A “battery” doesn’t have to be electrolyte and metals. It can be conversion of water into H2 and O and combination again to create steam for a turbine. There is also use of Natural gas as a storage media for energy, CSIRO in Steel River has a pilot setup. Also Google Hydrogenics.

It isn’t a waste at all, it is a battery. You use excess energy in off peak times or in times of peak solar generation to pump the water up and let it generate when peak load hits. Identical concept to home battery systems like a Tesla, you use both solar and off-peak power to charge the batteries and draw from them in times of peak load and hence peak prices.

In the end we need energy storage and all we currently have is hydro. You need energy to meet the peak demand, and you cannot economically do it with baseload generation as baseload (coal and gas) has to run, if it doesn’t run all the time it is very wasteful and not good for the machinery either. So what you have to do is use excess baseload generation during low use age period to fill the top dams again, identical concept to charging a battery. Solar and win will eventually change this dynamic as there will be excess energy during the middle of the day or when it is windy.
The problem with storage at home like a Tesla is to be really anything like worth it, it has to use off peak grid energy, but if everyone gets a system there won’t be an off peak anymore and thus you have to double your panels and battery size as you only charge the battery once a day (solar) not twice like you can when there is cheap off peak electricity.

You can turn hydro on and off, that is the beauty of it. I think you are missing the point, when you have baseload generation you have to run it, it is economical and detrimental to the station. Remember these are steam turbines and the steam is provided by boilers. Boilers take hours to shut down and startup. So at night when demand is lower than what the baseload stations provide it is stupid and uneconomical not to store that excess power. The alternatives are to have either more baseload generation to cover the peak or have rolling blackouts. Exactly the same as when you have battery storage st home, it would be stupid not to also charge the battery using offpeak grid power, alternative is to double your spend on panels and storage. We have been losing coal stations in Australia (like Munmorah and Vales Point) and these will partially be replaced by solar farms, but the difference is they cannot generate in overcast weather. This is a very simplistic explanation, but basically how it works.

Edited by user Thursday, 12 October 2017 8:39:33 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

True, storage is the key with solar. Without it we always have to have coal, gas or nuclear.
Remember they aren’t talking about making the snowy scheme bigger, just making more of it into a big battery, only Tumut 3 is afaik storage capable at the moment.

Good read HK, Thx....
Thats a big call...Best sports sedan in the world...I bet the Dicks from Top Gear would not agree.