South Australia

Australians know their country is rightly counted in the first rank of technological capability. We are world leaders in a large number of industries and our ideas have shaped the world. We have overcome great difficulties to become one of the principal suppliers of food to the entire world but now we must face and overcome the huge challenge of climate change which threatens to throw us, our unique environment and agricultural production capabilities into an endless series of droughts. To overcome this life threatening/altering challenge, we must act now to provide sufficient hydroelectric recharge pumping facilities to underpin the green energy production future. One of the main components we lack in our ability to meet the challenges ahead is an Australian pipe manufacturer with the installed capability to produce ultra large diameter pipes. There are a number of ultra large diameter pipe manufacturers around the world, and we must either invite them in to set up shop or develop technology of our own. We can no longer be constrained by the local pipe manufacturing industrys’ technological deficiencies. With ultra large diameter pipelines we can efficiently move water over thousands of kilometres.

The Blue Gates

The mouth of the Murray is kept open by freshwater but this need not always be so:

Outflow from the mouth is currently controlled by a system of barrages which maintain a weir type wall between Lake Alexandrina and the Southern Ocean.

Lake Alexandrina is very much a man-made phenomena which at times functioned as a tidal lagoon. Its nominal surface area is approx. 900km2 and its depth less than 2m. It is currently reduced to about 60% is usual dimensions due to severely reduced flow from the Murray.

The evaporation rate is 1000mm p.a. or more equating to losses of at least 900 GL p.a. for Alexandrina let alone another 400 GL for Lake Albert.

Why doesn’t the Nation and the South Australian Government build a set of Blue Gates north of the existing barrages to reduce the surface area of Alexandrina by 20% in order to liberate 180gL of freshwater from the ravages of evaporation? With a 20% reduction in surface area the extra 180 GL available would have kept Alexandrina from drying out the way she has and the current heavy metals problems avoided.

The Blue Gates would extend between Point Sturt and Point Macleay and being placed in this manner used to trap saltwater at high tide in the volume laying between them and a modified version of the existing barrages, which can then be released at low tide to outflow with the vigour required to scour the mouth of the Murray clean.

The Blue Gates are formed of a concrete curtain wall founded in the floor of Lake Alexandrina. Their height is adapted to be adjustable to match that needed to function at various flow rates and heights. The existing barrages require minor alterations to allow them to become height and flow adjustable, so as to follow the seasons’ tides as required and to work in co-ordination with the Blue Gates. Using the Blue Gates would provide more freshwater for environmental discharges and the tools needed to better manage the entire estuary including the Coorong.

The Coorong suffers from man-made hyper-salinity and, so much so, its natural estuarine function has been damaged such that it is no longer the haven of minnows it once was but rather a sterile stretch a hundred kilometres in length. The Lower Murray Lakes, including the Coorong, Lake Alexandrina and Lake Albert have been designated protected wetlands under Ramsar covenants but the classification was obtained in error as what is now being protected is a man-made disaster zone from intelligent intervention.

With the out-rush of water provided by the installation of the Blue Gates the Coorong would be gradually cleansed of its hyper saline contents and an important wetland and estuarine system restored.

The volume trapped between the Blue Gates and the existing barrages would function as an estuary and certain areas within it could be cordoned off as managed breeder pools.

There is no justification for desalination in S.A. when it sits back and allows 180gL p.a. of freshwater to be evaporated away for nothing. The Blue Gates would cost no more than $300mn to install and be operational within 2 years. We believe the State should harvest water off Alexandrina in high river flow years and store same in a new set of dams laying south west of the lower lakes. There are years when thousands of GL’s are let flow into the sea and this should be moderated by off taking the larger portion and storing it in Lakes Aurora and Borealis. These dams can then be used to supply environmental flows into the Coorong side of the estuary.

Lake Borealis and Lake Aurora

The extra freshwater available from the construction of the Blue Gates could be pumped off into a new set of dams we have called Lake Aurora and Lake Borealis which are very big dams together holding approx. 4000gL.

Lake Aurora is a low height dam and the cost of pumping water from Alexandrina is low. The idea is to pump water from Alexandrina into Aurora using off peak energy, and then from Aurora pumping further uphill into Borealis. With water trapped in Borealis, a hydroelectric recharge pump system is in place, and from that moment on, the energy needed to decant excess water from Alexandrina can be produced from water released down from Borealis into Aurora. Of course at this juncture Lake Alexandrina is in disarray but if the nation takes the steps we have outlined in this website Alexandrina will be a different animal. South Australia does not have any hydroelectric recharge pumping capacity whatsoever, and to rein in its vast carbon footprint it desperately needs to bring some of this technology online to provide the battery service it needs to store its often off-peak green energy production, and to soak up supply overshoots with its fossil burning power plants. By pumping water uphill from Aurora into Borealis in off peak times, and then letting a portion of it fall once again into Aurora, the power to drive the pumping system for the decanting of water from Alexandrina can be produced, and given Borealis's height relative to Adelaide, water can be transferred into the citys' water supply and lower holdings at no pumping cost, because gravity alone can drive the water to where it is required. When the Murray is in flood, water trapped in Borealis can be constantly allowed to fall into Aurora, to drive the pumping and pipeline system between Alexandrina at full throttle, to maximise the amount of water transferred into Aurora. The Myponga Reservoir would service as an additional hydroelectric recharge pumping facility to add further energy to the supply if required, and also to provide a secure water supply for the westward side of the promontory and the townships along its coastline. With Lakes Aurora and Borealis filled, the idea is to move as much water from Aurora into the holding facilities skirting the eastern flanks of Adelaide so that hydroelectric recharge pumping systems situated there can then lift the water into long term Strategic Reserve Dams high in the Adelaide Hills. Together with the Super-Lock, South Australia could have all the water it needs to desalt its agricultural lands and bring the whole State to flower. With 15% total storage capacity for its electricity grid it could easily decommission all of its fossil burning and peaking power plants. There is no need whatsoever for the proposed nuclear power plants with some decent new dams in place and the Blue Gates. It is time for the people and industries of South Australia to understand just how precious the massive floods are that sweep down the Murray from time to time, and do something with them rather than see them as a curse.

Super Lock

A nation of drought and flooding rains finds itself water short. But,…..:

A 20,000 gL flood spills from the Murray mouth every decade or two and all we hear is of its victims.

Why doesn't the Nation invest in a Super-Lock overlaying current Lock 1 near Murray Bridge to motor off half the volume to a set of new dams in the Adelaide hills?

The Super-Lock would raise flood levels upstream by 5-8m whilst in operation but it would also flush the salt from the lands surface and provide beneficial flooding.

The new dams need not be constructed across significant streams as they would have no need of a catchment in order they be filled.

Evaporation rates may exceed 1000mm per year but for a 300m deep dam the loss rate is only equivalent to 0.3% p.a.

Adelaide consumes a few hundred gL's per year and with a Super-Lock and dam system in place they would have at their disposal 15 to 20 years supply.

S.A. has no hydroelectric capacity what so ever, but it does already have dams proximate to each other yet separated by significant elevation. If it were to link the current dams in a piped hydraulic circuit combined with a hydroelectric system it would easily have hydroelectric capacity in the form of recharge pumping wherein excess and off-peak electricity is used to motor water uphill to be stored for release on demand to a lower dam in the hydraulic circuit to drive hydroelectric turbines.

By storing energy uphill in this way, the State would have no need of fuel hungry peaking power plants and it would have at the ready all the energy required to motor flood water off the Murray.

Recharge pumping is the most efficient form of battery known to man which can hold such vast volumes of energy with loss rates for the entire transaction (uphill and then back down) being less than 20%. With recharge pumping, green energy producers would have the battery service they need to raise their production capacity to true base load certainty, as they would have the means to store what they cannot sell for a fair price due to the vagaries of the wind, tides, and sunlight.

The Super-Lock is one of the key components needed to be rid of water shortage, high greenhouse gas emissions and electrical brown outs in S.A.

With the Super-Lock in place and a flood in progress, water is motored off into the low walled dam of the Black Hill Ponds having a water depth of 70m and a wall height of 90m. The water is then moved uphill into dams situated around the back of Palmer township. The set of eastern dams (Black Hill Ponds, Palmer, Bonython and Tepko) can hold upwards of 2500gL's. The idea being to use hydroelectric recharge pumping capacity to provide the energy needed to motor off the floodwaters in the Murray and to move it up into the Adelaide Hills. With this means, upwards of 5000-7000gL's could be motored off within 3 weeks, and stored against the dry in very deep low surface area dams behind Adelaide. Lake Aurora and Borealis can prime the hydroelectric potential of the new dams we have designed into the Hills, so that when the Murray is in flood there is enough energy at hand to drive the massive pump system needed to decant 5000gL's and lift it into the western dams in the short time period available. From that point onwards, a more relaxed approach can be taken and the remaining waters still held in the Black Hills Ponds and the lower western dams can be moved uphill over several months.

Lake Katharina

There are quite a number of landforms along the Spencer Gulf which would be suitable for the construction of Seahydro dams which utilise sea water as the fluid medium of a set hydroelectric recharge pumping installations we have designed to provide the battery service required to raise the State’s green energy production to true base load certainty. The fact is with salt water Seahydro installations in place, the basic components of desalination are in place - namely - saltwater at pressure, and with this all that is required is a filtration facility the Seahydro installation can also be utilised to provide desalinated water. There is a coal fired power station at Port Augusta which is inefficient because there is no way for it to store its energy production overshoots and with Seahydro this problem is easily overcome. The State of South Australia really should be looking to Seahydro instead of the current desalination option they have on the table. There is absolutely no need whatsoever for Adelaide to have a desalination plant in the first place, but there are a number of locales around its western coast which have need of desalination technology. This need is best met by Seahydro desalination.

Electrified Mining

The Great Australian Bight is an ideal place for the installation of Seahydro recharge pumping installations needed for the mass electrification of the mining industry.

The mining industry is energy intensive, and mining companies are desperate to off-set their carbon debts. Is there anything the nation can do to help meet these challenges?

Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory have no installed hydroelectric capacity of any form but, is it a case of no water or of no imagination? All three have large wind, solar and tidal energy resources and yet cannot find a pathway to truly integrate those productions into their respective grids with the base load certainty required for industry, and mining in particular.

The only way this may be done is with hydroelectric recharge pumping providing the battery service required to store vast quantities of energy from green energy production. Hydroelectric recharge pumping is a mass energy storage system long used across the world to meet demand spikes and store excess electricity for latter use. The basic idea is to pump water uphill into a reservoir from which it can be released at call to produce +80% of the energy used in the lift.

The water needed for this can come from the sea if a number of new dams are constructed along their coastlines. The new dams would be non-catchmented in that there would be no need to harness a stream with which to fill them. There are over 100 suitable sites we have identified at sufficient elevation along their coastlines where new dams could be built, an elevation of 100 metres being quite sufficient for hydroelectric pumped storage to operate near maximum efficiency.

There is a growing build on the cost of carbon and the worlds’ consumers must foot the bill. The mining industry is constrained by the limits of diesel powered machines which must trudge the pit walls. It would be far cheaper and environmentally sound to install electric lifts and digging machines than continue to mine the old fashioned way. With electrification comes economic opportunity for we can value add to our mines products before they are shipped away.

We need to electrify the mining industry and we need to begin doing it now. With saltwater hydroelectric pumped storage providing the means with which to raise green energy production to base load certainty, a major challenge of electrification is met with ease. In combination with a high density DC link, energy produced 2500kms from its eventual consumer can be transferred at the same loss rate of an AC system supplying over a distance a fraction in its length.

With a DC link extending from Adelaide to Esperance and from there in a straight line to Port Headland with links extending from Wiluna to Geraldton and to Telfer the entire middle and western inlands of the continent could be supplied with cheap clean energy. A national grid would emerge providing true energy security and increased industrial competitiveness to this important foundational industry. All that need happen is that the Ministers of Governments become aware of the true nature of the options they already have - saltwater and 100m or more of elevation.

The pink line represents a path surveyed to allow for the construction of a ultra high density DC link which can be used to transmit energy created at the coastal regions of S.A., W.A. and the Northern Territory.

SeaHYDRO - Great Australian Bight

With saltwater dams in place along the coastlines at select sites, freshwater can be created by using the head pressure of the saltwater in the dams to drive the water through filtration membranes as is the case with conventional desalination. This freshwater can be used by coastal communities and, also in many sites given the elevation of the dams, the water can be flowed inland through pipelines to the mining industry using gravity alone.

Recharge Hydro

Hydro electric recharge pumping is a form of a super massive battery which relies of the weight of water in gravity. A hydroelectric recharge pumping facility includes a upper reservoir and a lower reservoir linked together by a pipeline including a turbine which can also if spun in the opposite direction act as a pump. The idea being to pump water uphill from the lower reservoir to the higher reservoir using cheap off-peak energy and where it is then stored for release on demand down the pipeline to drive the turbine and thus produce electricity. The effort is not 100% efficient of course as there are losses associated with friction forces and other factors but these losses are not so large as to be a game breaker as they can be contained to under 20% with relative ease. This means that a battery of +80% efficiency is created and the fact is there is no other battery known to man of the scale achievable with hydroelectric recharge pumping. These are batteries we can build which will last hundreds of years and which can be called into play in times of disaster and dire need.