The market is not designed or intended to deliver social equity.
Worth more than a passing comment, knowing the next few decades will see a transition to a near total reliance on electricity for all our needs. The cost of electrical energy will be in every service or product a consumer purchases. More than we might use in running the home or as energy for our daily transport.
One emphasis is on expending the networks - transmission and distribution, (up to 50% of the cost of electricity). The owners of this infrastructure (natural monopolies) will potentially hold great power (no pun intended), influence over consumers daily lives and the cost of living. Some would call this a successful market strategy for the future.
Under laissez faire capitalism no. Some of those who sold off public assets were true believers in that but many were just opportunists who believe in nothing but their own short term advancement. Both are unrepentant.
Winding back the failed rules of price setting that will be defended to the death by the energy companies or a buy back. The first will be very difficult and the second impossible politically.
“So first you tell us privatisation would make everything better and instead it cost us a bomb. Now you want to reverse that and spend a humongous amount of public money: in your dreams.”
One is left to wonder whether the experts at the table have been thinking clearly about the consequences of the choices made.
Why is there an argument against the AEMO and Vic Govt plan?
“The only big winner is the developer and owner of the transmission infrastructure, who gets a regulated charge for the assets that they’ll build. Everyone else is paying a price. And that is surely not acceptable.”
The Victoria Energy Policy Centre’s report also argues AEMO’s Extended VNI West Plan won’t do enough to help Victoria reach its target of 95 per cent renewable energy generation by 2035.
It’s partly a debate about greater reliance on large scale centralised generation and storage vs increased decentralisation of capacity. The second and alternate strategy requires less augmentation of the transmission network. It’s a less profitable outcome for the transmission network owners.
Are there any batteries for solar panels that we should be careful about. If they start a fire in the Scooters and maybe some cars are the batteries for solar panels likely to strat a fire?
There’s a proposed compulsory recall on “LG Home Energy Storage System Batteries manufactured by LG Energy Solution Ltd (LGES) containing cells manufactured between 21 January 2016 and 30 June 2019 and supplied in Australia for personal, domestic or household use”, which have been responsible for a number of fires.
Also check the ACCC Recalls website for any other recalls that might be relevant for you.
EV batteries are rarely involved in fires. See
The batteries most likely to burn are those in small mobility devices such as escooters, largely because of incorrect charging / handling. For more details, see the discussion
Lithium batteries are produced using several different chemistries (technology).
LFP or Lithium Ferrous (Iron) Phosphate batteries are significantly lower risk.
Many mobile devices including E-scooters use rechargeable batteries with NMC (Nickel Metal Cobalt) ot similar chemistry. These types of cells are more prone to thermal run away and fires if charged incorrectly or when damaged.
Australian Standards and statutory regulations restrict where BESS (home Battery Energy Storage Systems) can be located to minimise fire risk.
And a lot of EV and home batteries are now Lithium Ferrous Phosphate (aka LFP) rather than Lithium ion (Li-ion).
As far as I can tell, the LG ESS home batteries that are being recalled are Li-ion. Also, the long and informative Renew article you cited mentions that LG had a very major international recall of EV batteries a while back because poor (or lack of) quality control on battery manufacture led to defects that caused EV fires. This was particularly alarming, because LG has been a major player in the Li-ion battery field all along, and until then had a good solid reputation.
It’s important to clarify some of the terminology. Lithium ion battery technology - shortened to Li-ion refers to any type of storage battery which uses lithium chemistry. The LG RESU home storage batteries use lithium NMC type battery cells. LFP battery cells are also a type of Li-ion.
The different types include:
NMC - lithium nickel metal cobalt oxide (very common including most Tesla vehicles and storage battery products). Note they don’t use the “L” possibly because there was originally no need to distinguish the type.
LFP - lithium iron phosphate (increasingly common as it is lower cost)
NCA, and others.
Refer to the table following for a more complete list of those with lithium positive electrode chemistry.
Technically true, and I acknowledge the ambiguity in how I used the term.
In everyday use, though, the term “Li-ion” is more often used to mean the ‘traditional’ types of Li-ion battery used in phones, older EVs, etc, than the general technology. In articles explaining the difference between the other types of Li-ion and LFP, I’ve even seen statements like “LFP is a type of Li-ion” followed by “the difference between Li-ion and LFP is …”!!
Solid-state electrolyte would bring a big improvement in energy capacity, charging rate, and safety for all types of Li-ion batteries. It’s been a difficult ask, but now a lot of major companies including Samsung, BYD, CATL, and car manufacturers like Toyota and Honda, are planning to have it in production in the next 3-5 years:
LONDON, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Solid-state batteries hold the promise of more energy storage, longer driving ranges and faster charging for next-generation electric vehicles. Yet despite decades of research and billions of dollars invested, their future still looks elusive.
Sodium-ion batteries are now being used in some low-end EVs. The advantages over Lithium-ion are lower cost, better low-temperature performance, and many more charging cycles, but they’re heavier than Li-ion for the same energy storage.
There are a lot of other battery technologies under development that sound interesting - Zinc-air, for example. Many of these would be safer, cheaper, and more ecologically friendly than Lithium-based batteries.
Whether they ever make it to production is another matter.
That’s because it is and we would be remiss in suggesting any other way to describe the different types of lithium ion batteries, other than by the industry recognised types.
The lithium batteries most commonly used on mobile phones and devices are not the same as those used in EV’s. They use a lithium ion polymer construction. There are several chemistry variations. It is very different to the cylindrical construction of the cells used in an EV battery pack.
Would it be more correct to suggest, in everyday use many consumers do not observe or know there are different types of a lithium ion batteries?
I’ll end with some further educational material for consumers looking to know more. It’s an interesting discussion. Albeit one that as consumers we have little control over. Scientific endeavour, economic opportunity and political ignorance all need to be factored in.
