Victoria's $1 billion Solar Energy Initiatives

 

The Victorian Government yesterday provided further details on a series of projects designed to boost the uptake of solar power in the state and to help Victoria meet its renewable energy targets. According to Energy and Resources Minister Peter Batchelor, the $1 billion worth of related investment will "make us the most solar friendly-government in Australia".

Feed In Tariffs

A Bill was introduced into Parliament yesterday designed to encourage Victorian households to invest in residential grid connect solar power systems through a feed in tariff. Under the Bill, Victorian households with grid connect systems will be eligible to receive a credit of 60 cents per kilowatt for electricity they feed back into the grid. The feed-in tariff scheme is capped at 3.2kW system size and will run for 15 years, be available to new and existing small scale systems and will allow up to 100,000 households to participate.

The Victorian feed in tariff will be based on a net model, which means that only surplus electricity generated and exported to the grid will attract the payment. The ACT's recently launched feed in tariff program pays less, but is based on a gross model where all electricity generated by a solar power system is eligible for the premium rate.

Solar Farm

The government is also immediately seeking proposals for a solar farm that can produce about 330GWh of clean electricity annually - enough power to run 50,000 homes. The aim is to have the plant operating by 2015. The farm will be the second large-scale solar project in Victoria. 

Other initiatives

In the announcement, Victorian Premier John Brumby stated his government has also provided a $6 million grant for the Organic Solar research and development project and $50 million through the Energy Technology Innovation Strategy for a 154MW solar farm near Mildura.

Mr Brumby says that the Victorian Renewable Energy Target (VRET) has already generated $2 billion in renewable energy investment and will create more than 2000 jobs, and the government has invested $5 million in solar schools and solar power for community buildings.

Liquid Deep Cycle Battery On The Horizon?

 

There's plenty of wind and plenty of sun to go around - more than enough to provide all the world's electricity needs, even using existing wind energy and solar power technology. The problem is that the sun doesn't always shine and the wind doesn't always blow. We need to be able to store nature's energy potential for those times in an economically and environmentally friendly way.

Deep cycle battery technology has come a long way, enabling people living off grid to enjoy more comfortable lifestyles. However, a deep cycle battery bank is a major investment and the batteries need replacing far earlier than the solar panels that provide the power. For energy storage on a larger scale, molten salt batteries also show a lot of potential; but they don't store electricity - they store heat which can then be turned into electricity; requiring additional equipment.

A team at MIT is currently working on a new approach to deep cycle batteries using chemical reactions of liquid materials that could be applied to small and large scale energy storage applications.

In a traditional deep cycle battery, lead plates are suspended in electrolyte - over time the lead plates dissolve and become sulphated which then renders the battery useless. In the MIT team's liquid battery design, the unit consists of of three liquids - molten magnesium, antimony and sodium sulfide. As these liquids have have different densities they form separate layers inside the battery. The molten magnesium and antimony act as electrodes and the sodium sulfide plays the role of an electrolyte.

As the battery charges, the magnesium ions pick up electrons and rise to the top the battery. The antimony ions lose electrons and sink to the bottom. When the battery is discharged, the layering reverses.

The advantages of the liquid battery, aside from the lack of lead electrodes, include the ability to accept a charging current ten times more than existing battery technology and according to an entry on the MIT site, would be far cheaper to manufacture. Production of a DC-battery was estimated to cost USD$ 35-60/kWh in 2006 and an AC-compatible system would cost USD $50/kWh to produce. 

The original 2006 paper entitled "Technical and Economic Feasibility of a High Temperature Self Assembling Battery" can be downloaded from MIT (pdf). The research is currently being lead by  Professor Donald R. Sadoway

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