1 October 2008

Bring on the Blackouts

| ikarus
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news.com.au currently has an article that outlines stress that Government proposed data centres will place on Canberra’s electricity grid.

Nothing like rolling blackouts throughout summer…

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The waving thing on Adelaide Avenue is power driven.

tastyjam said :

Sounds like you had douchebag clients.

Yeap…

harvyk1 said :

tastyjam said :

Gonna be a good season for the IT support sector.

Blackouts = surges & spikes, or better yet, worrying about surges & spikes.

I don’t think it will be a good season for the IT support sector. What will happen is they will be abused for things that really are not their fault, expected to work serious overtime (sometimes without pay because it’s for the good of the company) and then have their advice ignored because people \ companies “can’t afford” it. Yes years of working IT support in a company have taught me a few things

Sounds like you had douchebag clients.

Aurelius said :

Maybe Canberra needs a windfarm like they have out on the Tarago-Bungendore Road?

next door to the legislative assembly or new parliament house would be good locations, plenty of hot air there.

I am all for a wind farm, I don’t think that many people would worry about one. especially when we are all being conditioned by the waving arms art thingy on adelaide avenue…

They do generate relatively little power (I believe the government has purchased it all for the running of the streetlights), but that’s purely a function of the small quantity of methane that’s available to use.

Maybe Canberra needs a windfarm like they have out on the Tarago-Bungendore Road?

@caf: according to a source that I have, the 2 turbines were scaled back, the amount of energy being produced is a pilot amount, not really adding to the grid at all.

considering the prime site for the datacentre was where theiss is located – easy access to the methane store and away from suburbs, it seems strange that the ACT govt didn’t allow the construction sooner on that site for the datacentre, would have allowed the proposed turbines to boost into the grid a larger accurate amount.

@tastyjam: The IT support sector won’t benefit, the manufacturers of the power devices will. Granted, the numbers of resellers who sell UPS / Generators etc will make money initially will go up, but this won’t be a long term cash cow.

The IT support teams will find that the amount of headaches that this will cause from a support perspective will not be worth the original contracts that were signed. There are many contracts still active that will impact the IT support companies, where they were making a profit, they may be just breaking even.

I understand there was also a proposal to locate a large backup centre somewhere over the other side of the Brindabella Mountains…..The centre would then be the alternate data site for all the gov departments that have their main systems based here in Canb. I think the thinking was “what do we do if we can’t access Canberra?”

Aurelius said :

Harvyk,
And it was only gunna pollute some bits of Tuggeranong…. I mean, would anyone *really* mind?

But that’s why you do proper project planning and risk management. Look at my first comment.

tastyjam said :

Gonna be a good season for the IT support sector.

Blackouts = surges & spikes, or better yet, worrying about surges & spikes.

I don’t think it will be a good season for the IT support sector. What will happen is they will be abused for things that really are not their fault, expected to work serious overtime (sometimes without pay because it’s for the good of the company) and then have their advice ignored because people \ companies “can’t afford” it. Yes years of working IT support in a company have taught me a few things

Harvyk,
And it was only gunna pollute some bits of Tuggeranong…. I mean, would anyone *really* mind?

If a data center is the tipping point which causing rolling blackouts in Canberra I want to see two things.

1. Heads on plates of the people who approved the plan without doing a full and proper risk analysis, and then managing and mitigating the risks involved.

2. Heads on plates of the people who are opposed to the power plant. I hate to say it guys, but Canberra is a city. We need infrastructure here, if you want peaceful lives in bush surrounds (as the real-estate agents keep saying) then move to the bush. I see it as just as bad as the save the ridge crowd.

peterh: I am sure I mentioned this last time you brought up the idea – we already have gas turbine generators running on the methane from the tips, feeding electricity into the grid!

Gonna be a good season for the IT support sector.

Blackouts = surges & spikes, or better yet, worrying about surges & spikes.

and the comment by michael “of brisbane of queensland” saying that HDS would be worried about consolidation – where are they going to store all the data? on a massive storage system. what do HDS make?

hmmm?

oh,
and gas turbine generators using renewable methane from the tip – why isn’t that a voting point? if I lived on the other side of the hill in macarthur, I would be fighting for that one.

methane does create a health issue in qty. we don’t need a poison gas leeching into the valley….

and the turbines would fix that issue and relieve the grid…

I’m not talking about you, I’m talking about “Citrix Australia vice-president Rob Willis”, who seems to be the sole source making the claim about stresses on the electricity grid.

Industry player… hahahaha. I just like my aircon.

Industry player with vested interest warns against Government efficiency plans.

There’s nothing to see here.

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