Ballarat and Central Highlands Already 100 percent renewable - Time for Cheap Electricity.
Ballarat and Central Highlands Already 100% Renewable - Time for Cheap Electricity.
There are many views in the climate debate on wind energy/wind farms/renewables. This piece is not designed to explore these options.
There are also numerous concepts around which can be confusing to us ordinary folk. For example '100% renewables' is not the same 'zero emissions'. For the purposes of this piece '100% renewables' is our subject.
Renewable energy is produced using natural resources that are constantly replaced and never run out. If any area uses all its electricity that comes from renewable sources (e.g. wind) from within that same area, then that area is deemed to be '100% renewable.
In this article the study is solely wind energy. "Wind electricity" does not go direct into our homes. It goes into the electricity grid and is then given to us.
Think of it like this: you deposit cash at the bank on Monday and then withdraw cash from an ATM on Thursday. The paper money you've withdrawn are not the exact same bills you deposited, but it makes no difference at all, cash is cash. It would be silly, and require a more expensive banking system for everyone, for any individual depositor to demand that they get the exact same bills on Thursday that they deposited at a different location on Monday.
Ballarat and the Central Highlands are blessed to be in a unique geographic position at around the 435m above sea level. Ballarat's position in relation to the 'strongest winds in the world' generated in the Southern Ocean, means those high level winds are forced up as they hit the land/escarpment and are at their strongest in and around Ballarat. Hence the biggest investment in wind farms in Australia in our region.
The Central Highlands is 14,672 square kilometers in extent (covering 6 per cent of Victoria). The Central Highlands comprises six Local Government Areas, namely Ararat , Ballarat, Golden Plains, Hepburn, Moorabool, and Pyrenees.
The total population of the region is 195,562 (RDV 2017), representing 3 per cent of Victoria's population. If 'Ballarat and the Central Highlands' was an independent country it would rank 167 out of 199 in size of all countries in the world.
Currently the amount of electricity produced by the Central Highlands area wind farms amounts to about 667mw (megawatt). Those wind farms are Challicum Hills, Chepstowe, Hepburn community, Mount Mercer, Oaklands Hills, Waubra and Yaloak.
Knowing exactly what a megawatt is not really necessary on this occasion. It is a unit of measure.
A lot of work has been done to work out how much power a normal house requires in a year.
On average 1mw from a turbine would produce the same amount of electric energy as that used by 594 households over a year. This includes a 30% capacity factor that caters for the wind not blowing all the time. (http://www.beaufortcourt.com/media/2546045/How-many-homes.pdf)
To find out how many houses the Central Highlands wind production of about 668mw, is to multiply 668mw by 594 households and the answer is that currently about 396,790 homes across Victoria are powered by wind.
The whole of the Ballarat and Central Highlands has around 72,000 households (about 2.6 people per household).
We can therefore say that households of Ballarat and Central Highlands are '100% renewable' (from wind), using about 121mw per year.
But it gets better. The Central Highlands region has some 5882 businesses.(RDV 2019).
These can be split into commercial and manufacturing. The overall split is shown here from a 2010 study.
If 121MW is required for domestic use in Ballarat and the Central Highlands, and this is equal to 31% we can estimate the total usage.
- Domestic Households - 121mw
- Industrial (50%x3.9) - 195mw
- Commercial (19%x3.9) - 74mw
Total electricity usage - 390mw
The wind farms are on our patch of land provide all our "electricity as 100% renewable"
Our natural gas usage is about twice that of electricity at about 150mw.
If the gas energy is "offset" against the wind energy then Ballarat and Central Highlands total usage for electricity and gas is 540mw (390MW + 150mw)
As stated earlier the region produces 667mw through wind energy.
Therefore the wind farms on our patch of land provide all are "electricity and gas 100% renewable". In fact we have a balance of 127mw, which can offset the regions diesel and petrol usage.
And all of this before Ballarat and Central Highlands has all its new and approved wind farms come into production.
A number of wind farms are currently being built and once these are complete the amount of electricity produced by all the wind farms of the Central Highlands will be around 1128mw (almost twice the current output!) The new windfarms are Lal Lal, Stockyard Hill, Crowlands and Bulgana.
The 'Country of Ballarat and the Central Highlands' joins Iceland, Paraguay, Costa Rica, Norway and Denmark as '100% Renewable' countries.
We have the windfarms all over our pristine countryside. Now we want really cheap electricity (and I mean a lot cheaper) for all households and businesses in the Ballarat and Central Highlands region. We will be producing way in excess of our needs and yet get no benefit at the electricity meter. Why not?
If Ballarat and the Central Highlands got a lot cheaper electricity, then we will see investment and jobs come roaring back into Ballarat and area. It would be a massive boost. It will reduce unemployment, assist with social needs, and set our economy to boom status.
Nick Beale is a transport advocate