MAN-UP Australia!

Base Load Power Generation

Energy Institute – UK

Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (Nuclear AMRC)

Nuclear

Nuclear power generates electricity without producing greenhouse gases. Our research ensures this can be done safely, securely and sustainably.

At the University of Sheffield we mix academic innovation with industry expertise to help UK manufacturers seize the opportunities of new investment in nuclear power and other innovative energy technologies.

We play a key role in the continuing development of the UK nuclear sector. Developing advanced manufacturing processes for nuclear applications and embedding them in the supply chain is vital to increasing UK manufacturing productivity and reducing risk in the nuclear programme. Our research aims to help UK manufacturers compete globally, increasing high-value jobs, export orders and GDP for the benefit of all.

Why is it important?

  • Nuclear power generates clean electricity without producing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
  • Another advantage is that it is steady and reliable, complementing generation from renewable sources.
  • The UK government has forecast that up to 16GW of the UK’s electricity supply could come from nuclear energy.

Our expertise and activities

  • Our Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (Nuclear AMRC) helps UK companies of all sizes win work in the nuclear sector, through manufacturing innovation and supply chain development. It also provides access to over £35 million worth of production-scale manufacturing equipment, and is part of the UK Government’s High Value Manufacturing Catapult
  • We are supporting UK considerations on Small Modular Reactors (SMRs)
  • We are part of the national training centre for nuclear PhDs, with all projects sponsored by industry
  • Our new £3 million Waste Management and Immobilisation Laboratory (known as MIDAS) is a leading UK centre looking at innovative materials for handling radioactive waste

Detailed research areas

  • Innovative materials to handle radioactive nuclear waste.
  • Waste volume minimisation using advanced fabrication technologies, low temperature routes to immobilisation and novel glass/ceramic compositions.
  • Development of concrete for nuclear reactors.
  • Eco-efficient and low-CO2 cements for infrastructure applications, including geopolymer cements.
  • Deep borehole disposal of radioactive material.
  • Seismic hazard assessment, soil-structure interaction and structural optimisation.
  • Separations and the chemical engineering processes of the nuclear fuel cycle as well as the interaction of ionizing radiation with these processes.

Contact

Get in touch to find out more: energyinstitute@sheffield.ac.uk

 

Hon Chris Bowen MP

Minister for Climate Change and Energy

Dear Chris,

Re: Legitimate and Equally Capable (or better)  Baseload Power Generation other than Coal and Gas

I was going back through some of my previous bits and pieces and came across this paper put together just after Glasgow.

It is a precursor to the current EU and especially UK and Germany disaster going into winter, so I just added – TAKE ONE.

The current power supply debacle is TAKE TWO, as you would have worked out.

May I please ask when the penny might drop, so Australia does not become TAKE THREE.

Surely it is now clear that we must establish, commission and operate legitimate, equally capable and reliable Baseload Power Generation before we smash down anymore Coal and Gas Fired power plants.

Our grandchildren are counting on you.

Regards

Peter Billington

 

“TAKE ONE”

Synopsis of the

Insanity of the Climate Change Cult

The UK hosted the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow on 31 October – 13 November 2021.

Reference article reporting on this fiasco via hyperlink below:

HOME – UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) at the SEC – Glasgow 2021

Uniting the world to tackle climate change.

UFO’s are not believable but this stuff is, well, well, time will tell.

In the meantime, THE SHIP OF FOOLS SAILS ON.

Sadly, those of us with enough brains to see what is REALLY happening, can do little about it, thanks to the useless Media…the same ones that bring us intelligent viewing such as Love Island, The Block, Bachelor, Four Corners, Big brother, Q&A etc.

Those who are not watching the abovementioned crap have their heads down into the I-phone. The Politicians have THEIR heads elsewhere.

Overcast skies force UK to turn on gas and coal for Glasgow

The weather rolled out its own special welcome to the 20,000 or more carbon dioxide-belching, bloviating carpetbaggers, main chancers and assorted climate hysterics flocking by private jet and first and business class into Glasgow.

Right around the British Isles, onshore and offshore, the wind stopped blowing and the sun stopped shining through cloudy and overcast skies. With the Climate Conference in full swing, coming up for midday on Tuesday, the entire British grid was getting just 1200 megawatts of power from wind and zero, zip, not-a-single-watt from embedded roof-top solar.

To keep the lights on at the conference – and the heating, as the temperature struggled up from near-zero – and across Glasgow, and indeed all of Britain, as Boofhead Boris was demanding we all abandon fossil fuels, some 21,000MW was coming in Britain from that CO2-emitting fossil fuel known as gas.

Yes, gas generation was supplying 61 per cent of all of Britain’s electricity. Another 6.5 per cent was coming from burning woodchips – and pumping out more CO2 than comes from coal.

And indeed, most deliciously of all, thanks to the weather, Britain even had to turn some coal-fired generation back on.

Indeed, midday Tuesday, Britain was getting almost as much – nearly 1000MW or about half a Hazelwood or a Liddell – from coal as the 1200MW it was getting from wind.

That’s the coal that our duo of Twittering Twerps, Malcolm Turnbull and Kevin Rudd, were gushingly chortling back in the middle of 2020 would never be turned on again in Britain.

And still it gets turned on, and will continue to be turned on, when the wind don’t blow and the sun don’t shine, at night, or as so often happens, can’t peep through the clouds during the day.

All up, as the Conference warmed up, so to speak, Britain was getting 70 per cent of its power from burning stuff – gas, coal and woodchips – and emitting CO2.

A further 16 per cent was coming from the nuclear power that Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese have joined in an exercise of stunning bipartisan stupidity and national vandalism in refusing to consider for Australia.

Yes, to nuclear submarines, sometime after 2050 if we are lucky, but no to nuclear power. Sheer, unbridled idiocy.

So there was Britain and Boofhead Boris in full global warming ranting against fossil fuels mode, but getting at that very same moment 70 per cent of its power from those demon sources, another 16 per cent from nuclear, and around 7 per cent from its extension cords into Europe and its mostly nuclear and gas power stations.

After the tens of billions of pounds that have been poured into windmills and solar panels, when Britain needed it, just 6.3 per cent was coming from them.

Just 3.4 per cent was from wind and 2.9 per cent from hydro, and as was noted, right in the middle of the day, absolute zero anywhere in the UK from solar.

Are we completely collectively insane? Desperately trying to reinvent the energy wheel and demanding it be square?

Hundreds of billions of dollars around the world have been poured into renewables, and it’s bad enough that the ones that ‘work’- that generate some power, like wind and solar – are so pathetically useless.

But think of all the others that have failed utterly – the rusting ‘wave generators’ scattered around coasts, the thermal ‘hot rocks that were going to power Australia, carbon capture and storage which has captured only dollars.

Now it’s supposed to be – blue and green – hydrogen.

While China just keeps building more – 95 more at the moment – coal-fired stations.

While also making the wind mills and solar panels to sell to us idiots; the 21st century version of Lenin’s rope for hanging us.

Wake up Australia and stop sleep walking headlong into the Climate Change / Nett Zero cult madness / abyss.

To continue closing coal and gas fire BASELOAD POWER GENERATION PLANTS before we have a legitimate and equally capable alternatives, we / Australia is FORSAKING our GRAND CHILDREN.

 

The Hon Anthony Albanese MP  –  Prime Minister

The Hon Richard Donald Marles – Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence

Hon Chris Bowen MP – Minister for Climate Change and Energy

Peter Dutton – Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia

Ted O’Brien MP – Shadow Minister for Energy

Dear Anthony and All others

Re : BASE LOAD POWER GENERATION,

The thrust of the email below sent to  Hon Chris Bowen MP – Minister for Climate Change and Energy on the 22 October 2022 will remain the case in Australia until we embark on a realistic base load power generation capability, as we once had.

Please, please, please understand that any form of power generation that is derived from the WIND and SUN, is intermittent due to the WIND and SUN not being constantly available.(eg:no wind no windmills rotating, no sun at night and cloud / rain days).

Also, the most important factor (FACT) is that batteries cannot generate power, all they can do is store power. Once that power is used the battery is dysfunctional until recharged .

*** Also of some great note is that the majority of all battery recharging is achieved using BASED LOAD GENERATED POWER SUPPLY. ***

Surely all your Government Public Servants, Advisors, Energy Department and so on know what the rest of the world is doing while we continue to destroy, take down and demolish our remaining few BASE LOAD POWER GENERATION FACILITIES.

I have not done the research personally in the following presentation re COIAL FIRED BASE LOAD POWER GENERATION, but know I do not have too as these numbers (or similar) have been document across many years now.

Here’s a small sample of how many coal plants there are in the world today:-

The EU has 468 plants,  building 27 more for a total of 495

Turkey has 56 plants,  building 93 more total – 149

South Africa has 79,  building 24 more total – 103

India has 589 building,  446 more total – 1036

Philippines has 19,  building 60 more total – 79

South Korea has 58,  building 26 more total – 84

Japan has 90,  building 45 more total – 135

AND CHINA has 2363,  building 1171 total – 3534

AUSTRALIA is planning to shut down their remaining 6 plants and save the planet,,,

Go Australia

There is nothing I can add to this list other than to state that it shows that the management and leadership of AUSTRALIA has become dysfunctional and destructive:

 

  • Unprecedented level of arrogance and self-righteousness that we know better than the rest of the world and that will led the way in this net zero mythical world
  • For this situation to have grown within the mindset of all Labor and many Liberal Politicians without the realization that Australia was going down a bottomless hole, is a classical sign that Australian has a DEARTH of LEADERSHIP (ie: no leadership per say)
  • Which is fast leading to the total annihilation of the Australia economy and our capability to provide and care for ourself,
  • The LUCKY COUNTRY is on its knees
  • We need a total collective commitment from all parties and members of Federal Parliament to set about correcting the pathway forward out of this quagmire and back to a stable source of base load power generation.
  • The current energy situation is akin to being at War and must be approached in the same way.
  • Stop the ideologist waffle, come together as a PARLIAMENT, make the decisions, implement the plan and deliver the result.

 

For your information the majority of all Australian have a good understanding of our ridiculous energy situation, amongst many other failings and will reward one and all of you who sets us on the path to recovery of our once great nation.

With kind regards and the expectation that all Federal Parliamentarians will contribute in the immediate discussions and decisions that will initiate the future of Australia.

Peter Billington

 

Oil and Gas – The Real Story

By

 Danica Cullinane

May 2, 2018

Oil is the most traded commodity in the world.

Despite the global push towards renewable energy, oil and gas remain the backbone for fuelling society, with oil still being the world’s most traded commodity. As a result, many ASX listed stocks have continued to search for the commodity.

When thinking about oil, one image that springs to mind is a lowly Texan hillbilly poking a hole in the ground and being sprayed with that tarry “black gold”, instantly striking him rich.

Funnily enough, there is a lot more to oil production these days, but for as long as we need petroleum and gas as energy resources, there are still fortunes to be made.

Discovery of oil is nothing new

According to ancient records, asphalt (a heavy, sulphur-rich oil) was used in the construction of the walls and towers of Babylon four thousand years ago, and oil wells were “drilled” using bamboo poles in China over 1600 years ago, with the oil burned to evaporate brine and produce salt.

In the 19th century, crude oil was refined to make kerosene as the standard fuel for lamps. However, it was the invention of the modern internal combustion engine later in the century that drove oil’s rise in popularity.

In 1886, German engineer Karl Benz began the first commercial production of gasoline-fuelled motor vehicles with an internal combustion engine.

In 1908, Henry Ford’s mass-produced and affordable Model T car was released to the American market and gasoline consumption soared over the twentieth century as car ownership became the standard and not just a luxury item for the wealthy.

Offshore drill rig platform, oil refinery and a pumpjack.

Today, oil and gas have a multitude of uses, from the basic necessities of every day modern life such as cooking appliances, heating and fuel for cars, to running businesses, transportation, manufacturing and other industrial purposes.

Global demand for oil

In its World Energy Outlook released in November 2017, the International Energy Agency predicted four major shifts in the global energy system over the next 20 years.

It forecast renewable energy sources as largely displacing coal and making up about 40% of all energy generation in the world.

However, oil and gas would be the first and second most used fuels in the global mix, with natural gas consumption projected to rise 45% by 2040.

According to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the largest contribution to future energy demand is expected to come from natural gas, with demand projected to rise by nearly 34 million barrels of oil equivalent per day to reach a level of 93MMboed by 2040.

Forecast global gas demand.

In addition, Forbes reported global oil-fuelled car sales were expected to reach 91 million in 2018, versus 73 million in 2010.

So, while there has been a recent social and environmental push away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy sources, with the recent lithium battery boom being one example, oil and gas will continue to have a large grip on the energy demand of the future.

Black gold

There tends to be a lot of overlap with oil and gas, in terms of the different types and where the resources are found, so we’ll start off with a little science lesson explaining what is what.

Oil is made up of a range of liquid hydrocarbons, including conventional crude oil, condensate and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and unconventional shale oil.

Nearly half of the world’s total oil reserves are in the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia being one of the globe’s top three oil producers, alongside Russia and the United States. Venezuela and Canada also hold a large share of oil reserves, with Canada’s mostly oil sands.

According to the Australian Energy Resources Assessment (AERA) report, a national assessment of the country’s energy resources, Australia holds only about 0.2% of the world’s oil reserves and imports the majority of its crude oil and refined petroleum products.

Most of the country’s known remaining oil resources are condensate and LPG associated with giant offshore gas fields in the Browse, Carnarvon and Bonaparte basins, although resources have also been found in the Perth, Canning, Amadeus, Cooper/Eromanga, Bowen/Surat, Otway, Bass and Gippsland basins.

Oil classifications or grades

Crude oil can be classified as light, medium or heavy according to its American Petroleum Institute (API) gravity, which measures a petroleum liquid’s density compared to water.

Light crude oil is measured as having an API gravity higher than 31.1 degrees, with oils between 40 and 45 degrees generally holding the highest value. This is the oil grade for LPG and gasoline.

Medium grade oil (with an API gravity between 22.3 and 31.1 degrees) is consumed in diesel fuel, jet fuel and kerosene, while heavy crude oil (with an API gravity below 22.3 degrees) can go in lower value products like residual fuel oil used to power large ships.

Crude oil can be classified as light, medium or heavy.

This type of oil often contains high concentrations of sulphur and other metals like nickel and vanadium. Bitumen is an example of an extra heavy and dense oil with an API gravity of less than 10 degrees.

Crude oil can also be classified as “sweet” or “sour” depending on its sulphur content, with sweet oil containing lower levels of sulphur and being a higher quality and more valuable product.

Main types of crude oil

The type of crude oil depends on the geographic location of the oil field and the characteristics of the oil itself.

While there are hundreds of types of crude oil traded on the global market, two primary types of crude oil serve as global benchmarks for oil prices: West Texas Intermediate and Brent Crude.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI)

WTI is sourced from US oil fields primarily in Texas, Louisiana and North Dakota.

Referred to as ‘light sweet crude oil’ due to its low density and low sulphur content.

These characteristics make it less expensive to produce and easier to refine than ‘heavy’ or ‘sour’ oils. WTI is the main benchmark for oil consumed in the US.

Brent crude

Brent crude oil arrives for 15 different oil fields located in the North Sea.

It is characterised as a “light and sweet” oil, although is not as ‘sweet’ and ‘light’ as WTI.

What the frack is gas?

Natural gas is a combustible mixture of hydrocarbon gases.

Conventional gas accumulates in a subsurface reservoir that can be readily produced, and fields can be “dry” (almost pure methane) or “wet” (associated with wet gas components such as ethane, butanes and condensate). Conventional gas can also be found with oil in oilfields.

Australia is more reliant on gas, with it being the country’s third largest energy resource after coal and uranium.

Most conventional gas resources can be found off the north-west margin in the Bonaparte, Browse and Carnarvon basins off Western Australia and the Northern Territory, although it has also been found in 11 other basins, both on and offshore.

Unconventional gas occurs in more difficult to extract deposits, such as coal seams or in shales, low quality reservoirs (“tight gas”) or as gas hydrates. As a result, they tend to be more expensive expeditions requiring specialist technology.

Vertical and horizontal drill pathways of conventional versus unconventional gas extraction. Hydraulic fracking is usually carried out in stages along the horizontal borehole.

This gas is generally extracted via hydraulic fracture stimulation or “fracking”, which has caused a bit of a stir around the world due to environmental concerns. The process involves drilling into the ground before a high-pressure water mixture is injected into the rock to fracture it apart, allowing the gas to be released.

One environmental concern is the huge quantity of water that is required, which must also be transported to the fracking site.

According to environmentalists, another is the potential for chemicals used in the water mixture to escape and contaminate nearby groundwater. However, the industry has disputed these claims, saying any pollution incidents were the results of bad practice.

In March last year, Victoria became the first state in Australia to permanently ban onshore unconventional gas exploration and development, including fracking and coal seam gas (CSG). WA is looking to follow suit, having imposed a 12-month moratorium on the extraction method in September.

South Australia adopted a 10-year fracking moratorium in late 2016, but only in the south-east of the state in a region with a large agricultural and cattle grazing sector.

Tasmania also has a moratorium in place on fracking until March 2020, although shale oil and gas exploration is still permitted. Fracking is so far permitted in other states, so long as it adheres to strict rules to minimise environmental impact.

In April, the Northern Territory’s fracking moratorium was lifted under the condition that all 135 recommendations of a recent scientific inquiry would be implemented in full.

These new rules include having environmental management plans signed off by the environmental minister, new requirements prior to exploration and production, and increased criminal penalties for environmental harm.

In Queensland, commercial production of CSG has grown rapidly in the last two decades, mainly driven by the state government’s decision for gas resources to make up at least 13% of all power supplied to the state electricity grid by 2005. The requirement was increased to 15% by 2010 and needs to be at 18% by 2020.

Queensland’s Bowen and Surat basins are the country’s main producers of CSG, but reserves have also been proven in NSW and exploration has been undertaken across WA and SA.

Then there’s liquified natural gas (LNG), which is created by cooling natural gas to -160 degrees Celsius to form a clear, colourless liquid that is 600 times smaller than natural gas and therefore easier to store and transport in specially designed tankers.

The North West Shelf Venture in northern WA first began shipping LNG cargoes in 1989. Since then, other LNG developments have started in WA (Pluto, Gorgon and now Wheatstone) and in Darwin, NT.

Queensland currently hosts three major projects involving the conversion of CSG into LNG for exporting: the Gladstone LNG, Australia Pacific LNG and Queensland Curtis LNG projects.

The US$40 billion Inpex-operated Ichthys project, which involves piping gas from offshore WA fields to a Darwin plant, is due to complete commissioning in the next few months.

In addition, oil and gas supermajor Shell is in the process of starting up its Prelude floating LNG project, located off the coast of Broome in WA.

Prelude is the world’s largest floating natural gas facility ever built and is expected to produce 3.6 million tonnes of LNG and 1.3Mt of condensate per year when in operation.

Oil price drivers

The oil price is predominantly driven by three factors: current supply, future supply and of course, demand.

Over the past decade, the oil price has soared and plummeted amid various economic crises, natural disasters and political movements around the globe.

Historical WTI crude oil price in US dollars.

The commodity reached an all-time high of US$145.31/bbl in July 2008, before plunging down to below US$35/bbl during the Global Financial Crisis later that year.

Between 2010 and 2014, it hovered between US$80/bbl and US$110/bbl, although the price dropped again due to low demand, the impact of the controversial fracking revolution, decisions made by OPEC and other world events.

In late November 2017, OPEC and non-OPEC countries led by Russia reached the decision to extend production cuts until the end of 2018 in order to nudge the price back up and rebalance the market.

This was the first time that Russia was willing to cooperate with OPEC as the country needs oil to sit at least above US$53/bbl for its federal budget to breakeven, according to Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital.

Map of OPEC nations.

Brent crude, one of the global benchmarks for the oil price, is currently sitting at around US$70/bbl but is expected to average US$60/bbl in 2018, according to the median estimate of 27 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg in December.

This has at least satisfied Russia and despite OPEC’s restrictions, the country boosted its oil production to a 30-year-high of 10.97MMbpd in March, according to Russian Energy Ministry data.

However, some other OPEC countries have much higher breakeven prices for their budgets and hence strongly pushed for the output cuts to stay in place.

In Saudi Arabia, officials are wanting oil prices to be closer to US$80/bbl in order to float national oil company Saudi Aramco’s initial public offering on an international stock exchange as well as its domestic exchange, the Tadawul.

The government plans to sell about 5% of the company, hoping to raise US$100 billion in what is likely to be the world’s largest ever IPO – valuing the company at US$2 trillion. However, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister has now hinted in a Bloomberg interview that the IPO would be delayed until 2019.

Saudi Arabia and other OPEC member countries are next due to meet in Vienna this June to discuss a potentially longer extension of supply cuts.

Other factors working to balance the market out and drive the price in an upward trend include escalating tension in the Middle East threatening security supply, and the growth of middle class populations in undeveloped nations.

Australia as a world energy leader

According to a report by energy research group Wood Mackenzie, 2018 will see Australia take the top spot from Qatar as the world leader in LNG production.

This may come as a bit of a surprise since Australian government bodies have been warning of a critical gas supply shortage, particularly due to the declining reserves in Victoria’s Bass Strait after more than 40 years of operation.

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) released a report in September last year that predicted a supply shortfall in the east coast domestic gas market of up to 55 petajoules (PJ) in 2018.

Australian oil and gas locations.

In addition, gas spot prices in some states have more than doubled since 2016, with the ACCC claiming that small businesses and low-income households are being particularly affected.

However, there appears to be no shortage of LNG – the issue is with keeping it on Australian shores.

So, in June last year, the federal government implemented the Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism to limit LNG exports.

In October, the major east coast producers reached agreement with the government, by way of the Australian East Coast Domestic Gas Supply Commitment, to guarantee sufficient natural gas supply to domestic customers to meet the forecasted supply shortfall in 2018 and 2019.

The companies also agreed to sell natural gas produced in excess of contract volumes to the domestic market before selling globally and committed to making gas available to electricity generators during peak periods.

Despite this, the commodity has been predicted to overtake coal as the country’s second largest exported resource from an earnings perspective.

This projection is backed by data from the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science forecasting LNG export earnings will reach A$35 billion between 2018 and 2019 as a result of increases in export levels, particularly due to rising demand from India.

In addition, Australia is expected to become the world’s largest CSG producer, accounting for almost half of international production from 2020 onward.