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How smart / green are we all 4-Dec-2008 At 11:42:11 AM lacto

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hydro is the biggest source of green power though very liitlle exrea capacity is being built at present Mt McKay bogong Village tunnel and power station would be one of the only new one of late . Wind farms sell their capacity- green gives a higher price and if you put origin panels on your roof then that is origin green power or they buy the RECs from other developments . Gas turbines are much morte carbon producing than coal fired with quicker ramp up and down.
To me wind is certainly the way to go but needs to be able to store energy from peak production to peak use these are rarely at the same time. My belief is that the huge storage capacity of the snowy scheme together with the head differentials between the storages offer huge potential to store power . A tunnel exists between Jindabyne and Ecumbene with a head difference of 230 metres a new reversible hydro power station could be built and if linked with a new interconnector to the la trobe valley could certainly go a long way to reducing the reliance on coal . At present only two reversible generators exist at blowering but the whole of the Tumut system could be made reversible with a total head of 730 m versus the murray with 700 m and only a small holding pondage at khancoban . Certainly in Victoria with price rises coming through in Jan 09 and smart meters about to be rolled out and carbon tax tipped to add 4 cent 1khh the cost of using electricity unwisely will esculate greatly and will certainly impact some peoples usage .