Phil Kreveld

1 week ago | esdnews.com.au | Phil Kreveld |Nadia Howland

By Phil KreveldThe question posed by moderator David Speers on the ABC political leaders debate of 16 April, as to when power prices might come down, was always going to embarrass both sides of the political divide. Governments gave the game away when they cleaned up their liabilities by selling off electricity assets. The Hilmer Review in 1993 on competition couldn’t in the long run do much about electrical energy pricing by the private sector. And therein lies the minefield for politicians.

1 month ago | esdnews.com.au | Phil Kreveld |Nadia Howland

By Phil KreveldRecasting the 1977 Mel Brooks film featuring the Institute for the Very, Very Nervous. The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) is very, very nervous—and understandably so, because everyone outside the organisation assumes that it has a tight grip on the renewable transition. Arrythmia, fibrillation, and cardiac failure in the national electricity grid’s ‘electricity heartbeat’ as referred in AEMO’s draft draft Integrated Systems Plan is the cause for its anxiety.

1 month ago | esdnews.com.au | Phil Kreveld |Nadia Howland

By Phil KreveldAn about-face is urgently needed in which system engineering takes absolute priority, and the development of markets is based on system engineering outcomes. The latest wrinkle in electricity market design, as headed by Dr Tim Nelson, invites yet another appraisal of the physical state of the national electricity systems. Why the interest in the physical? Well, if it breaks, we’re all in trouble, even if we have ‘you-beaut’ markets!Let’s forget about CO2 emission.

1 month ago | esdnews.com.au | Phil Kreveld |Nadia Howland

By Phil KreveldGetting entangled in climate change arguments is of little value, it being the territory for climate scientists, but let’s assume that heading to zero carbon emissions is a worthy goal. Prof Pietro Altermatt, principal scientist of Trinasolar, one of the biggest global solar panel manufacturers, opened his public lecture at Melbourne University’s Melbourne Energy Institute, with the statement that the zero-emission target for 2050 is a cop out.