Australia’s energy system is undergoing its greatest transformation since the 1950s. These changes are driven by economic, engineering and environmental factors. Consumer preferences are also changing, with an increasing desire for independence and control over electricity supply and use. Show The Australian Government is leading a reform program of practical initiatives to improve energy security, reliability and affordability in Australia. Policy directions are being informed by the recommendations in a Blueprint for the Future. See more about what the government is doing in a number of areas including: Where does our energy come from?Most of Australia’s energy relies on traditional sources—non-renewable fossil fuels. Coal and gas account for about 79% of electricity generation. Non-renewable sourcesMost of our electricity is produced from burning black and brown coal at large power stations. Natural gas is the third highest energy source in Australia (after oil and coal). It’s used by power stations for electricity generation, factories for manufacturing, and homes for heating and cooking. It is a non-renewable source that emits around half the emissions of coal when used to generate electricity. Gas used to come from large remote reservoirs, such as the Moomba and Bass Strait gas fields. More recently, coal seam gas comes from Queensland, with untapped reserves in NSW and Victoria. Renewable sourcesRenewable energy from sources like wind, solar and hydro provide about 21% of Australia’s electricity supply. This includes both large generators and small systems owned by Australian families and businesses. As of 31 January 2022, there are over 3 million solar power PV systems and more than 4.4 million small-scale renewable installations in Australia. There were also:
(Source: CER) Today, Australian businesses and householders have more options than ever to supply and manage energy. You might have an electric vehicle powered by the solar PV on your roof, or an in-home display linked to a smart meter that tells you when to reduce your power consumption in response to power prices that change during the day. Battery storage technology to store solar power for use at night is rapidly increasing in popularity. How does energy get to your home or business?ElectricityThe National Electricity Market (NEM) interconnects the 5 eastern and southern states, and the ACT, and delivers around 80% of all electricity in Australia. Western Australia and the Northern Territory are not connected to the NEM, but have their own electricity systems and regulatory arrangements. Large generators (power plants) produce the electricity from an energy source such as coal, wind, solar or hydro. High voltage transmission lines carry the electricity over long distances. Distribution networks then convert the high voltage back to low voltage currents for distribution via the local poles and wires to homes, offices and factories. Many homes have solar PV panels, and some of these have their own battery storage systems. GasGas is sourced from gas fields (oil and gas wells or coal seam wells) and processed to specification, including adding the ‘rotten egg’ odour for safety reasons, and compressing the gas for transport. Some of the gas is used at this stage for gas powered generation (GPG), or stored in large facilities for later use. The rest is sent long distances through large transmission pipes to what is known as a 'city gate'. When the gas runs through the city gate, the pressure is reduced making it suitable for distribution through a smaller network of pipes to homes, offices and small industrial customers. Read moreAustralian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) Australian Government Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) Australian Government Australian Energy Regulator (AER) Australian Government Clean Energy Regulator (CER) Australian Government Inquiry into the prerequisites for nuclear energy in Australia Parliament of Australia Upstream Petroleum Australian Government Vehicles and fuels Official websites use .gov 
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
Energy and the Environment
In this article, we’re going to look at what a Power Plant is, different types, and why automation is important in the Power Plant business. We’ll also answer the question, how does a power plant work? Different Types of Power Plants Based on the Energy Sources In its simplest form, a Power Plant, known also as a Power Station, is an industrial facility used to generate electricity. To generate power, an electrical power plant needs to have an energy source. One source of energy is from the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and natural gas. Then we also have nuclear power, and finally renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, wave and hydroelectric. Originally, the only source of power for industrial power plants was Direct Current, or DC systems, but it wasn’t until Alternating Current, or AC systems were introduced that the power could be carried the distances necessary to be suitable for distribution to the masses. 1. Hydroelectric Power Plants Hydroelectric Power Plants generate power by converting the force of water to turn large generators. Hydroelectric Power Plants fall into three different categories; – Impoundment Power Plants – Diversion Power Plants – Pumped Storage Power Plants 1.1. Impoundment Power Plants An Impoundment facility typically uses a store of river water from a dam in a reservoir. When water is released from the reservoir, it flows through a turbine which generates motion. This turning motion activates a generator to produce electricity. 1.2. Diversion Power Plants A Diversion is fairly similar to an Impoundment facility, but may not need the use of a dam, but works by channeling a portion of a river through a canal or a penstock. 1.3. Pumped Storage Power Plants The last type of Hydroelectric Power Plant is Pumped Storage. Pumped Storage stores its energy by pumping water uphill to a reservoir at a higher elevation. When there is a demand for power, the water is released from the high elevated reservoir into a lower reservoir. This generates electricity when it flows through a turbine generating motion, and electricity. Thermal Power Plants generate electricity by converting heat into electricity, essentially by burning a fuel. Thermal Power Plants fall into two different categories; – Nuclear Power Plants – Coal Power Plants 2.1. Nuclear Power Plants Nuclear power plants use reactors heat to turn water into steam. The steam is then sent through a turbine, which, as we’ve already learned, generates movement of a generator, which in turn generates electricity. A coal power plant works in much the same way, but instead of a nuclear reactor heating water to make steam, the heat from the burning coal powers a steam turbine. The next type of power plant we will look at is a solar power plant. This type of plant uses the suns energy to convert into electricity. This is achieved by using Photovoltaic, or PV panels, made up from a number of semiconductor cells that release electrons when they are warmed by the thermal energy of the sun. Solar energy is one of the cleanest ways of generating electricity. The solar panels get connected to the grid and can be used to supplement a thermal power plant resources. They can be used in domestic environments too, and with the aid of batteries, can reduce households energy consumption drastically, without burning any fossil fuels. Last, but not least, we have Wind Power Plants. Wind Power Plants, or Wind Turbines, get their energy from the wind by connecting a generator to the blades. The rotational movement of the blades caused by the wind, powers a generator. Like solar power, they are a clean source of energy, but require much more hardware to work effectively, and with many more parts, are more likely to fail. Controlling and Monitoring the Power Plants Using Automation Systems Like many things nowadays, Power Plants are controlled using a PLC, Programmable Logic Controller, or DCS, Distributed Control System. The ability for condition monitoring of all the plant items enables us to determine what is running efficiently, and what could fail. This enables us to proactively maintain plant equipment before it fails, rather than reactively fixing broken equipment. From within a control room, a full SCADA, or a Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition system can monitor and control temperatures, speeds of pumps and motors and open and close valves. This can be especially useful in the case of fossil fuel burning plants where the precise control of system devices can increase the plant availability. Availability is the amount of time that the plant is able to produce electricity over a certain period of time, divided by the amount of the time in the period, which is often a Key Performance Indicator, or KPI. This also ensures the most efficient use of the plant which maximizes power generation. By monitoring the demand, and trending at which times of the day the demand is highest, plants can adjust the speed of pumps automatically according to the time of the day, something that wouldn’t be possible without the use of an automation control system. That’s it for this article! I hope you enjoyed learning about the different types of Power Plants, and how we use automation to make them more efficient. Got a friend, client, or colleague who could use some of this information? Please share this article. The RealPars Team |
Do power plants “produce” electricity? why or why not?
zusammenhängende Posts
Urheberrechte © © 2024 wiewird Inc.
