1102 replies to this topic

[Mike K.]

Interesting!

[Victoria Watcher]

The best thing about that guy is he doesn't really look like a rough DIY or survivalist guy.  I think he has an engineering background.  His video of the excavator he bought is pretty good too!

 

 

https://bullsroar.me...e-you-win-some/

 

 

I really enjoy the time at the computer, though. There’s a guy in New Hampshire, USA, called Waldo, who runs a Youtube channel called Waldo’s World. Although his day job is as a computer specialist (programming, mainly), he dovotes all his spare time buying and fixing cars, tractors, trucks and earth moving equipment on his enormous block on the woods.

 

He seems to be completely self taught in all his wrenching and mechanic work, and he also makes things in steel, ranging from a broken part for a car, to making a ginormous gooseneck trailer.

 

He’s a self taught welder and it’s fascinating to see how he develops and welds bits together. It’s inspiring.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 04 October 2024 - 04:37 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

I Bought an 80,000 lb Excavator for ONLY $7,500! What Could Possibly go Wrong?

 

https://youtu.be/nHv...Yv64SLqD-NzZM9Y

[Mike K.]

Yes, I’ve seen his car repair videos before, he’s good!

I can’t watch the preppers. Too much hysteria.

[Victoria Watcher]

I Bought an 80,000 lb Excavator for ONLY $7,500! What Could Possibly go Wrong?

 

https://youtu.be/nHv...Yv64SLqD-NzZM9Y

 

 

The oil change here is pretty funny.

[Ismo07]

Is this the way?  Smaller nuclear plants?

 

Google turns to nuclear to power AI data centres (bbc.com)

[LJ]

^Yes.

[Victoria Watcher]

A surge in rooftop solar output has propelled the share of renewables output on Australia’s main grid to a record high of 75.2 per cent, and sent the share of coal and operating demand levels down to record lows.

 

The new milestone was reached on Sunday at 11.15 (AEST) when the share of renewables past 75 per cent for the first time in a five minute trading period, beating the previous peak of 74.4 per cent set just 14 days earlier.

 

The biggest contributor was the output of the more than 21 gigawatts (GW) of solar panels mounted on rooftops across the main grid, with rooftop PV also setting a new record share of 52 per cent, up from 50.4 per cent that it set a week earlier.

 

 

https://reneweconomy...-to-record-lows

[max.bravo]

It's been discussed before how intermittent energy sources (like renewables) need to be complemented by energy storage systems (like batteries). 

 

We should build a few of these around the province. https://en.wikipedia...c_Power_Station

 

The Taum Sauk pumped storage plant is a power station in the St. Francois mountain region of Missouri.

...It began operation in 1963. Electrical generators are turned by water flowing from a reservoir on top of Proffit Mountain into a lower reservoir on the East Fork of the Black River. At night, excess electricity on the power grid is used to pump water back to the mountaintop.

The Taum Sauk plant is an open-loop pure pumped operation: unlike some other pumped storage sites, there is no natural primary flow into the upper reservoir available for generation. It is therefore a net consumer of electricity; the laws of thermodynamics dictate that more power is used to pump the water up the mountain than is generated when it comes down. However, the plant is still economical to operate because the upper reservoir is refilled at night, when the electrical generation system is running at low-cost baseline capacity. This ability to store huge amounts of energy led its operator to call Taum Sauk "the biggest battery that we have".^[9] An unusual feature is the upper reservoir which is constructed on a flat surface, requiring a dam around the entire perimeter.

Here's a cool video about the catastrophic failure of the dam: https://www.youtube....h?v=zRM2AnwNY20

Edited by max.bravo, 21 October 2024 - 06:37 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Tesla Energy is living up to Elon Musk’s expectations. The company’s energy division reported a record gross margin of 30.5% for Q3 2024. 

 

Tesla’s energy business reached a record gross margin with a sequential increase of 596 bps despite lower Megapack volumes. 

 

In its Q3 2024 Update letter, Tesla reported that its Megafactory in Lathrop produced 200 Megapacks per week.

 

The Lathrop Megafactory has an annual run rate of 40 GWh. Tesla has another Megafactory in China, set to start Megapack shipments by Q1 2025. The Shanghai Megafactory will begin with a 20 GWh run rate.

 

 

https://www.teslarat...margin-q3-2024/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 24 October 2024 - 03:19 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

[dasmo]

That’s where solar belongs. Not cutting down the forest to build a farm.

[max.bravo]

And it’s only going to get better as they bring new solar cladding & roofing products to market, and prices for PV modules keeps dropping. Solar makes sense.

Edited by max.bravo, 12 November 2024 - 08:05 AM.

[max.bravo]

We need better energy storage solutions though. Lithium ion batteries are not good enough. They lose capacity too quickly and they are still very expensive.

I like the idea of using excess daytime solar energy to pump water uphill into a reservoir. Then you can just open the floodgates and create electricity at night. That’s a much cleaner way to store energy.

[dasmo]

We need better energy storage solutions though. Lithium ion batteries are not good enough. They lose capacity too quickly and they are still very expensive.

I like the idea of using excess daytime solar energy to pump water uphill into a reservoir. Then you can just open the floodgates and create electricity at night. That’s a much cleaner way to store energy.

Doesn't need to be water. Mechanical storage in this case is an interesting idea since it doesn't need to be portable. Don't know how ridiculous it is but I supported this Kickstarter way back...  https://www.engineer...ology-improves/

[Matt R.]

Like a cuckoo clock. Cool idea.

[max.bravo]

That’s a super cool idea. Would be great for camping.

Solar hydrogen panels are a contender for a possible future game changer imo. https://en.m.wikiped...and water vapor.

[Mike K.]

Can’t we just use waves and tidal energy for unlimited 24/7 power generation?

[Victoria Watcher]

Australian wind and solar project sized at remarkable 70 gigawatts – as big as the country’s main grid

 

 

 

The world’s biggest wind and solar project, planned for a remote desert region in south-east of Western Australia, has lodged its application for state environmental approvals with an upgraded target of a mind-boggling 70 gigawatts of wind and solar capacity – as big as the country’s main grid.

 

The Western Green Energy Hub envisages up to 3,000 wind turbines – some of them potentially sized at up to 20 megawatts each – and six million solar panels installed across 2.29 million hectares of pastoral leases and crown lands.

 

It will stretch hundreds of kilometres from north-west of Eucla, near the state border with South Australia, towards Cocklebiddy and north of the Eyre Highway to south of the Trans Australian Railway. It will be built in stages over 30 years and aims to produce 3.5 million tonnes of green hydrogen a year.

 

 

https://reneweconomy...try's main grid.

 

 

 

 

 

https://en.wikipedia...reen_Energy_Hub

 

It will be estimated to cost $100 billion AUD in construction and be one of the largest energy infrastructure projects in the world.

 

It is proposed to be built on a site area of 15,000 km2 in Dundas Shire, South-East Western Australia, on traditional Mirning land on the Great Australian Bight near Eucla, extending towards the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, taking advantage of the area's immense wind and solar energy potential with optimal diurnal profile and an estimated 70% utilisation factor.

 

The Western Green Energy Hub will produce 3.5 million tonnes of green hydrogen, or 20 million tonnes of green ammonia per year for domestic consumption and export, power equivalent to Australia's entire current energy capacity.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 19 November 2024 - 10:12 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

July:

 

 

Set for completion in 2026, the Northvolt plant has been mired in controversy since its construction was announced. 

 

Quebec's government pledged $2.9 billion in financing to secure the deal with Northvolt last year, all while the Legault government was steeped in contract negotiations with teachers and nurses. 

 

Meanwhile, Ottawa committed up to $1.34 billion to build the plant and another $3 billion worth of other incentives. Once completed, it is expected to have an output of 56,000 tonnes of batteries per year.

 

https://www.cbc.ca/n...eview-1.7252532

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today:

 

Northvolt has considered US bankruptcy protection, sources say

 

https://www.reuters....say-2024-11-15/

 

 

 

 

 

Canadian pension funds exposed as battery maker Northvolt struggles to survive

 

https://www.theglobe...t-struggles-to/

 

 

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Investment Management Corp. of Ontario (IMCO), Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec participated in US$2.3-billion in convertible debt financings for Stockholm-based Northvolt, joining major automakers and financial institutions to support the European battery hope as its future looked bright. OMERS also bought an undisclosed number of Northvolt shares in 2021.

 

The Financial Times reported on Sunday that Northvolt is considering seeking protection from creditors in the coming days after talks about a rescue package collapsed. The company is still trying to secure short-term financing, but time is getting short, the FT said, quoting unnamed people involved in the negotiations.

 

Northvolt has suffered this year as EV demand growth slowed and a US$2.15-billion battery order was cancelled. In recent months, it has cut a fifth of its staff and shelved many of its expansion plans. Meanwhile, the fate of a $7-billion factory planned for Quebec has yet to be decided.

 

Northvolt said little about its current predicament when contacted by The Globe and Mail on Monday. “Financing negotiations are ongoing,” Northvolt spokesperson Emmanuelle Rouillard-Moreau said in an e-mail. “We are maintaining close communication with our investors and key partners. We will share updates and the outcome of these discussions once decisions have been finalized.”

 

The terms of Northvolt’s convertible debt – including under what circumstances it would be swapped for equity – have not been disclosed, which makes it hard to gauge where the four Canadian pension funds rank in terms of seniority in the event of a bankruptcy, or how much of their initial investments are at risk of being wiped out. Lenders typically rank ahead of equity owners when a company is restructured.

________________________

All of this turmoil has raised questions about the Quebec plant, which has been awarded billions of dollars in loans and production incentives from the federal and Quebec governments. Northvolt has said that it is conducting a strategic review of the facility in Saint-Basile-le-Grand, Que., and results are expected in the coming weeks.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 20 November 2024 - 03:21 AM.