Western Australia & Northern Territory

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.  With ultra large diameter pipelines we can efficiently move water over thousands of kilometres.

Western Australia has no hydroelectric recharge pumping capacity whatsoever, and on the face of it many would believe there is simply no prospect that it could ever have some, but is this true or is it simply a case of no imagination?

To electrify the mining industry and switch off its peaking power plants, Western Australia must acquire hydroelectric recharge pumping capacity - and a lot of it.  We have found a path which the State can take to do this with ease - seawater hydroelectric recharge pumping.  All that has been lacking is the breakthrough idea of situating dams above the cliffs along select areas of its coastline, and the use of saltwater pumped up from the sea as the energy storage medium.  With these dams in place, the State could close down all of its conventional power plants and, peaking power facilities within 15 -25 years.  It could install wind farms, tidal generation and solar - both photovoltaic and thermal, and have these producers store their energies in seawater lifted from the sea into these new seawater dams.

We believe that Western Australia should build a set of ultra high density DC links around its coastline to bring these producers and, storage facilities into its grid, such that there is at least one DC link running from north to south through its inland regions, so that mining facilities can access the power they need to displace the diesel powered machinery they currently use.  A further DC link extending east to west should be installed between Perth and Kalgoorlie.

The world is prepared to pay for ore produced with green energy, and the mining industry it seems will in the near future have to offset its greenhouse debts.  It is time to reach out into the tomorrow we must have and seize this moment to electrify our mining industry, and at the same time add another layer to the economic robustness and sophistication of our nation.  With electrification, the mining industry can transform itself and its profits, by value adding to their products before shipment, and reduce the shipping costs and energy consumed by same in the export of its products.

In the image below you will notice a pink line extending from Whyalla right through to Margaret River.  You will also notice a pink line extending from Esperance through to Broome, and from there to Darwin.  These pink lines represent pathways we have mapped for ultra high density DC links along which green energy can be transmitted with far less loss than is the case with AC power transmission systems.  What is more, problems to do with transmission frequencies which exist in AC systems are overcome.

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.  Along the northern and southern coasts are significant tidal and wind resources which are variable in nature, and for these productions to be integrated into the grid with true base load certainty, they need to be backed up by a set of super massive batteries - that is, seawater hydroelectric recharge pumping installations.  From there, their productions can be released at call into the DC links and brought into the AC systems of South Australia and Western Australia.

The mining industry is energy intensive and mining companies are desperate to off-set their carbon debts.

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 these 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 almost straight line to Port Headland with a 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.

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.

Ningaloo Defense Reserve

There is no end to potential sites suitable for the construction of Seahydro installations in Western Australia.

Lake Argyle

There is a growing push to increase agricultural production in the top end and in northern Western Australia.  If this reasoning is to move past a dreamy concept, there will need be a massive up-scaling of power production to meet the requesite influx of industries and communities.  Australia is experiencing a once in a lifetime boom in mining exports, and yet has done nothing much by way of installation of new infrastructure, besides a few rail-lines and the upgrading of a number of ports.  We have the chance now to have the world pay for the construction of our national electricity grid, and a complete makeover of the technological base of the mining industry.  Let's seize the moment, and put in place the foundations our nation can build upon for the next two centuries.  Lake Argyle can be brought into this new electricity grid and play a significant role in the electrification of the mining industry.

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.