The Power Crisis

[Indiana_Jones]

Panic, Cpt. Mainwaring!

They say there isn't enough power and we need to cut back on it, so in theory the country can't develop or increase production.

Because we simply couldn't make another coal plant, no, that'd be too logical

[SPman]

You do know one of the things they make is the metal for the control flaps for the airbus A380s? Why should we penilise there buisnes becasue some pen pusher cant to his job properly?

Penilise?
Buisnes?
Becasue?

Language of the future, perhaps?

It would be cheaper to tell Ti Wai to take a jump and pay for the redundancies. - that would save $50m and leave more power in the kitty.
Could also do what Germany has done - encourage household photo voltaic cell installation with subsidies and generous feed in tariffs - 15% of all power in Germany is now produced by householders - the equivalent of 3 medium sized power stations.
Trouble is, it takes someone to get off their arse and think laterally and with conviction - something not renowned among NZ politicians...or the public, for that matter.....they'd much rather winge and pass the buck!

[McDuck]

Penilise?
Buisnes?
Becasue?

Language of the future, perhaps?

fuck you.

It would be cheaper to tell Ti Wai to take a jump and pay for the redundancies. - that would save $50m and leave more power in the kitty.
Could also do what Germany has done - encourage household photo voltaic cell installation with subsidies and generous feed in tariffs - 15% of all power in Germany is now produced by householders - the equivalent of 3 medium sized power stations.
Trouble is, it takes someone to get off their arse and think laterally and with conviction - something not renowned among NZ politicians...or the public, for that matter.....they'd much rather winge and pass the buck!
Again why should we make them close when they are making world leading product? Why cant the people whos job it is to ensure enough power is about do thai job properly?

[Winston001]

So I reckon we have to waste as much power as we can afford, to make such a terrible situation of rolling blackouts that someone is forced to do something soon, build more generation for the coming years.

Yeah! That'll solve it!

Cool - that's the best suggestion I've come across yet!! And the tragedy is, its true. Nine years including six of the best prosperity NZ has seen for decades and what does our Nanny Government do?? State-funded sex changes, rap tours, restricted political advertising.....spare me days!!

[Zuki Bandit]

Power crisis? It's all a conspiracy

[BOGAR]

Tiwai Pt smelter takes something like 15% of national power?I think was stated on the news.Also when minister David Cunliffe states no power outages this winter,who do you believe?

The problem was that they almost built and owned the power station them selves so they could have had their own power supply. That is why they get such a good deal. They were not allowed to own it so the get cheep electricity instead.

Plus the power cable across the gap being switched off many months ago, before the power crises. I reckon it was just a way to fast track a new cable going in and i think it is also what they are doing to get other projects ahead quicker. but then i am a pit paranoid.

[RC1]

same shit excuses, new season

[rainman]

Shoot the greenies and bring on nuclear power. Its not the most future proof idea, but I hate tree huggers.

Boring. And uninformed.

We are all ''green'' at heart but there are those who are also realistic. 9 years in power and nothing has been done to address the power issue. Another nail in Labours coffin.

Pleased to hear it, Robert. And you have a valid point that this will be seen as another nail for Labour. I'd have liked to see heaps more renewables.

[yungatart]

Power crisis? It's all a conspiracy

Never a truer word spoken on KB!

[davereid]

Power crisis? It's all a conspiracy

You may be right.

Labour has already suggested emergency legislation to allow hydro lakes to be lowered just to get through the "crisis".

Its easy to SAY green things all the time. As long as you can engineer a "crisis", so you can do what you want.

One of the problems with the Greens is, that they are happy for us all to make a "sacrifice" for global warming.

As long as that sacrifice is about freezing your granny to death its OK.

As soon as it means flooding a valley to make hydro energy, it's no longer a sacrifice. Its simply not thinkable !

[Jantar]

Dunno where you got that info from, but it's wrong.

http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf77.html

or even better:

http://www.nextenergynews.com/news1/...ar-12.17b.html

Unfortunately, he's right. Your link starts with

An international task force is developing six nuclear reactor technologies for deployment between 2020 and 2030. Four are fast neutron reactors.

Maybe you hadn't noticed but this is only 2008. The closest to a suitable sized reactor for New Zealand is the new Westinghouse 360 MW unit which is being developed now. All going well it well it will receive certification in 2010.

The latest discussion on nuclear was http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...ad.php?t=67724

[Flatcap]

Well, I've got gas hot water, gas stove and gas heating, so they can turn the power off for all I care

[Swoop]

Thats a point.....
Mayebe we could hook a couple of them mothers into the national grid.

That is what Dave Lobster was intimating.
JRandom went technical and got his pocket protector onto a tangent.

Yup. Park up a nuke sub and plug it into the power socket.
It also would have the advantage of making tree-hugging greenies have heart attacks!

[Jantar]

I'd tell RioTinto to go take a hike for the winter & turn off the smelter....we could also pay them a few mill compo for lost production & put the workers on a benefit so they could go on holiday for the winter....still a 'Dam' site cheaper than a nuclear option or coal or water for that matter

Good idea, but not practical. Aluminuim smelters are designed to be run constantly, and even planned shutdowns of potlines cost millions in plant degradation. In the event of a South Island wide blackout, the restoration procedures have energy to Tiwai as the first priority, major cities are next.

[Flatcap]

Yup. Park up a nuke sub and plug it into the power socket.
It also would have the advantage of making tree-hugging greenies have heart attacks!

I've always thought that Marsden Point was a good place for a reactor.
Its away from the fault lines, in an area that is already rooted environmentally, and if it melts down the prevailing wind will blow the radiation out into the pacific