Robin Eckermann mentioned this idea in his talk on "The SMART GRID - The looming energy revolution" Tuesday night at the Australian Computer Society Canberra Branch Forum. George Cora demonstrated his design for an "Active Solar Tracker" which could be used to make such large solar arrays more efficient, at the Australian national University in Canberra today.
While it will be possible to make 200kW solar arrays more efficiently and cheaper than individual household units, this is still not very large for a solar power station. It would only be the equivalent of about 134 individual 1500 W household systems and could only power about 100 toasters.
Another, and far more cost-effective, way for the ACT Government to achieve energy savings would be to overhaul their web site. As an example, the new feed-in Act is offered as a 73KB PDF file and a 693KB RTF file. The text of the document is only 13 KB. The PDF file is a reasonable size, allowing for formatting overheads and a logo. But clearly there is something wrong with the RTF version, which is much larger than needed.
Larger files consume computer and telecommunications capacity, which in turn requires more electricity to power it. If the ACT Government was to instead provide this Act as a web page, it would only require about 30 kbytes, half the size of the PDF version and one twentieth the size of the RTF version.
To verify this, I opened the RTF version of the Act in OpenOffice.org, saved it as HTML and then ran that through HTML Tidy. That document still contains excessive formatting, which when removed would reduce the file size further. Also some tweaks would need to be made to the template used for Acts to allow them to display better, but here is portion to show what it looks like:
Australian Capital TerritoryElectricity Feed-in (Renewable Energy Premium) Amendment Act 2011
A2011-6
An Act to amend the Electricity Feed-in (Renewable Energy Premium) Act 2008
The Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory enacts as follows:
This Act is the Electricity Feed-in (Renewable Energy Premium) Amendment Act 2011. ...
This Act amends the Electricity Feed-in (Renewable Energy Premium) Act 2008.
substitute
5B Meaning of renewable energy generator and renewable energy source
(1) In this Act:
renewable energy generator means an energy generator that generates electricity from a renewable energy source, and includes:
(a) a micro renewable energy generator; and
(b) a medium renewable energy generator.
renewable energy source means any of the following:
(a) solar;
(b) wind;
(c) any other source determined by the Minister.
(2) A determination is a disallowable instrument.
Note A disallowable instrument must be notified, and presented to the Legislative Assembly, under the Legislation Act.
5C Meaning of capacity
(1) In this Act:
capacity, of a renewable energy generator, means:
(a) if the generator is a solar photovoltaic generator:the rated power output of the panels of the generator; or
(b) if the Minister determines a method for measuring the capacity of a generator under subsection (2):the capacity measured by the determined method.
(2) The Minister may determine the method for measuring the capacity of renewable energy generators.
Note Power to make a statutory instrument (including a regulation) includes power to make different provision for different categories (see Legislation Act, s 48).
(3) A determination is a disallowable instrument.
Note A disallowable instrument must be notified, and presented to the Legislative Assembly, under the Legislation Act.
5D Meaning of medium renewable energy generator and micro renewable energy generator
In this Act:
medium renewable energy generator means a renewable energy generator that has a total capacity more than 30kW but not more than 200kW.
micro renewable energy generator means a renewable energy generator that has a total capacity not more than 30kW.
5E Meaning of compliant
(1) For this Act, a renewable energy generator is compliant if:
(a) the generator is installed on premises in the ACT; and
(b) when connected to the electricity distributor's network, it complies with the service and installation rules; and
(c) the total capacity of the generator, or the total capacity of all renewable energy generators installed on the premises, is not more than:
(i) 200kW; or
(ii) if the Minister determines another capacity under subsection (2):the applicable determined capacity; and
(d) if the generator is a micro renewable generator:the generator is connected to the electricity distributor's network before the total capacity of all micro renewable energy generators connected to the network reaches:
(i) 15MW; or
(ii) if the Minister determines another capacity under subsection (3):the determined capacity; and
(e) if the generator is a medium renewable generator:the generator is connected to the electricity distributor's network before the total capacity of all medium renewable energy generators connected to the network reaches:
(i) 15MW; or
(ii) if the Minister determines another capacity under subsection (3):the determined capacity.
(2) The Minister may determine a total capacity for the following:
(a) micro renewable energy generators installed on premises;
(b) medium renewable energy generators installed on premises;
(c) all renewable energy generators installed on premises.
(3) The Minister may determine the total capacity for all micro and medium renewable energy generators connected to the electricity distributor's network.
(4) A determination is a disallowable instrument.
Note A disallowable instrument must be notified, and presented to the Legislative Assembly, under the Legislation Act.
(5) In this section:
service and installation rules means the service and installation rules for connection to the electricity distribution network, as in force from time to time, made under a technical code, as in force from time to time, made under the Utilities Act 2000.
Note Technical codes made under the Utilities Act 2000 are accessible at www.icrc.act.gov.au. The service and installation rules are accessible at www.actewagl.com.au.
5F Meaning of eligible entity
(1) In this Act:
eligible entity:
(a) means:
(i) if an incorporated association owns the premises on which a compliant renewable energy generator is installed:the incorporated association; or
(ii) if a cooperative owns the premises on which a compliant renewable energy generator is installed:the cooperative; or
(iii) if a person owns commercial or retail premises on which a compliant renewable energy generator is installed:the person; or
(iv) if a person (the lessee) leases premises, or a part of premises, to install or operate a compliant renewable energy generator:the lessee; or
(v) in any other case:the occupier of premises on which a compliant renewable energy generator is installed; but
(b) does not include:
(i) a territory agency; or
(ii) a territory-owned corporation; or
(iii) the Commonwealth or a Commonwealth authority; or
(iv) an entity determined by the Minister. ...
5 Feed-in from renewable energy generators to electricity network
Section 6 (2) and (3)substitute
(2) It is a condition of the electricity distributor's licence that the distributor must, on application by an eligible entity:
(a) connect a renewable energy generator to the distributor's network to enable electricity generated by the generator to be supplied to the network; and
(b) reimburse the utility that is the electricity supplier to the premises the difference between:
(i) the amount payable under subsection (3) for electricity generated by the generator to be supplied to the network; and
(ii) the normal cost of that electricity; and
(c) pass on to the eligible entity the additional metering costs in relation to electricity generated by the generator.
(3) It is a condition of the electricity supplier's licence that the supplier must, on application by an eligible entity, pay the eligible entity, in accordance with section 8, for the total amount of electricity generated by the renewable energy generator on or after the day the application is made.
6 Payment for electricity from renewable energy generators
Section 8 (1) (a)omit
generators installed at the premises the total capacity of which is not more than 10kW
substitute
a micro renewable energy generator
substitute
(b) for electricity generated by a medium renewable energy generator:
(i) 75% of the premium rate; or
(ii) if another percentage is determined under section 9 for this paragraph:that percentage of the premium rate. ...
From: Electricity Feed-in (Renewable Energy Premium) Amendment Act 2011, ACT Assembly, 2011
No comments:
Post a Comment