The green power is expecting up to believe that solar/ batteries & wind will not only replace the current power stations, it will also cover the Kw hours that fossil fuels are currently required to burn to turn the wheels of industry.
According to the Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics (BREE), Australia's energy consumption has consistently risen over the past ten years at an average annual rate of 1.1 per cent
In 2012–13, the transport sector was Australia's second largest energy consumer (behind the electricity sector), accounting for 26 per cent of all energy consumption or 1545 petajoules of energy.
So in addition to replacing the power stations, we need to have enough solar & wind to charge this virtual power grind as it is not a power producer (just an inefficient way of storing & releasing energy - losing part of the original energy production, then charging & then discharging the batteries. Say 10% all round loss (low ball), then we need another 154 peta joules of energy to cover the vampiric losses.
Say 1700 petajoule PLUS the current production from our coalpower stations..And even now power usage is bouncing off the needle.
Build Nuclear power for the baseload & a lot of the problems go away.
I read that another 90,000 homes in Qld will put us on the wrong side of the graph re meeting our power demand.
