Assessing the Potential of Electric Vehicles and Photovoltaics in a Smart-Grid Environment in Brazil

Ricardo Rüther
Associate Professor,
Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina in Brazil

SEN Guest Presentation
Monday 7th November, 2011 6pm for a 6:30 start
City West Lotteries House: 2 Delhi St, West Perth
(next to City West train station)

The widespread use of plug-in electric vehicles (EV) in urban environments will lead to considerably large new electricity demands, which will have to be met by new, and ideally distributed, generation plants. Especially in large and sunny countries like Brazil (and Australia), solar photovoltaic (PV) conversion can meet these new electricity requirements, offering at the same time clean and renewable energy to alleviate the environmental impact of the transportation sector, and making the most of the distributed nature of the solar radiation resource in a distributed generation (DG) and smart-grid scenario. The seminar will present the latest developments in the photovoltaic market and the potential contribution this technology can present as a distributed power source in Brazil.

Ricardo Rüther is an Associate Professor at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina in Brazil, and currently also a Visiting Academic at The School of Electrical, Electronic & Computer Engineering, The University of Western Australia. A/Prof. Rüther holds a M.Sc. degree in Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil (1991), and a Ph.D. from The University of Western Australia (1995). He was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Germany (1996), and has been a tenured academic at Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina in Brazil since 2000. His main interests are in the area of photovoltaic solar energy conversion, and more recently, smart-grids and electric vehicles.

Renewable Energy Educational Workshop

Tim Barling
Executive Director, Sustainable Energy Now, Inc

Angus King
Vice-Chair, Sustainable Energy Now, Inc

SEN Conservation Week 2011 Event
Monday 17th October, 2011 6pm for a 6:30 start
City West Lotteries House: 2 Delhi St, West Perth
(next to City West train station)

The presentation can be viewed here.

Australia has the best mix of renewable energy resources in the world and at a level vastly greater than required to meet the country's current and future power demands. This free workshop will run in a fun and interactive format outlining the possibilities of sustainable energy sources. It will explore why we should move to renewable energy, the benefits and barriers, resources and technologies available and policies and planning required for change. The workshop will include with a brief introduction to Sustainable Energy Now and the work that that the association carries out. To conclude attendees will be given a demonstration of the latest version of the SEN Renewable Energy Conceptual Computer Simulation and an exclusive chance to review it at home and provide us with feedback before being released to the general public by being published on our website. The current version is available here. The information presented will be in a readily available format that is easy to access and understand.

For those of you new to SEN, this is an opportunity to hear our key messages and engage with fellow SEN members. Others may wish to come along to renew your enthusiasm, continue conversations or get involved in some of our projects. This workshop will also act as preliminary training for those that wish to be involved in giving presentations on renewable energy and the work of SEN to schools and community groups.

Sustainable Energy Now, Inc. (SEN) is a community association formed in 2007 with the aim to promote practical, affordable strategies for the adoption of renewable energy toward a sustainable global future. SEN has a membership of over 200 and supporters of over 1000 ranging from energy professionals, engineers, economists, doctors and academics to politicians, retirees and students. Our endeavours are to: Research; Promote; Advocate and Simulate the renewable energy potential of WA.

Tim Barling took up the role of Executive Director after previously serving on the SEN board as Secretary for two years. He is also on the board of the Conservation Council of WA, the state's peak environmental group, of which SEN is a member. Tim has actively followed the climate change debate and renewable energy based solutions since the 1980's and is currently studying postgraduate Energy Studies at Murdoch University. He has a broad range of experience ranging from research at Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew in the UK to work as an animal carer on farms and in veterinary clinics. Having had a lifelong interest in the natural world, he has also worked as a ranger and been a member of a number of boards and committees. Tim has previously undertaken studies relating to medical science, the marine environment and sustainability.

Angus King is into his second year as Vice-Chair and is the SEN Tech Team leader. He holds Honours and Business Masters degrees from the University of WA. Angus has over thirty years experience in information technology, predominantly in software development. Over the last fifteen years he has developed a passion for renewable energy technologies leading to tertiary studies in the field at Murdoch University and to being one of the first people to install a grid-connected PV system in WA.

Clean Energy Future: How carbon pricing will flow through the economy and stimulate change

Marc Allen
Principal Consultant, Energetics

Zaneta Mascarenhas
Consultant, Energetics

SEN Guest Presentation
Monday 10th October, 2011 6pm for a 6:30 start
City West Lotteries House: 2 Delhi St, West Perth
(next to City West train station)

Carbon pricing has been one of the most contentious issues in recent times in Australia. The government is on the precipice of transforming our energy economy to become less emissions intensive. The government's Clean Energy Future Package will achieve this through:

• Introducing a carbon price and using money raised to assist households, support jobs and tackle climate change;
• Promoting renewable energy;
• Encouraging energy efficiency;
• Creating opportunities on the land to cut pollution.

This presentation will explain how a carbon price will impact WA businesses and flow through the resources and energy industries.

Energetics is a specialist management consultancy that has worked extensively in the WA resource and energy sectors for 25 years assisting them to understand how energy and carbon affect their businesses and developing strategies to prepare them for changes ahead.

Marc Allen provides advice on energy efficiency and carbon abatement for WA resource companies. He is a chemical engineer who has over 10 years post graduate experience in a number of industries. This experience has been in both operational and engineering/consulting roles.

Zaneta Mascarenhas has been involved in energy efficiency, greenhouse reporting and carbon abatement projects for WA resource companies. Zaneta has a Process Engineering degree from Curtin University and became interested in a clean energy future after working for a traditional resource consultancy, and realising there were smarter ways to plan for a greener energy future. She is also the WA President of The Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers, Australia – the engineers & scientists peak representative body.

Using Psychology to Reduce Energy Use

Dr Carmen Lawrence
Winthrop Professor, University of Western Australia

SEN Guest Presentation preceded by short AGM
Monday 5th September, 2011 6pm for a 6:30 start
City West Lotteries House: 2 Delhi St, West Perth
(next to City West train station)

An inescapable fact about our future – and growing - energy needs is that they can only be met by increasing supply and/or decreasing demand.  The problems of climate change, air pollution and the expense of building new power generation mean that an exclusive focus on increasing supply, especially from fossil fuel sources, is inadvisable. At a national level, the reduction of household and commercial electricity use has been identified as an important policy goal. The recent report of the Prime Minister’s Task Group on Energy Efficiency described energy efficiency as “Australia’s untapped energy resource”. In addition, there are many who argue that policies aimed at reducing consumer demand can play a significant role in managing national energy needs at very little or no extra cost. While this assumption may underestimate the very real difficulties in achieving such behaviour change, there is now good evidence that it is possible to achieve significant reductions in energy use by applying what we know about human motivation and information processing.

Profile: After training as a research psychologist at the University of Western Australia and lecturing in a number of Australian universities, Dr Lawrence entered politics in 1986, serving at both State and Federal levels for 21 years. She was at various times W.A Minister for Education and Aboriginal affairs and was the first woman Premier and Treasurer of a State government. She shifted to Federal politics in 1994 when she was elected as the Member for Fremantle and was appointed Minister for Health and Human Services and Minister assisting the Prime Minister on the Status of Women. She has held various portfolios in Opposition, including Indigenous Affairs, Environment, Industry and Innovation and was elected national President of the Labor Party in 2004. She retired from politics in 2007. She is now a Professorial Fellow at the University of Western Australia where she is working to establish a centre to research the forces driving significant social change in key areas of contemporary challenge as well as exploring our reactions to that change. The centre will also seek to expose for public discussion the processes most likely to achieve social change where that is a desired objective.

Large Scale Renewables in an Urban Environment
The Story of the Fremantle Wind Farm Project

Jamie Ally
Chief Executive Officer, HAC Australia

SEN Guest Presentation
Monday 8th August, 2011 6pm for a 6:30 start
City West Lotteries House: 2 Delhi St, West Perth
(next to City West train station)

The proposed wind power project at Fremantle Port consists of 8 wind turbines placed around Rous Head. The total generation capacity of the project is 6.4 MW. The Port of Fremantle is uniquely suited to a wind power project as the port is an active industrial area with existing structures of comparable height (cranes) and an ambient noise profile which already exceeds that of a wind farm. The locations proposed for the turbines are exposed to strong unobstructed winds from the South West. In addition the project is situated on the ‘front-lawn’ of the State, presenting great iconic and promotional value. Detailed energy production models have been created based on over eight years of high-quality wind measurements recorded at the site. Development Approvals were granted by the City of Fremantle and the WA Planning Commission.

The project is being developed by the Fremantle Wind Farm Consortium, a group of local investors and engineers. The Consortium’s financial models show that the project is commercially viable, subject to the cost of land, network access, and private financing. The project presents an opportunity to promote sustainability, attract tourism and lead Australia in the implementation of renewable energy and distributed generation within the built environment.

Profile: Jamie is the CEO of HAC Australia, a front-end developer of energy and carbon projects, and a leading provider of engineering and business services in the energy efficiency, energy cost management, and carbon abatement space. Prior to co-founding HAC, he was a key leader of the team that designed, commissioned, and operated Perth’s hydrogen fuel cell bus trial, and many other similar projects in Europe and California. With a background in Mechatronics and Systems Engineering, Jamie is one of the few engineers in Australia with experience in all stages of development and commercialisation of low-carbon technologies.

Large Scale Solar PV Installations in WA

James Rhee
Managing Director, Swan Energy

SEN Guest Presentation
Monday 4th July, 2011 6pm for a 6:30 start
City West Lotteries House: 2 Delhi St, West Perth
(next to City West train station)

James will brief us on large scale solar power station opportunities in WA like that completed in December last year for the Galaxy lithium mine at their Mt Cattlin site in Ravensthorpe, the first mining site in Australia to have adopted a renewable energy approach. A field of 14 Dual Axis Solar Trackers are producing around 600kWh per day and expected to generate over 200MWh annually, reducing demand on the mine's diesel generators. James will also provide us with some insight into his views on large scale solar, its potential in the Australian market including large scale roof top PV installations for schools and local government and and the economics of commercial solar systems.

More information about the renewable energy goals of the Galaxy lithium mine can be found on this ABC News article.

Profile: James Rhee is the Managing Director of Swan Energy Pty Ltd. He is Clean Energy Council accredited and approved solar system designer and installer including Remote Area Power Systems (RAPS). James is highly regarded in the WA renewable energy field as a design expert including solar and wind power stations as well as hybrid remote power system.

His electrical engineering and IT background has helped him stand out within the industry and his multicultural background has aided him to introduce technological advancements of other countries into Australia's renewable energy field. James has been selected a Clean Tech Western Region nominee in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year program as well as a finalist of Clean Energy Ambassador Award by Sustainable Energy Association of Australia.

The Collgar Wind Farm Project

Alistair Craib
CEO, Collgar Wind Farm

SEN Guest Presentation
Monday 13th June, 2011 6pm for a 6:30 start
City West Lotteries House: 2 Delhi St, West Perth
(next to City West train station)

Alistair will update us on the progress of the Collgar Wind Farm Project which, when completed, will be the largest wind farm in WA and the largest single stage wind farm development in the southern hemisphere to date. Located near Merredin, Collgar will consist of 111 turbines, cost $750 million dollars and deliver 792,000 GWh of renewable energy per year. The project is due for completion in December, well ahead of schedule. Alistair will also discuss wind turbine technology and give us his perspective on the future of the energy market in WA as it relates to wind and other renewables.

Profile: Alistair Craib is the Chief Executive Officer of Collgar Wind Farm Pty Ltd. Prior to this, Alistair was a senior investment executive of UBS Infrastructure Asset Management based in London and Australia. Alistair has significant experience in the energy and infrastructure sectors and has been involved in assessing a number of renewable energy transactions globally.

Direct Use Geothermal in Western Australia

Jenny Archibald
Managing Director, GT Power

SEN Guest Presentation
Monday 2nd May, 2011 6pm for a 6:30 start
City West Lotteries House: 2 Delhi St, West Perth
(next to City West train station)

How we use energy in the future is becoming increasingly important. This will be driven as much by higher costs of electricity generation as the impact greenhouse emissions may have on our climate. While sources of carbon free energy, such as deeper geothermal energy, will play a significant role in the energy mix of the future, many now see energy efficiencies playing an even bigger role.

Geothermal energy has been used for hundreds of years in a variety of ways – such as heating of spas and pools, drying, heating and cooling systems and electric generation. Direct use of deeper geothermal heat from Perth’s hot sedimentary aquifers can drive processes such as heating and cooling for large scale industrial and commercial use as well as applications where heat is required, such as in chemical processes, desalination and use of hot water.

Smaller scale direct use can be employed through installations of ground source heat pumps where ambient ground temperature is used to supply a source of heat or can act as a heat sink. This technology is particularly well suited to domestic through to small/medium scale commercial and industrial applications. Reductions in energy can be up to 40% for cooling and between 60% - 80% for heating and generation of hot water – and has the potential to deliver substantial offset to peak electricity demand.

Profile: Jenny Archibald, Managing Director of GT Power, has more than 20 years experience ranging across palaeontology, petroleum exploration and business management in the resource sector, is currently Treasurer of the Australian Geothermal Energy Association and Chair of its Direct Use Committee. She has also held roles of Mayor of Fremantle and Chair of the Rottnest Island Authority.

Wind/Diesel Hybrid Systems

Craig Carter
Senior Planning Engineer, Verve Energy

SEN Guest Presentation
Monday 14th February, 2011 6pm for a 6:30 start
Lotteries House: 2 Delhi St, West Perth
Free event, refreshments provided

Remote power systems almost always rely on diesel fuel to create electricity. With increases in diesel fuel price and there being a greater awareness of the environmental impact of burning fossil fuels, hybrid wind/diesel systems in remote towns and communities are becoming more commonplace. Whilst introducing relatively small amounts of wind energy into a conventional diesel power system is straightforward, maximising wind energy penetration presents a number of unique challenges. These challenges include system frequency and voltage instability, reverse power, step load limitations and supply reliability issues.

Technologies now available allow significantly increased wind energy usage in smaller diesel based electricity systems. Coupled with commercial and environmental incentives this has allowed more installations to take place, in turn leading to a higher use of the local wind resource and significantly reduced diesel fuel consumption. The presentation will look at the issues involved with maximising wind energy penetration in remote power systems, the technologies used to overcome these issues, with some Western Australian examples of where these technologies have been successfully utilised.

Bio: Craig Carter, Senior Planning Engineer for Verve energy, has professional expertise in conceptual project design and smart control of wind/diesel, wind/diesel/storage, and wind/grid systems. Craig has an interest in renewable energy policy, energy management and energy efficiency and promotes the use of renewable energy by electricity utilities, through the development of innovative and economic proposals.

Renewable Energy Scenarios for WA
A Discussion Paper by Sustainable Energy Now

6 December, 2010 at 6:00pm
Lotteries House: 2 Delhi St, West Perth

Sustainable Energy Now has prepared a discussion paper, available here, comprised of two detailed scenarios for renewable energy supply to WA’s southwest electricity grid (SWIS): one illustrating 30% renewable electrical energy supply by 2020, and the other 80-100% by 2050.

The paper proposes renewable generation from a mix of wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and wave resources, detailing locations, costs and various system requirements. It finds that the cost of transitioning to a renewable energy system is reasonable compared to the status quo and will become competitive if projected increases in the cost of fossil generation are taken into account.

SEN Chair Steve Gates will present the paper and outline its main propositions. A Q&A session will follow, with panellists from WA’s renewable energy industry:

Jenny Archibald Geothermal Power
Craig Carter Verve Energy
Kyle Jackson Mid West Energy
John Reilly Refgas
Tim Sawyer Carnegie Wave Energy

Steve Gates, Chair of Sustainable Energy Now, is a Mechanical Engineer with 29 years experience in Research and Development in the offshore, defence, manufacturing and agricultural industries. He is passionate about using his engineering and project management background to solve problems, particularly those relating to the environment and sustainability. He has been a registered Professional Engineer in California and is a member of the Institute of Engineers Australia.

Jenny Archibald, Managing Director of Geothermal Power, is a geologist with more than 20 years experience including petroleum exploration, business management, capital raising, public listing and trade sale. She was former Managing Director of Fractal Technologies, former Mayor of Fremantle and former Chair of the Rottnest Island Authority. Jenny is also the Chair of the Direct Heat Committee.

Craig Carter, Senior Planning Engineer for Verve energy, has professional expertise in conceptual project design and smart control of wind/diesel, wind/diesel/storage, and wind/grid systems. Craig has an interest in renewable energy policy, energy management and energy efficiency and promotes the use of renewable energy by electricity utilities, through the development of innovative and economic proposals.

Kyle Jackson, Director of Mid West Energy, is a Chartered Accountant, with 6 years experience in the corporate finance sector. He is experienced in advising clients on raising capital, business divestments, mergers and acquisitions. Kyle was a member of the Climate Change Committee of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Western Australia from 2008 to 2009.

John Reilly is Director of Refgas, Recycled Fuel Gasification. John is an Engineer with many years experience in the British Army, the oil industry and waste management. Refgas is an energy provider through the gasification of biomass waste, producing a syngas which in turn drives engines to generate power.

Tim Sawyer, Site Development Manager of Carnegie Wave Energy, is an Oceanographer with over thirteen years experience in marine environmental management and renewable energy project development. Tim has an in-depth knowledge of wave, tidal and offshore wind energy and has specific experience relating to project development, resource assessment, marine surveying, environmental impact assessment, permitting and approvals and stakeholder consultation.

 

The Smart Distribution System

Professor Peter Wolfs
Western Power Chair, Curtin University

SEN General Meeting
1 November, 2010 at 6:00pm
Lotteries House: 2 Delhi St, West Perth

The West Australian Distribution System will experience three transformations in the next two decades:

• A transition to active management, by the consumer and the network operator, of electrical demand;
• A wide scale deployment of distributed renewable energy sources and storage;
• Electric vehicle loads.

This presentation will focus on current projects and research conducted by the 'Western Power Alliance' – a collaborative effort by Western Power and Curtin University. The project areas include:

• Smart Meters and Home Area Energy networks and their potential in facilitating load and storage management;
• Facilitating high levels of solar electric generation and the Perth Solar City High Penetration feeder trials;
• Electric vehicle impacts on the West Australian Power System;
• The potential for integrating storage within the grid including the 'Energy Edge' project – a solar battery system for rural power support.

Profile: Peter holds the Western Power Chair at Curtin University. This industry funded position focuses on the education of graduate engineers and researchers for the power industry. He supervises many PhD and Masters students undertaking research within Western Power and he teaches transmission and distribution design.

Peter's early research career began in the 1981 with the development of inverters for the then fledgling solar industry. He has had over thirty years of active research and consulting experience in power electronic design for inverters, maximum power trackers, battery storages and electric vehicle charging. Peter captained a World Solar Challenge solar car team in 1999. A spin-off was the development of a distributed maximum power tracking technology, originally to manage curved arrays on solar cars, that is now internationally manufactured and broadly applied to optimise the outputs of stationary solar arrays.

Peter has had a diverse engineering career. He is also known for his work in electric railway traction, Smart Grids, Smart Trains, domestic electrical load control devices, power quality and methods for improving the capacity of rural power networks. He is the author of more than 160 peer-reviewed technical papers, a Fellow of Engineers Australia and Senior Member of IEEE.

 

Electric Vehicles in WA

Patrick Finnegan
Chief Executive Officer, E-Station

David Waplington
President, Australian Electric Vehicle Association Perth

Daniel Booth
Managing Director, EV Shop

SEN General Meeting
4 October, 2010 at 6:00pm
Lotteries House: 2 Delhi St, West Perth

Patrick Finnegan is CEO of E-Station, which was set up in 2009 to serve the emerging electric vehicle market in Australia by providing low cost plug in charge points to cities, local councils and private operators. Patrick will talk about the EV Charge Point infrastructure that will be required to ensure the viability and convenience required to encourage uptake of electric vehicles.

David Waplington is President of the Perth Branch of the Australian Electric Vehicle Association Inc, a non profit association founded in 1973, comprising of individuals and organisations interested in the development, manufacture, sale or use of electric vehicles and their components. David will discuss: the economics of electric vehicles; the cost of conversion; licensing and regulation; the impact on the energy grid; demand and supply; and, the use of renewable energy sources to power EVs.

Daniel Booth is the Managing Director of EV Shop, which has been providing technical, electronic and mechanical repairs to the automotive industry for the past 13 years. Daniel will cover the technical and engineering aspects of electric car conversions and the state of the industry.

 

Pushing the Technology Envelope in Enhanced Geothermal Systems

John Walters
Principal Well Engineer
Lucid Consultants for Geodynamics Ltd

SEN Annual General Meeting
6 September, 2010 at 6:00pm
Followed by presentation at 7.15pm
Lotteries House: 2 Delhi St, West Perth

The concept behind Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) and geothermal energy is relatively simple. Heat is generated by high heat producing granites located from 3-4km or more below the Earth's surface. At the well target depth of 5000m, the temperature is 285 °C, and the bottom hole pressure is 12,000 psi. Overlying sedimentary rocks, which act as an insulating blanket, trap the heat inside the basement granite rock. The heat is extracted from the granite by circulating water through fractures in the rock, to form an engineered, artificial reservoir or underground heat exchanger.

The extraction of geothermal energy relies on existing technologies and engineering processes, such as drilling and hydraulic fracturing, techniques established by the oil and gas industry. As the temperature and pressure of the geothermal resource increases, the value as an energy source goes up, but we begin to approach the limits of those existing technologies. This presentation will give a brief overview of the concept of EGS, and looks at the technology challenges in delivering wells into deep hot geothermal reservoirs.

Geodynamics is the leading Australian geothermal exploration and development company, and possesses some of the best geothermal resources in the world (located in the Cooper Basin, South Australia). Work is on going to develop technology to exploit that resource.

Geothermal energy has the potential to be a critical element of Australia’s future power generation and Geodynamics is at the forefront of this resource development.

Profile: John Walters is Principal Well Engineer with Lucid Consultants, and has been working with Geodynamics for the past 2 and a half years on the development of geothermal well designs and technologies that will help bring geothermal power to commercial reality in Australia. He has over 25 years experience in well design, construction and operations, predominantly in the oil and gas industry. He has a Masters Degree in Offshore Engineering, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Energy Studies from Murdoch University.

 

Western Australia and Energy: A Case Study in Perverse Resilience

Professor Glenn Albrecht
Dean of School of Sustainability
Murdoch University

SEN General Meeting
2 August, 2010 at 6:00pm
Lotteries House: 2 Delhi St, West Perth

Despite political rhetoric about the seriousness of global warming and it’s potentially disastrous impacts on the planet and all its inhabitants, Australian Federal and State governments are going hard for growth in greenhouse gas expansive industries such as coal mining and fossil fuel-based power generation. The refusal to acknowledge the seriousness of the warming of the planet is no better illustrated than with the announcement of three new coal-fired power generation projects in W.A. and the green light for oil exploration in the deep water Cape Mentelle Basin off the Cape to Cape coast. In addition, the massive expansion of the natural gas industry in W.A. will massively add to global greenhouse gas emissions.

Resilience is defined as the capacity of a system to absorb disturbance, reconfigure, but retain basic structure and functions. If we see Peak Oil, oil well accidents (Montara, Gulf of Mexico) and global warming as “disturbances” to the fossil fuel system, clearly the fossil fuel industry and its government support exhibits the property of resilience. However, it is a kind of perverse resilience in operation here, where the very things that are contributing to our non-sustainability, are being subsidised and expanded, while actions that unambiguously support genuine sustainability, for example, clean, safe, renewable energy are still seen as optional extras. Expanding greenhouse expansive gas, oil and coal in the face of unquestionable global warming is clearly not rational. This presentation will examine the perverse resilience of the structure and function of a system that must change.

Profile: Glenn Albrecht is Professor of Sustainability at Murdoch University in Perth Western Australia. He is a transdisciplinary philosopher with a focus on the intersection of ecosystem and human health. He is the author of many book chapters and academic papers on environmental and animal ethics, social ecology and the existential impacts of environmental transformation. Glenn has become internationally well known for creating the concept of ‘solastalgia’ defined as the distress and loss of solace connected to a person’s lived experience of the chronic desolation of a loved home environment by transformational agents such as mining and climate change. Solastalgia is now widely applied in academic contexts and has also inspired creativity in art, literature and music. With around 100,000 hits in a Google search, solastalgia is now well established in many languages and has generated feature articles in the New York Times Magazine, Wired and WorldChanging.

 

Zero Carbon Australia Presentation

Trent Hawkins
Volunteer
Beyond Zero Emissions

SEN Special Event
12 July, 2010 at 6:00pm
43 Below: 43 Barrack St, Perth (corner Barrack and Hay)

The Zero Carbon Australia 2020 Stationary Energy Plan (ZCA2020 Plan) is a detailed and practical roadmap to decarbonise the Australian stationary energy sector within a decade. The full report will be released on July 14 jointly with the Melbourne University Energy Institute.

The project involved a team of engineers, scientists and researchers contributing thousands of hours of pro bono work to put together a detailed plan of the steps necessary to replace our coal and gas infrastructure with proven renewable energy technologies.

The cornerstone of the proposal is solar thermal power, which creates heat that can be stored very efficiently in large tanks of molten salt, and then be used to generate electricity at any time of the day or night, making it baseload power -- a reliable supply 24 hours a day.

The report also recommends the creation of a single national grid and a plan to reduce per capita energy use by 33%, bringing Australia in line with other first world countries. It will result in the creation of at least 155,000 jobs in these new industries.

Over the lifetime of the infrastructure (until 2040) the net costs are about the same as those expected for the energy industry under business as usual. An initial analysis has found that this would only increase the price of electricity by a total of 6.5c/kWh over the next ten years.

Profile: Trent Hawkins is a volunteer for Beyond Zero Emissions and is one the ZCA2020 Report authors. He is a mechanical engineer working as a renewable energy consultant for Victorian company Enhar. Trent was also active in the climate change movement in Perth before moving to Melbourne in 2008. More information about Beyond Zero Emissions and the Zero Carbon Australia 2020 Project can be found online at www.beyondzeroemissions.org.

Please note: Food and drink is available from the bar/restaurant at 43 Below for purchase. You can find the menu on the 43 Below website.

 

Lessons from Beyond the Grid

Mike Laughton-Smith
General Manager, Islanded Systems Development
Horizon Power

SEN General Meeting
5 July, 2010 at 6:00pm
Lotteries House: 2 Delhi St, West Perth

There are 17,000 people living in 287 Indigenous communities in WA who generally suffer poor health and well-being, largely as a result of inadequate essential services, including power, water and waste water.

Horizon Power has developed and deployed a successful regularisation model for power services to these remote indigenous communities. Regularisation means upgrading the generation, network and metering assets and establishing regional systems to deliver the same service standards as other regional towns. The model is based on effective engagement and consultation with the communities.

Horizon selects, develops and deploys power generation, network, metering and retail systems that are sustainable in terms of the communities’ needs, service conditions, operating costs and environmental impact. A particularly exciting new development is the evolution of our Modular, Automated, Renewable and Scalable generation model – MARS. In fact it is a world first. Mike will also share some important learnings from Horizon Power's regularisation journey, many of which have application in larger systems, and the national grid.

Profile: General Manager, Islanded Systems Development (ISD) for Horizon Power, Mr Mike Laughton-Smith has over 20 years experience in the energy industry. With 15 years as a Senior Manager working in diverse roles ranging from isolated system generation, transmission, major customer (including mining enterprises) power supplies, power procurement and renewable energy opportunities.

In his role as General Manager, ISD Mike is responsible for leading Horizon's effort to identify, pursue and exploit opportunities to profitably sell Horizon Islanded System Solutions. Mike also leads, contributes to and oversees the development and implementation of new Islanded Systems.

Currently Mike and his ISD team are managing a number of strategic regional projects including the Marble Bar and Nullagine High Penetration PV Hybrid Diesel Generation and the Aboriginal Remote Communities Power Supply Project.

 

Going Renewable: Germany’s Energy Future

Dr Volker Oschmann
Senior Government official
German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety

SEN General Meeting
14 June, 2010 at 6:00pm
Lotteries House: 2 Delhi St, West Perth

Germany has ambitious targets for renewable energies. The 2006 government’s sustainability strategy aims at supplying half of the overall energy supply with renewable energies by the middle of this century.

The German minister for the environment, with the support of Chancellor Angela Merkel, recently raised the target and is now aiming at supplying ‘almost all energy from renewable sources’.

Volker is going to give us some inside information into Germany’s renewable energy policy and some outside views on Australia’s energy policy.

Profile: Dr. Volker Oschmann is a senior government official within the German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.

Volker is the ‘legal father’ of the successful German Feed-In Law (‘Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz – EEG’) that has been emulated by many other countries. As a lawyer within the Ministry, he drafted the law in 2000, including the amendments in 2004 and 2009. He is one of the most knowledgeable German experts on all legal issues arising from the promotion of renewable energies.

Volker is also co-editor of the Journal for New Energy Law (ZNER) and author of several publications on European and German renewable energy law and practice.

Before working with the Ministry for the Environment, Volker was legal adviser to the Hon. Hans-Josef Fell (MP) and the Hon. Dr. Hermann Scheer (MP) in the German Parliament ‘Deutscher Bundestag’.

Currently, he is undertaking research on legal issues arising from climate change at the Centre for Mining, Energy and Natural Resources Law at the University of Western Australia.

Please note: For immediate viewing, play or 'stream' the video on our website. You can also download it by right-clicking on the icon, but be aware that this will take some time as it is a large file.

 

An introduction to Refgas and Biomass Gasification

Giles Perryman
Director, Refgas Australia Ltd

SEN General Meeting
3 May, 2010 at 6:00pm
Lotteries House: 2 Delhi St, West Perth

Refgas combined heat and power (CHP) gasification facilities produce renewable energy from biomass feedstocks. Due to the range of systems and modular design, Refgas can provide facilities as small as 2MW CHP (i.e. 1MWe and 1MWh), up to facilities in excess of 24MW CHP. Using biological feedstocks (e.g. timber residues, wood waste, refuse derived fuels (RDF), compost residues, animal manures, sewage cake, etc) the system produces renewable energy – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The Refgas systems provide the benefits of sustainable energy from renewable sources while being able to utilise some feedstocks that can be considered as wastes, ensuring these resources are recovered rather than disposed of to landfill.

The relatively smaller tonnage of feedstock required for the Refgas units ensures that the proximity principle is followed, ensuring both transport distances for feedstock and electricity transmission losses are minimised, therefore providing further environmental benefits and reduced carbon emissions.

The presentation will provide an overview of biomass advanced gasification, the Refgas system and existing facilities, before highlighting opportunities for their application within Western Australia, such as the proposed project for biomass power generation at Jerramungup.

 

The Perenjori Solar Thermal Project

Kyle Jackson
Director, Mid West Energy Pty Ltd

SEN General Meeting
12 April, 2010 at 6:00pm
Engineers Australia: 712 Murray St, West Perth

Kyle Jackson is a director of Mid West Energy Pty Ltd. Mid West Energy is a WA based private power development company that brings to the Perenjori Project decades of experience successfully developing low emission power projects in Australia. MWE directors have had leading roles in the development and financing of over 2,000 MW of power projects in Australia.

Mid West Energy is proposing to develop the 200MW Perenjori Solar Thermal Project under the Solar Flagship Program. AREVA is technology partner and EPC contractor for the project and is one of the world’s leading power engineering and construction groups. The project will use AREVA’s Compact Linear Fresnel Reflector solar thermal technology developed and commercialised in Australian and the USA by Ausra. AREVA’s solar thermal technology is cost-effective, land efficient and has an output profile ideally suited to the SWIS. The Project is expected to be constructed in two stages of 100MW, with stage one scheduled for completion in 2013 and stage two in 2015.