to, "make sure that there are extra payments to some of the developers to make sure that we locate more of the supply chains in the UK." In other words the need to subsidize the British investment in this world-class, world-leading role in global wind energy harnessing.

Now, who ultimately pays for these much-needed government subsidies?

[AlexO]

Strange. According to a debate reported in Hansard, Wind power is over 50% cheaper than gas......

https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/202 ... 20turbines.

The comments I introduced were solely a US point of view on the US wind renewables industry and the cost inflation wrought of government subsidies. You have brought an excellent and insightful reference to the UK government's debate, thanks @rick.

To me, it does appear that the The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Lord Callanan, is frankly all over the shop on wind renewables. How can being part of the network of global interconnectors assure greater energy independence. Being dependent on more sources doesn't mean we are any more independent. If one goes down, we all go down together, no? I recall reading recently about how Norwegian energy customers are getting upset because the increased demand for Norwegian-made energy from their cloudy and windless interconnected European neighbours has forced up their price at the meter.

He acknowledges that the current stop-start application of existing energy sources to bolster wind alternatives is expensive but suggests having a greater variety of equally expensive stop-start energy sources will somehow magic away these high costs. Spreading the load is not commensurate with reducing the costs. Instead of one or two large bills, you end up with more smaller bills that add up to the same grand total.

When he is finally drawn to the question of getting local companies interested in investing in a home-grown industry with home-made components, he says we need to, "make sure that there are extra payments to some of the developers to make sure that we locate more of the supply chains in the UK." In other words the need to subsidize the British investment in this world-class, world-leading role in global wind energy harnessing.

Now, who ultimately pays for these much-needed government subsidies?

Some excellent points Tam. So sick of these nutters who are advocating going down the wind and solar highway always point out what it costs to produce a unit of electricity as the total cost. Its miles away from total costs to the end user.
Its fraud to use these figures in an effort to justify using these very expensive, unreliable sources.

[AlexO]

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=87 ... 5236224042
Seems the major players in the car industry are advancing Hydrogen technology as a real alternative to batteries. Facebook article. Sorry to all those who cannot access.

[rick]

Yes, the old car companies cannot compete on EVs with China. There only hope is getting hydrogen working as a viable option; Don't hold your breath.
Currently most hydrogen is produced from fossil fuels - still have Carbon to deal with. Green hydrogen uses a lot of renewable electricity, putting electricity into batteries is more efficient. And then there is the distribution logistics - electricity already has that. Hydrogen not going to seriously compete before 2040 at best.

[tamada]

Western Australia’s EV charger network

It started off with a great deal of fan fare but it was always going to have challenges, WA is very big and empty. After a few short years the ‘electric highway’ is in trouble. Most remote locations have diesel generators to back them up, they are small, they break down often, there is often just one and they are low powered units. They were not installed considering the local conditions and price played a factor in their failure. You need to be a hard core EV enthusiast to travel around WA in an EV outside of the south west region.
It didn’t need to be this way but id does show what happens when you build something on the cheap and without any real understanding of how these things work. I remember having the discussions, being on the forums and community engagement process and even spoke with Horizon Power. The problems that now plague this network were foreseeable and avoidable. It was never going to cheap exercise and now it’s just going to be even more expensive to fix. Anything less than 150kw DC charger is a waste of time and powering them up with anything less then green energy defeats the whole reason of having a EV in the first place.
That means in remote locations you’ll need renewables and a battery and they are not cheap. And they have to be designed for peak time. You could also power them with biodiesel in problematic locations – which a few places have done. But you half build a network and that is exactly what we have, a half thought out, half built, poorly designed and maintained network. Sure Western Australia always was going to be tough, so we should have built it correctly in the first place.