The wind farms that will power 485,000 South African homes

[K3NS31]

And thats where base load comes in to play, Eskom has sufficient base load from nuclear and coal for the minimum required energy, they need more power during peak so the money for batteries are best invested in power generation during peak rather than storage for off peak

Since nobody really addressed this, just to explain (again):
Recently installed battery "farms" in various places, eg. Australia, have shown that batteries are the best option for peak. NOT Power generation. Batteries have literally killed the gas peaker plant market in Aus.
Many other countries are jumping on the bandwagon. It's cheaper, faster, more stable and cleaner.
Of course we'll follow suit - you're generating "free" energy - it'd be dumb not to store some for use when you really need it.
(Interesting tidbit - apparently Eskom's gas / diesel peaker plants can startup in as little as 5 minutes. The Hornsdale battery in Aus has a sub 1 second response time!!)

 

[Lupus]

Since nobody really addressed this, just to explain (again):
Recently installed battery "farms" in various places, eg. Australia, have shown that batteries are the best option for peak. NOT Power generation. Batteries have literally killed the gas peaker plant market in Aus.
Many other countries are jumping on the bandwagon. It's cheaper, faster, more stable and cleaner.
Of course we'll follow suit - you're generating "free" energy - it'd be dumb not to store some for use when you really need it.
(Interesting tidbit - apparently Eskom's gas / diesel peaker plants can startup in as little as 5 minutes. The Hornsdale battery in Aus has a sub 1 second response time!!)

It's also done in 10 minutes at 70Mw/h or 3 hours at 30Mw/h which is used for load shift. The largest 230Mw in San Diego is done in one hour.
Whereas a OCTG can run longer if necessary.
Though they are aiming at apparently replacing their gas peakers by 2025.

 

[RVQ]

Since nobody really addressed this, just to explain (again):
Recently installed battery "farms" in various places, eg. Australia, have shown that batteries are the best option for peak. NOT Power generation. Batteries have literally killed the gas peaker plant market in Aus.
Many other countries are jumping on the bandwagon. It's cheaper, faster, more stable and cleaner.
Of course we'll follow suit - you're generating "free" energy - it'd be dumb not to store some for use when you really need it.
(Interesting tidbit - apparently Eskom's gas / diesel peaker plants can startup in as little as 5 minutes. The Hornsdale battery in Aus has a sub 1 second response time!!)

And the business case? If its a no brainier why is it not the default Architecture globally?... ROI? Does Eskom pay premium per watt during peak or is a flat rate regardless of the day and time?

Also is it not best to add batteries later when the business case presents itself than include them upfront only to realise they will have a minimal ROI?

 

[K3NS31]

And the business case? If its a no brainier why is it not the default Architecture globally?... ROI? Does Eskom pay premium per watt during peak or is a flat rate regardless of the day and time?

Also is it not best to add batteries later when the business case presents itself than include them upfront only to realise they will have a minimal ROI?

The business case is the reason everyone's jumping on the bandwagon. Recall that many countries (Aus in this case) use private providers to supply electricity.
The company running the Hornsdale Wind/solar farm + batteries has been making a killing since they installed it.
That's why other provinces in Aus are jumping on board and power suppliers all over the world are taking notice. There's a big one going up in California (PG&E), Canada, Dubai that I know of.
I'm sure there are many others.
(As I alluded to above - they reported that they could respond to power drops quicker, stabilise the grid better since the power source is more consistent or something (don't really understand that); and of course it's cheaper over time cos you don't need to buy fuel.)
Because the power supply is measurably more stable and consistent, they're making more money.

 

[RVQ]

Au

The business case is the reason everyone's jumping on the bandwagon. Recall that many countries (Aus in this case) use private providers to supply electricity.
The company running the Hornsdale Wind/solar farm + batteries has been making a killing since they installed it.
That's why other provinces in Aus are jumping on board and power suppliers all over the world are taking notice. There's a big one going up in California (PG&E), Canada, Dubai that I know of.
I'm sure there are many others.
(As I alluded to above - they reported that they could respond to power drops quicker, stabilise the grid better since the power source is more consistent or something (don't really understand that); and of course it's cheaper over time cos you don't need to buy fuel.)
Because the power supply is measurably more stable and consistent, they're making more money.

Aus has time of use tariffs so it would benefit wind and solar farms to store power and sell during peak, Eskom pays IPPs a flat rate per KW

 

[Meister-Man]

Good news, even though it is only 0.005% of SA's requirement.

 

[Sensorei]

Correction, 'The wind farms that could power 485,000 South African homes, but will never be completed due to corruption'

 

[K3NS31]

Au

Aus has time of use tariffs so it would benefit wind and solar farms to store power and sell during peak, Eskom pays IPPs a flat rate per KW

That doesn't change the fundamental business case one bit. Still cheaper to operate a battery based system, and it works better, thus more money to be made.