TASSIE POWER CRISIS: drought and defunct Basslink...
In the week before Christmas Basslink suddenly failed. Technical details of the cause have not been forthcoming. Industry observers stated that there was enough Hydro water -- despite the drought -- for normal supplies to continue for 2 months. That deadline passed three weeks ago. No revised estimates have been issued of when Basslink will once again be feeding dirty Victorian coal-fired electricity into Tasmania.
This ABC News24 update by reporter Ellen Coulter reveals a growing list of problems for at least three heavy industries, for gas-fired generators, and for hydroelectric power essentially running on empty.
About 16 years ago I ran a competition to promote solar hot water for Tasmania. If over the intervening years every Tasmanian residence, sports club, gym, swimming pool, etc had been retrofitted with solar thermal hot water systems, then HUGE amounts of baseload energy could have been conserved, with HUGE amounts of hydro water also being conserved. Just before Basslink failed Tasmania was relying on cheap mainland coal power to feed 40% of the total load, so it is no wonder that Basslink's failure combined with the drought are having a sizeable economic impact on energy-intensive industries.
The time is long overdue for Tas Energy Minister Groom to encourage every Taswegian to install a solar water heater. It is demonstrably baseload renewable energy stored in a water tank! Good for jobs, good for the climate, good for resilience of energy supply during a long hot sunny summer, good for innovation and competition (the principles on which COAG ticked off on energy market deregulation/privatisation in the 90s.).
Because of cold winters, most areas will need good frost protection, but that is not rocket science, and easily manageable.