Research conducted recently in Sydney proved that nearly 70% of the electricity generated in remote power plants in the Latrobe Valley is lost during the generation and transmission process. This sobering wastage of our valuable and expensive energy resource is occurring at all the remote power plants in the country, and is an inevitable part of the cost that consumers pay for power.

As the law of physics states; energy cannot be created nor destroyed, it can only be transformed. So as power plants (whether renewable energy sourced or coal fired) go about the transmission process of converting their source energy into electricity, energy is used, and a significant portion is lost.

To attempt to overcome this problem a revolutionary technology called Tri Generation has been adopted by the Sydney City Council in a bid to recapture that lost energy, and then utilise it to heat or cool buildings within the city.

The project will work by placing small generators across the transmission lines in the city. These will be able to capture some of the lost energy, and then direct it to a network of underground pipes that surrounds the Council buildings and other major ones in the city, where it will be used for either heating or cooling depending on the need.

Lead Engineer Allan Jones said that the technology is capable of generating 360 megawatts of energy. This will reduce the Council building’s carbon emissions by nearly 60% by 2030, and also make significant cuts to their electricity bills immediately.

Aside from the Tri Generation technology, another key solution to minimising energy lost through the transmission process is by simply reducing the distance that the energy needs to travel. Remote power plants are by definition vast distances away from areas of peak population where electricity is needed most, and so considerable energy loss is inevitable.

One of the exciting advantages of the renewable energy technology that solar power offers is that it is possible to construct mid-scale solar energy farms quite close to high demand urban centres. This will ensure that energy loss during the transportation process will be significantly reduced, which will reduce the production costs of this clean energy and increase the financial viability of these projects.

The council has approved the development of the Valdora solar farm in the Sunshine Coast region, which is a 50 MW solar energy park based on this model, and is expected to produce the highest efficiency rating (usable energy in total output). This won’t be due to any increase in the efficiency of the solar photovoltaic technology used, but rather its convenient distance to the population it will service.

Decentralisation of energy production is considered one of the keys to Australia reaching the country’s renewable energy targets, and is part of the reason why solar panels and other solar technology is poised to take a pivotal role in the process.

While large scale solar projects may be getting more publicity at the moment, their huge land areas require remote locations, which means they will encounter the same problems of energy wastage that coal fired power stations are. It is possible therefore that this model will be overtaken by the more flexible options offered by smaller sized mid scale solar energy parks that can be built close to high demand urban areas.