Queensland Super Grid

I have been procrastinating on writing this particular blog.  The day I first started researching and writing, Queensland Government announced that there were now 12 renewable energy zones. These new zones are nodes where renewable energy projects are now built or on the way and are subsections of the three major Renewable Energy Zones.

The following description of the Queensland Super Grid is basically an excerpt from the PDF published in September last year at https://www.epw.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0030/32988/queensland-supergrid-infrastructure-blueprint.pdf.

The SuperGrid is all of the elements in the electricity system, including the poles, wires, solar, wind and storage that provides Queenslanders with clean, reliable and affordable power for generations.

My first comment on the Queensland Plan is that many critical elements of the plan will need to be replaced before or soon after 2050. Solar systems and wind turbines do not last for generations. Should we all assume that the wind and solar systems will be replaced on the same sites in the future?

Whoops, it seems there may be a problem producing all the materials needed to build the first generation of power systems. https://www.gtk.fi/en/research/time-to-wake-up/

So, developing nations will have no choice other than to use fossil fuels?  Or do we plan to deny them even basic energy requirements to lift them out of poverty?

Another whoops! Can we really attract the level of investment needed to build all the infrastructure needed in Australia?  We need $1.5 trillion in 7 years – Nick Cater has recently questioned this assumption in the Australian newspaper article Renewables vision is blind to the cost of calamity.

The detailed documents about windfarms in Far North Queensland usually state that the sites will be rehabilitated in 25 to 30 years’ time. For example, the huge concrete bases of the wind turbines proposed for Chalumbin will be left on site. Plans for the removal and storage of waste tend to be optimistic, nebulous and assume recycling will occur.

Anyway, here are more excerpts from the SuperGrid plan for Queensland.

Renewable investments: … Given the variable nature and capacity factors of renewable generation, around 25,000 megawatts (MW) of large-scale renewable generation (total) and around 7,000 MW of new rooftop solar generation is required to meet forecast demand in 2035 (without reliance on coal-fired generation). Significant large-scale renewable generation, beyond the 25,000 MW, will be required to support large new loads, including the emergence of an export-scale hydrogen industry or high electrification scenarios….

Storage, firming and dispatchable capacity: Queensland will need at least 6,000 MW of long duration storage …, complemented by approximately 3,000 MW of grid-scale storage and up to 3,000 MW of new low-to-zero emission gas-fuelled plant…The large-scale, long duration assets include pumped hydro energy storage … Borumba…and Pioneer-Burdekin…

Major network transmission and system strength: Queensland’s electricity system will become increasingly decentralised, and the transmission network must evolve to transport renewable energy around the state to when and where it is needed. Four new high-voltage (up to 500kV) backbone transmission projects will be constructed by the mid-2030s…

Phase 1 QREZ development Northern QREZ region The government has invested $40 million (from the $145 million QREZ funding allocation) to upgrade transmission infrastructure between Cairns and Townsville. This investment will provide up to 500 MW of renewable energy connection potential in Far North Queensland. Several investors have shown interest in this area, with the 157 MW Kaban Wind Farm under construction (expected to be operational in 2023).

More than $10 billion has been invested in Queensland renewables since 2015.

Ref: Queensland SuperGrid Infrastructure Blueprint – September 2022

My next blogs will be about low dose radiation.