Tesla, Fluence to build two big batteries in Victoria

A Fluence battery storage installation in California.

Tesla and Fluence are to build two new big battery storage installations in Victoria after the Australian Renewable Energy Agency contributed an extra $25 million to support Victorian government funding and get the two projects over the line.

Tesla will build a 25MW/50MWh battery to be co-located near the 60MW Gannawarra solar farm near Kerang, while Fluence will build a 30MW/30 MWh grid-connected battery at the Ballarat terminal station.

It is the third major Tesla big battery project in Australian, following the already completed Hornsdale Power Reserve in South Australia that was switched on in December, and the 20MW/34MWh project that will be built next to the Bulgana wind farm near Horsham in Victoria.

It is the first big battery storage project in Australia for Fluence, a joint venture between Siemens and AES created to compete with Tesla, although the company has numerous other projects around the world, including a 100MW/400MWh project in Long Beach, California.

The two projects come from a Victorian government initiative and tender launched early last year that attracted more than 100 proposals. The result was supposed to have been announced in August last year and the project brought on-line over summer.

But repeated blockages – believed to be about the funding model and technical issues including network connection agreements – delayed the announcement. ARENA has now agreed to match the Victorian government’s $25 million funding offer.

ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht said that this announcement placed Australia as a world-leader in battery storage, following grid-scale batteries in South Australia, which include the 100MW/129MWh Tesla big battery and the ARENA-funded 30MW/8MWh battery being built near the Wattle Point wind farm.

“ARENA is excited to be demonstrating the capabilities that these new batteries will provide in securing reliable electricity for western Victoria and to facilitate the Victoria’s transition to renewable energy,” he said in a statement.

“Battery storage will play a crucial role in the future energy mix, alongside other forms of storage and in conjunction with variable renewables and demand management.”

Both batteries – which will be operated by EnergyAustralia under long-term off take agreements – will help demonstrate how large-scale batteries can provide different benefits to the electricity system, including improving grid stability and power quality, and integrating variable renewable energy.

Construction on both projects is due to commence this month, with both batteries to be commissioned in time for the summer peak in 2018/19.

The Tesla battery will be owned by Edify Energy and its partners Wirsol, who are building the Ganawarra solar farm, and will also demonstrate how a solar farm can be retrofitted with battery storage.

It will be the first combined solar-battery storage facility in Victoria, and one of the biggest in the world. Australia’s first – the Lakeland facility in north Queensland – was opened last month.

“We are very proud to have designed and delivered the first combined utility-scale solar and storage facility in Victoria,” Edify Energy CEO John Cole said in a statement. “It is unprecedented in Australia at this scale and is among the largest in the world.

“The team has worked tirelessly to overcome many regulatory, technical and commercial challenges and create a very cool project – one that can deploy solar power at night.

“Without a doubt, as the cost of battery storage falls, we see solar and storage becoming a ‘category killer’ in the energy sector and accelerating Australia’s transition to a clean energy future.”

The Fluence battery will be built by a consortium led by Spotless Sustainability Services, and owned by the local grid operator, Ausnet.

Victoria energy, environment and climate change minister Lily D’Ambrosio said the battery storage projects would be a key to helping the state transition to an affordable, reliable and clean energy system. It has a 40 per cent renewable energy target by 2025.

“We said we would deliver this for Victoria, and that’s exactly what we’ve done,” D’Ambrosio said.

“We are continuing to modernise our electricity grid, strengthen our energy security and deliver real action on climate change.”

Federal environment minister Josh Frydenberg has repeatedly downplayed the 100MW/129MWh Tesla battery in South Australia as too small to make much of a difference, a theme taken up with gusto by Coalition colleagues.

See our story: Conservatives go completely nuts over battery storage.

But Frydenberg said on Thursday the two new batteries in Victoria (despite being less than half the size of the South Australia big battery) will help lower prices and stabilise the grid.

“They will not only allow currently unused renewable energy to be stored instead of wasted, but also inject electricity into the grid at times of peak demand in an area known for transmission congestion,” he said in a statement.

“Together, they will help lower power prices and stabilise the grid.”

Frydenberg said storage was the “missing piece” of the energy puzzle, and it was Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull who put it at the top of the agenda.

“Whether it’s Snowy 2.0 in New South Wales and Victoria, the Battery of the Nation projects in Tasmania or various initiatives, including a 30MW battery (Wattle Point) in South Australia, we are expanding, exploring and funding energy storage right across the country.

“These two large-scale, grid-connected batteries in Victoria are yet another investment that will help deliver more affordable and reliable energy for Australian households and businesses as we transition to a lower emissions future.”

Frydenberg made no mention of the Tesla big battery in Jamestown, the world’s biggest lithium-ion battery and Australia’s first grid-scale battery storage, which has been operating since December 1 last year, and has played a crucial role in moderating price spikes over the summer.

Comments

109 responses to “Tesla, Fluence to build two big batteries in Victoria”

  1. Stephen Avatar
    Stephen

    Might be a dumb question, but when articles like this refer to the Victorian government or ARENA supporting a project like this, is that a loan that gets paid back once it’s making money? Or is it the government just paying for some of it and the operator gets the profits once it’s working?

    1. john Avatar
      john

      I assume funding which will be repaid.
      The advantage to the project is that the Governments are able to borrow money at a lower rate than perhaps the project could.
      This would be a real saving to the companies.

    2. Steve Avatar
      Steve

      The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) make loans. ARENA seem to be agnostic, though their website doesn’t really say much as to the type of funding. I believe they have taken equity funding in some rounds (solar a coupel of years ago) and made grants to early stage development.

      1. itdoesntaddup Avatar
        itdoesntaddup

        The Act establishing them grants them $2bn to give away by end 2022. There is a schedule of maximum amounts in the legislation:

        64 Amounts available for payment to ARENA

        (1) Subject to section 65, the Commonwealth will, for each financial
        year specified in the following table, make payments to ARENA up to the
        amount specified for that year.

        Yearly maximum payments to ARENA

        Item

        Financial year

        Amount for financial year

        1

        2013‑2014

        $581,276,000.00

        2

        2014‑2015

        $194,340,000.00

        3

        2015‑2016

        $89,991,000.00

        4

        2016‑2017

        $56,950,000.00

        5

        2017‑2018

        $257,925,000.00

        6

        2018‑2019

        $235,296,000.00

        7

        2019‑2020

        $254,704,000.00

        8

        2020‑2021

        $134,035,000.00

        9

        2021‑2022

        $132,474,000.00

        Carry over of unspent money from one year to next

        (2) If the amount specified in the table in subsection (1) for a
        financial year exceeds the amount paid to ARENA under section 65 in
        respect of requests made during that year, the table has effect as if
        the amount specified in the table for the next financial year were
        increased by the excess.

    3. itdoesntaddup Avatar
      itdoesntaddup

      Arena provide grant funding from funds they get from federal government:

      https://arena.gov.au/about/how-we-are-funded/

      Your tax dollars at work providing subsidies.

      1. Barri Mundee Avatar
        Barri Mundee

        No tax dollars involved as, contrary to received wisdom, the federal government does not need “taxpayers dollars” to spend. It, like the US government, Japan, the UK and all national governments, are issuers (creators) of money and can in theory spend without limit. Not that this would be recommended as there are always limits and those limits are the availability of uncommitted resources. Exceed those limits and there will be inflationary consequences.

        Federal taxes, in contrast, destroy dollars, they reduce some of our spending capacity and can be a tool for reducing some inequality in wealth- if that is considered politically desirable.

        https://era-blog.com/2016/12/05/paying-for-public-services-in-a-monetary-sovereign-state/

        1. shinytop Avatar
          shinytop

          Keep up the good work Barri, you will eventually educate them, though there is a chance the long sleep may claim you first.

        2. itdoesntaddup Avatar
          itdoesntaddup

          On your logic, why bother collecting taxes at all? Just spend, spend, spend – and watch your economic credibility collapse.

          1. Barri Mundee Avatar
            Barri Mundee

            Taxes ARE needed, just not to fund spending. If you had read the link that would be quite clear.

          2. itdoesntaddup Avatar
            itdoesntaddup

            Tell it to the Venezuelans.

          3. Barri Mundee Avatar
            Barri Mundee

            Yes you can fuck up any economy if you make stupid political decisions.

            The issue you refer to was also covered in the article.

      2. Barri Mundee Avatar
        Barri Mundee

        And this is a good subsidy, encouraging the transition to a low emissions economy.

      3. Steve159 Avatar
        Steve159

        @itdoesntaddup:disqus

        itdoesaddup to a better, cleaner future.

        1. Hettie Avatar
          Hettie

          Plus 10 upvotes, if I could.

    4. Hettie Avatar
      Hettie

      If I remember correctly, Gillard set up ARENA with a stoning capital sum, from which *grants* were to be made using only the interest on the initial capital.
      Not a lot of grants have been made, so the capital will have been growing nicely. I think it’s an independent statutory authority, and despite a few tries, the Gov’t has not been able to abolish it or mess with it. Well done Julia.
      Then again, this is all top of my head, so could be quite wrong. Someone here will know. I might even google it.

      1. Hettie Avatar
        Hettie

        I did google. Can’t find the answer to grants or loans, but $12.5 mill in grants this year. Stress on innovative projects, Australian ventures.
        Interesting stuff.
        htpps//arena.gov.au

        1. rob Avatar
          rob

          They are all loans hettie which are repaids plus interest

          1. Hettie Avatar
            Hettie

            No it doesn’t.

          2. My_Oath Avatar
            My_Oath

            ARENA’s investment in the Pilbara Minerals Lithium Mine was in the form of buying into a bond issue…. so the investment will be paid back with interest.

  2. john Avatar
    john

    Yes build batteries and implement as many of the PHES systems from one end of the grid to the other. One hidden aspect of putting storage at the end of grid areas, where there is sufficient demand, is the savings in energy loss with transmission.
    The 7 to 10% loss is a very true gain.

    1. itdoesntaddup Avatar
      itdoesntaddup

      High voltage transmission is only responsible for a small amount of the loss. It is medium and low voltage distribution where the bulk of the losses occur. Best siting for storage (or indeed any additional generation) is where it can relieve grid congestion to best effect: that is not at the periphery of the grid usually, but rather at the heart of it – especially when grid flows and directions of flow can vary enormously depending on whether and where the wind is blowing and the sun is shining or not.

      1. john Avatar
        john

        Exactly it is those areas where losses are greatest where augmented storage will have the greatest value.

        1. Ren Stimpy Avatar
          Ren Stimpy

          The least-loss transmission (in the full variety of categories including cost) is the transmission which happens in the few metres between the solar roof and an appliance, or the garage powerwall and an appliance, or the solar roof and the garage powerwall.

          1. itdoesntaddup Avatar
            itdoesntaddup

            Distance is obviously a factor – Ohm’s Law would suggest loss proportional to distance, bu inversely proprtional to the a

          2. Ren Stimpy Avatar
            Ren Stimpy

            There’s a far higher degree of competition around the installation and maintenance of on-premises generation and transmission (aka wiring). There are dozens of companies competing to install on-premises solar, batteries and electrical wiring. But if the equivalent amount of power had to be sourced from a distant centralised generator, there’s almost zero competition to install and maintain the distribution and transmission networks for that. Those network companies are virtual monopolies with marked out territories and are allowed to set their own prices based on inaccurate and in fact unscrupulous estimates of future demand.

            https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2014/july/1404136800/jess-hill/power-corrupts

        2. itdoesntaddup Avatar
          itdoesntaddup

          Not correct. If you have several hundred km of transmission line to a farm in the outback it makes no sense to give them a battery to supplement their grid connection. It makes much more sense to give them a diesel generator and some solar panels.

          If you put storage close to a link that is repeatedly limited in its ability to transmit energy, then you can divert the surplus to storage/supply from storage instead of overloading the link.

          1. Mike Dill Avatar
            Mike Dill

            Half right. Get the farm on solar asap. Run the pumps, ect., during the day, on solar. A smaller battery can get them through part of the night, or when the line goes down. Worst case is that the farm dumps some electrons onto that long line, eliminating most of the ‘downstream’ flow.

          2. Ray Miller Avatar
            Ray Miller

            You have no idea what your are taking about!
            Local storage is used extensively with most town water systems as it is impossible to prove peak demand (via massive expensive pipes and pumps) any other way. Electricity is no different, and has many advantages to local storage as we are finding out.
            As for diesel generators in remote areas. Australia has 17 days reserve of diesel as it is almost 100% imported. The last thing Australia needs is to be more dependent on imports when Australia has an over supply of sunshine, it just needs to be stored locally.

          3. itdoesntaddup Avatar
            itdoesntaddup

            Tell it to those in Northern Territories who live off grid. I’m sure they prefer the benefits of their diesel gensets, with their tanks giving them security of supply and very cheap storage.

            If you want local storage and no grid, then the amount of storage you need is going to rise sharply – at considerable expense, since much of it you will only need to cover against relatively rare spells of unfavourable weather. If you have a grid, you want centralised storage that can be dispatched in whichever direction it is required. That minimises the grid and storage investment you need.

          4. Ray Miller Avatar
            Ray Miller

            I’ve had experience with remote gensets and solar power systems and I can tell you there is not an up side with the gensets. Diesel gensets in the way they are used on many properties and remote communities are extremely inefficient, costly, noisy and a poorly match for the loads they power.
            They do have a roll as backup to well designed renewable and batteries systems where they can be run fully loaded for short periods.
            The main point being in many remote areas the available solar irrradiance on more than half the Australian land mass has and annual average greater than 21MJ/m2. So even small PV systems deliver considerable energy. As Mike Dill also indicates water pumping and needs is a close match to the solar resource and does not need battery storage.
            Certainly remote residents should be asking their local MP to make sure they get priority if the fuel supply line ever gets cut. I’d say good luck with that.

          5. itdoesntaddup Avatar
            itdoesntaddup

            I am advocating a combination of solar and diesel for remote consumers. You seem to have missed that I agree that solar has a contribution to make in the outback. OTOH, it is clear that batteries are far too expensive to provide cover for when solar isn’t available, and it is very unlikely that PHES is a goer in arid regions of the outback, even assuming that the topology is available to support it.

          6. Giles Avatar

            Agree with Ray. Local storage is considered by far the more logical outcome, mainly because when the line is down it provides the ability to create a local micro-grid and use the available renewables. And over time, it may mean that the transmission line can be let go. This is particularly the focus of grid operators all across australia. On a main grid, there are arguments on both sides about whether storage is best served close to source (renewables) or load.

          7. solarguy Avatar
            solarguy

            Hello Giles,

            I’ll argue that it’s best to have the storage close to the load for the reasons you and Ray have already outlined, however there will be times when the main transmission will be more than handy, like when one region is suffering low output due to weather, another region that isn’t can supply the short fall. So letting go of the main doesn’t seem to be a good idea to me.

            There would be a case for a micro grid when getting the mains there is too costly.

          8. itdoesntaddup Avatar
            itdoesntaddup

            It will be a long time before you can dispense with the grid. You need it to deal with the need for geographic diversity in generation as you rely more on renewables – unless you are prepared to accept blackouts when the wind doesn’t blow, etc. If you don’t have it, storage requirements escalate very sharply – and that is not cheap.

            Therefore you have to consider where storage will be most effective given that you have a grid – in fact, a much bigger grid than you need if you rely on major power stations that don’t depend on the weather, close to the main centres of demand. The answer is at locations where grid flows risk exceeding local transmission capabilities, which will never be at the grid demand periphery. Rather, it will be close to hard pressed interconnector nodes that have to ship power across regions because the wind is blowing somewhere else.

          9. Giles Avatar

            Did not suggest dispensing with grid. Suggested that remote locations with long lines can dispense with grid. The cost of these lines is horrendous and their reliability is woeful (winds, salt, storms, bushfires). It’s a no brainer to replace them with localised storage and renewables.

          10. itdoesntaddup Avatar
            itdoesntaddup

            No dispute that the grid makes little sense for isolated consumers. However, battery electricity storage and oversized renewables is far too expensive when a tank for diesel is so cheap – and few of those isolated locations have access to PHES alternatives at sensible cost. A diesel/solar solution makes good sense in the outback.

            This article is not really discussing the outback though, is it? Big batteries in Victoria, and where to locate them.

          11. Giles Avatar

            Australia is a little bit bigger than Texas. Maybe 15 times bigger. Isolated communities paying $2/kWh for diesel, nothing cheap about it. And as the likes of western power, horizon, SAPN and Ergon have argued, it’s not just isolated communities where this makes sense, it is regional communities. and when the technology costs fall further, then increasingly in metropolitan communities, which is why so many businesses now going down that route. Do keep up.

          12. itdoesntaddup Avatar
            itdoesntaddup

            Well, I do take a look at what they’re really doing in NT. A battery project that is to help with grid stabilisation in Alice Springs:

            The 5MW battery energy storage solution is primarily being installed
            for generation stabilisation, and is timed to coincide with the shift
            from the ageing Ron Goodin Power Station to the upgraded Owen Springs
            Power Station at the end of 2017.

            That is not providing primary energy storage to cover weather variations or night time. Owen Springs will run on gas.

            http://territorygeneration.com.au/major-projects/upgrade-owen-springs-power-station/

          13. Ray Miller Avatar
            Ray Miller

            Maybe “itdoesntaddup” could use your real name to be more authentic and taken serious.

          14. Hettie Avatar
            Hettie

            As a (once, no longer) reader of The Owner Builder, I can assure you that farmers and homeowners have been using solar and batteries – lead acid batteries, for many years rather than pay $40,000 for a grid connection. For water pumping, many use windmills, especially for accessing ground water for stock. Generators for backup, but huge banks of batteries to cover 24/7 use.

      2. Tom Avatar
        Tom

        I love reading your Disqus history. Especially your contributions to the American right-wing whack-job site Breitbart News Network and their British flat-Earther sister-site Guido Fawkes.

        itdoesntaddup – you’re a fair dinkum industry-funded troll.

        1. itdoesntaddup Avatar
          itdoesntaddup

          When you have something useful to contribute to the debate your comments might be worth reading. Unfortunately, I do not get paid to deal with people like yourself who are it seems beyond learning anything useful anyway.

          1. Tom Avatar
            Tom

            Boo hoo hoo … Busted!

          2. Barri Mundee Avatar
            Barri Mundee

            You have just revealed yourself as a shill for ff interests so most of what you “contribute” can be safely ignored.

          3. itdoesntaddup Avatar
            itdoesntaddup

            You have revealed yourself as a Pinko Marxist, with no real experience of what that does to society. You should be ignored.

          4. Barri Mundee Avatar
            Barri Mundee

            I suppose to someone whose political views are to the right of Genghis Khan any opinion that differs from your hard right ideology is pinko Marxist.

    2. Cooma Doug Avatar
      Cooma Doug

      Dont forget that the new technologies empowering load shifting, reduce transmission requirements. The cost of energy from your house roof, or the energy made available by turning off your air con and pool pump can be automaticly bid into the “sharing market”. Your load can also be constrained on for stability facas. Indeed, you could be paid to consume energy.
      The distance of the energy flow will be managed by the grid control algorithms. This market will be very detailed and complex in its function.
      The timing of your energy use and your travel plans, will be used in the process of determinng your energy market biding, storage and consumption. All the while it will be totally in synergy with your needs. Some of your storage made available for sudden need for change. Then automaticly in 5 min your energy bids changed to accommodate the unexpected arrival of your mother inlaw and a few of her friends.

      If this technology was available now we could get through a day with a much flatter and predictable load profile. Just consider 5 million fridges on the grid. The average fridge uses 1.5 KWHrs a day. We could manage that to eliminate several GWatts from the peak without affecting the fridge performance.

      The possibilities of load shifting in coordination with reliable weather forcasting and utilising the variations in wind, solar and time zones across the grid is a huge number. There will be optimum locations for such plant on the grid. At imes batteries may be paid to charge.

      1. Andy Saunders Avatar
        Andy Saunders

        “the new technologies empowering load shifting, reduce transmission requirements. The cost of energy from your house roof, or the energy made available by turning off your air con and pool pump can be automaticly bid into the “sharing market”. Your load can also be constrained on for stability facas. Indeed, you could be paid to consume energy.”

        Not yet. Would require retail tariffs with pass-through wholesale pricing – none exist as yet.

    3. MG Avatar
      MG

      True, when the battery/PHES is discharging. When it’s charging through, it’s just increasing the demand on those same transmission/distribution lines (unless coupled with a local wind/solar generator). And remember that batteries/PHES are not generators, they are net energy consumers. Charge 1 MWh from the grid, get 0.7-0.8 MWh of energy generation back out.

      1. Mike Dill Avatar
        Mike Dill

        True, but you schedule the charging for the off-peak hours (when the electricity costs much less). If your grid is capacity limited, you can avoid building some lines.

  3. MaxG Avatar
    MaxG

    Having seen the Hornsdale battery in action, it is a no-brainer for any generator (or avoider).

  4. Hettie Avatar
    Hettie

    Great news. Well done Vic, and thank you ARENA.
    Now, NSW, when are you going to step up, Gladys? We need to replace all that coal, and we are buying power in from other states most of the time. Plenty of room, plenty of sites. Stop faffing about with sports stadiums, and get us some batteries and more wind and solar.

    1. solarguy Avatar
      solarguy

      Here, here. But don’t forget Hospitals, Schools and TAFE!

      1. Hettie Avatar
        Hettie

        Turns out there is a lot of clean energy coming g to NSW after all. 77 GW.
        So batteries and tafe. And hospitals I s’pose too.

        1. solarguy Avatar
          solarguy

          I would have thought you would have given a stronger response, than ” I suppose” in regard to TAFE and Hospitals.

          1. Hettie Avatar
            Hettie

            Gimme a break. This is Renew Economy. Emphasis on renewables is allowed, surely?

      2. Hettie Avatar
        Hettie

        And that’s hear, hear. As in hear him. Cry of approval of the speaker.

  5. solarguy Avatar
    solarguy

    Ah, two tongues Joshie what a star for the Coalalition. Stop making us all sick Joshie.

    When is an AUSTRALIAN company going to get a contract for some batteries?

    1. Ren Stimpy Avatar
      Ren Stimpy

      Oh gawd don’t you start with “two tongues”. Let’s put it this way, that party doesn’t deserve the ladies vote having given women short shrift in terms of equality, so let’s not generate any undue enthusiasm for the Coalition in that demographic.

      1. solarguy Avatar
        solarguy

        How could you think I have any enthusiasm for those idiots………..sarcasm mate!

        1. Ren Stimpy Avatar
          Ren Stimpy

          just thinking of a way that “two tongues” might generate a certain kind of enthusiasm that is detached from politics religion or economics….

          yeh I should’ve said I was being sarcastic

          1. solarguy Avatar
            solarguy

            Ah goooood.

          2. Hettie Avatar
            Hettie

            Mind like a sewer.

          3. Ren Stimpy Avatar
            Ren Stimpy

            Don’t you mean mind like a steel trap?

            Seriously what would that “two tongues” business actually do in sewer-minded Australia (yes most of your sewer-minded country) if it broke out into the mainstream?

      2. Hettie Avatar
        Hettie

        Oi! That’s enough of that.

      3. rob Avatar
        rob

        Seriously! you denigrate me and my mental issues and now you denigrate women in general,,,,,,,,,you need to stop posting! Have a go at me once more and I will find you and fuck you up big time……the way I’m feeling tonight I’m ready to take you out!

        1. Ren Stimpy Avatar
          Ren Stimpy

          News flash I don’t give a fig newton about you or your mental issues! Yeah I posted something which set you off (not hard) while trying to cheer you up – I tried that because morose weak people expressing their utter depression about an election loss on a public forum is a recipe for how to LOSE the next one – but then I wound it back when I saw that you didn’t react well to it. Seriously! Go for it buddy, you’re going to get a real shock when you clap your delicate eyes on me. Make sure you wear running shoes, and have bandaids on heels for blisters.

          1. rob Avatar
            rob

            want to save me $5k and post your address? you will be dead in a week

          2. Ren Stimpy Avatar
            Ren Stimpy

            Oh so you’re going to outsource it on the watchimacallit web? What a hero! Take a bow.

          3. rob Avatar
            rob

            no give me you real name and address and I will do It my self

          4. Ren Stimpy Avatar
            Ren Stimpy

            Seriously?

            In a cage fight or a ring I’m up for it (I detest weapons) I like your spirit but you really do need to know what you’re getting yourself in for here, I’ll punch three shades of shite out of you.

          5. rob Avatar
            rob

            mate I will simply identify you …..and shove 15 bullets in you

          6. Ren Stimpy Avatar
            Ren Stimpy

            yeah well like I said that’s not my thing

          7. rob Avatar
            rob

            start looking around you as of tomoz……..someone on the job starting then

          8. rob Avatar
            rob

            raped 200 times in jail! with guards approval…………you don’t want to fuck with me,,,,cos I have nothing to live for

          9. Ren Stimpy Avatar
            Ren Stimpy

            maybe you should have mentioned that first, then we could have taken that into account ? You can’t just blast that snippet on us at the end of the discussion, when it is obviously so affecting your outlook, hmmm?

          10. rob Avatar
            rob

            not we only you!

          11. rob Avatar
            rob

            get fucking scared!

          12. rob Avatar
            rob

            apologise. retract.and do what what ever else you can and once that is done never denigrate people with mental issues or for god sake women ever again!then never post on my posts

          13. Ren Stimpy Avatar
            Ren Stimpy

            Take 2 I would never denigrate people with mental issues as long as they are upfront about their mental issues and don’t disguise themselves as SANE people. I will never post again on your posts, but that offer of a cage fight and three shades still stands. OMG it still stands.

          14. rob Avatar
            rob

            K MY $5 K search for you starts tomoz……. If you can’t take mental health or female rights seriously you no longer have a right to live.Post a serious retraction or understand the consequences you keyboard anacast

          15. Ren Stimpy Avatar
            Ren Stimpy

            The correct spelling is anarchist. And I think by engaging with you and your threats for the last few hours I have demonstrated that I can take mental health seriously.

          16. rob Avatar
            rob

            good bye for ever cunt! and yes I will be there and pulling the trigger

          17. Ren Stimpy Avatar
            Ren Stimpy

            like I said that’s not my thing

          18. rob Avatar
            rob

            well it is mine!

          19. Ren Stimpy Avatar
            Ren Stimpy

            good for you

          20. rob Avatar
            rob

            and bad for you

          21. Ren Stimpy Avatar
            Ren Stimpy

            haha

          22. rob Avatar
            rob

            Ok watch feel and see

          23. Hettie Avatar
            Hettie

            Ren, you are making yourself look both foolish and unkind. Perhaps you should consider deleting at least some of your comments, as rob has done.
            Just click the minus sign to the right of your name. If you do, I will delete this.

          24. Ren Stimpy Avatar
            Ren Stimpy

            Hettie, rob didn’t delete his posts I think the system did.

            I’m not unkind, I engaged this guy as I would have engaged any other guy, I didn’t discriminate (after he finally revealed ) his mental health issues – and then his significant complex threats to me. And my rudimentary simple ones to him. Gawd almighty.

            Still, I reacted to his comments the exact same way as I would react to any other commenter. Upfront nonchalance. It takes a genius.

          25. Giles Avatar

            Yes, Rob did delete his posts, and i thank him for it. Perhaps you can go through and edit/delete your posts were there is foul language and threats. I’ve got better things to do – counter the mainstream media nonsense on the aemo report on liddell, but i will if i need to

          26. Ren Stimpy Avatar
            Ren Stimpy

            OK done. Apologies to all I should have known better than to react (I guess you saw his initial threat) and yes quite far off topic!

  6. Ian Porter Avatar
    Ian Porter

    “Frydenberg made no mention of the Tesla big battery in Jamestown, the world’s biggest lithium-ion battery and Australia’s first grid-scale battery storage”,

    Now I wonder why that was Josh?

  7. Ian Avatar
    Ian

    Freydenberg is the federal environment minister, not a trivial position, able to do much good or much mischief. He has been opposed, like the rest of his government , to renewables and to any initiative which might just promote this transition such as the Jay vs Josh big battery spat., but notice in this article he seems to be supporting these storage projects in Victoria. Is that a bit of sunlight on a cloudy day? I say let the guy save face and become the storage man – batteries create baseload. “Baseload is good. That’s what the coalition has been saying all along”
    -“yeh sure, Baseload is good, bring on those big battery installations, batteries are the Coalition’s thing, it was never about the coal , now was it?(nudge, nudge)”

  8. MrMauricio Avatar
    MrMauricio

    Fraudenburg is all over the place.What does he stand for??

    1. Hettie Avatar
      Hettie

      Jelly.

      1. phillyc Avatar
        phillyc

        Wibble wobble wibble wobble, jelly on a plate!

  9. Sally Noel Triggell Avatar
    Sally Noel Triggell

    Turncoat wouldn’t know a battery if he kicked his toe on one.

    1. solarguy Avatar
      solarguy

      Actually the hypocrite has solar and batteries at his Point Piper mansion!

  10. EdBCN Avatar
    EdBCN

    One wonders why there isn’t a canopy of solar panels over that bank of shipping container batteries. It would shade them to cut down on air conditioning while generating a bit more power.

    1. Hettie Avatar
      Hettie

      I thought that myself , then forgot about it.

  11. Malcolm Wesley Wrest Avatar
    Malcolm Wesley Wrest

    I find it odd how Frydenburg has recently had his ‘road to Damascus’ conversion…..something brewing in the background there??

  12. Nick Kemp Avatar
    Nick Kemp

    It’s interesting how Big Batteries moved from ‘as worthwhile as nipples on a bull’ last September to ‘of course they’re good, look how wonderful ours will be’

  13. David leitch Avatar
    David leitch

    I think you guys aren’t giving Frydenberg enough credit. Despite his public stance, behind the scenes I think he is more supportive of modernising the electricity system and of supporting renewables including batteries than you might think. For instance I suspect he would have signed off on the appointment of Audrey Ziebelman to the AEMO. Snowy 2 is arguably a signal of commitment to a high renewable future, that was the basis on which ARENA helped fund the feasibility study.

    In politics what you see in public is sometimes just for show. Its what happens in shadows that may matter more.

    1. RobertO Avatar
      RobertO

      Hi David Leitch, within large political organisations control is exerted on all players on what they are allowed to say externally to the organisation. People are told what to say, how to say it and often what not to say. Yes they are free to say what they like within the group, but if you let slip externally you are reprimanded and may be demoted. Our RWNJ in the COALition have some influence over what Frydenberg is allowed to say publicly.

  14. RobertO Avatar
    RobertO

    Hi All One of my pet hates is that there are too many accountants in the world. If we let them run the world we will get the cheapest, shortest option available. Too many times we will miss better options that improve the community of Australia or the security of Australians. Electricity is an essential service that all Australians should have access to. Does this mean they should all be connected to a grid system? No. Should we make a micro grid maybe. It has to be fit for purpose to support those Australians, and not just based on simple costs. We as the community should expect to support them and we may have to pay to support them. In terms of our grid there is no one right answer to how we should proceed but there is definitely one wrong answer and it’s “We must not plan our future grid.” Is buying a battery from overseas better that building transmission with local goods and services (providing work for Australians). I believe we need batteries in the network but I am asking what is the right number, that we need to support the network.

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