To say that a problem is a challenge wearing a hi-vis vest
maybe glib, but it does contain an element of truth. One that our governments,
both state and federal, would be well advised to investigate as they
contemplate the infrastructure needs arising from our spate of climate fires.
At 19,000 and counting, bushfire damaged and destroyed power
poles are starting to litter the affected areas of NSW countryside. About which
the state government owned electric power distributor, Essential Energy has
said “it was looking at replacing destroyed power poles with composite poles,
which could withstand high temperatures, and employ other new technology to
improve its network.”
Then there is the reputation these necklaces that stretch
from town to town are gaining for the part they play in generating bushfires.
As reported by the American Electrical
Contractor magazine “During the summer of 2018, the Department (California
Department of Forestry and Fire Protection) reported at least 17 more major
wildfires that were triggered by power lines.”
In the West examples are emerging of these other new
technologies that should become the replacement for the poles and wires that
decorate our highways and byways. Utilising solar, batteries and generators,
Western Power, the Western Australian State Government owned electrical
distribution corporation has started creating micro electrical grids. A 2016
trial of six stand-alone power systems on remote farms in the state’s southwest
region has grown to 57 such installations today. And the corporation is currently
trialling community sized batteries in a metropolitan setting in Perth’s
southern suburb of Mandurah.
Meanwhile further up the coast, 10 hours’ drive from Perth,
is Denham, the tourist town and administrative centre for the Shire of Shark
Bay. Horizon Power, the State Governments regional electrical power enterprise,
is installing a 500w solar farm to power a hydrogen electrolyser to back up the
four wind turbines that currently supply 60% of the town’s electricity. It is hoped that this micro power grid will
replace the town’s old diesel generators and supply all the town’s electrical
needs.
And in the last six years over three million solar-battery
storage systems, that have had a positive effect on 16 million people, have
been installed in rural Bangladesh. A pioneer in the micro finance movement,
micro solar systems are a natural fit. And the combination of these two systems
has seen the creation of nano and micro grids. Utilising peer-2-peer networks
Bangladeshis trade electricity, each according to their needs.
With these baby steps in the First world and toddling ones
in the Third, one cannot help but wonder what our Federal Government is
thinking. Encouraging investment in coal assets will see them become at best
stranded, as feared by the ANZ bank amongst others, or at worst a major
contributor in our impending suicide. And the high temperature resistant composite
power poles are just a continuation of the short sighted, business as usual mindset
that saw firefighting experts ignored by the Federal Government.
One can only hope that NSW will in its turn ignore their big
brother and embrace the adoption of the small-scale other technology that
improves its network rather than more of the same poles and wires technology fed
by fossil fuel behemoths.
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