News & Discussion: Electricity Infrastructure

[SBD]

There is plenty more electrical infrastructure to be built in South Australia (solar farms, wind farms and storage) These gas generators will not be stopping that.....

I disagree.
These generators are now in the supply vs demand pool. They will lead to 273mw of generation to not be built by someone else. It will not alter anything to do with Haywood interconnect once the 273mw is absorbed in to the market.

For me there was no requirement for the government to build a general power station for someone else. Supply and demand in the market leads to a private company building a power station.

These generators were intended to fill gaps on peak days where the private market supply vs demand has failed. As happened in January this year.

Agreeing to privatising these generators does mean you would have been happy to not have power on days like occured in January 2019 due to the private market failing to cover such edge cases.


Maybe 600mil was too much to cover the edge cases and we are just better off with no power.

That is when "demand management" should be used. I expect there are lots of industrial workers in hot environments who would be happy to be given the afternoon off on a hot summer day when the business gets paid to shut down for the rest of the day by the power company. I imagine that $600M buys a lot of down days.

Did any of SA lose power due to demand outstripping supply (ie not distribution failures) in January? I thought our generators were turned on to avoid Victoria having to do that.

Soon we will have another interconnector, to New South Wales, past the big solar farms being built in the west of that state, and possibly triggering the build of some of the approved ones in the Mid North here too.

[PeFe]

There is plenty more electrical infrastructure to be built in South Australia (solar farms, wind farms and storage) These gas generators will not be stopping that.....

I disagree.
These generators are now in the supply vs demand pool. They will lead to 273mw of generation to not be built by someone else. It will not alter anything to do with Haywood interconnect once the 273mw is absorbed in to the market.

For me there was no requirement for the government to build a general power station for someone else. Supply and demand in the market leads to a private company building a power station.

These generators were intended to fill gaps on peak days where the private market supply vs demand has failed. As happened in January this year.

Agreeing to privatising these generators does mean you would have been happy to not have power on days like occured in January 2019 due to the private market failing to cover such edge cases.


Maybe 600mil was too much to cover the edge cases and we are just better off with no power.

The government is leasing the diesel generators to Nexif and Ingen, chipping away at current gas cartel of AGL and Engie.
This is how the free market is supposed to work, prices being pushed down by more competition.

Do the gas companies want to make money? Yes! Will they have every piece of power production rolling during heatwaves? Yes!
Do you have to tell supermarkets to sell water and icecream during heatwaves???? No...

Solar and wind are currently, and probably forever in the future, cheaper than gas or coal or nuclear, therefore they get the first "dibbs" at selling power into the network. Sanjeev Gupta is just about to start building South Australia's largest solar farm at Whyalla....I doubt he has given the diesel leasing a second thought (he will be supplying power to his steelworks and selling power to large mines at well below the cost of natural gas power)

"Demand and supply"....well demand has gone up in the last 3 years (anecdotally from looking at NEM power generation graphs nearly every day) not just the small population increase but rather "economic activity".

The Haywood Connector can export 650 mw of electricity 24 hours a day.....any excess production is usually exported........does South Australia want to be a net importer or net exporter of electricity?

[PeFe]

NSW are doing their bit bit to push along the construction of the proposed SA-NSW interconnector......great great news for South Australian solar and wind farms.
The article implies that NSW will be exporting a lot of their renewables west into SA.....I doubt this will happen with Lidell coal power plant closing in 2023....thats 2000 mw NSW has to replace...

From Renew Economy

NSW puts interstate transmission link project on the fast-track



The New South Wales government has signalled its intention to fast-track the development of a 800km transmission line linking the state’s grid to renewables rich South Australia, after awarding the $1 billion project “critical infrastructure” status.

NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes said on Thursday that the proposed high-voltage interstate grid connection”could provide an important piece of NSW’s energy security puzzle by improving network security and reliability.”

The project, which is being led by transmission network companies ElectraNet and Transgrid, has been hailed by its proponents as the answer to the decline of black coal generation in NSW, and as a substitute to high-cost gas generation in South Australia.

As we reported here, the final proposal from ElectraNet and Transgrid said the new interconnector would deliver twice the benefits to consumers than had been previously estimated.

“The retirement of coal generation is expected to be most rapid in New South Wales,” it says, noting that the state is facing the imminent closure of Liddell, and then Vales Point, with Bayswater and Eraring following in 2035.

They said the new link would help deliver significant new wind and solar resources to NSW from South Australia, while numerous solar projects totalling more than 600MW in the pipeline in the Riverina region of NSW would also be unlocked.

The next step for TransGrid is to prepare an environmental impact statement for the project, that must be assessed before making a recommendation to minister Stokes for a final decision on planning approval.

NSW environment minister Matt Kean said this week that the transmission line was a priority project for the state’s Transmission Infrastructure Strategy, as well as for the planning for the greater grid – it will include a side connection to Victoria, too.

“This project could facilitate the development of energy projects proposed in NSW’s Far West and Riverina-Murray regions, including the South-West Energy Zone,” he said.

Full article : https://reneweconomy.com.au/nsw-puts-in ... ack-10531/

[SBD]

NSW are doing their bit bit to push along the construction of the proposed SA-NSW interconnector......great great news for South Australian solar and wind farms.
The article implies that NSW will be exporting a lot of their renewables west into SA.....I doubt this will happen with Lidell coal power plant closing in 2023....thats 2000 mw NSW has to replace...

From Renew Economy

NSW puts interstate transmission link project on the fast-track

The New South Wales government has signalled its intention to fast-track the development of a 800km transmission line linking the state’s grid to renewables rich South Australia, after awarding the $1 billion project “critical infrastructure” status.

NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes said on Thursday that the proposed high-voltage interstate grid connection”could provide an important piece of NSW’s energy security puzzle by improving network security and reliability.”

The project, which is being led by transmission network companies ElectraNet and Transgrid, has been hailed by its proponents as the answer to the decline of black coal generation in NSW, and as a substitute to high-cost gas generation in South Australia.

As we reported here, the final proposal from ElectraNet and Transgrid said the new interconnector would deliver twice the benefits to consumers than had been previously estimated.

“The retirement of coal generation is expected to be most rapid in New South Wales,” it says, noting that the state is facing the imminent closure of Liddell, and then Vales Point, with Bayswater and Eraring following in 2035.

They said the new link would help deliver significant new wind and solar resources to NSW from South Australia, while numerous solar projects totalling more than 600MW in the pipeline in the Riverina region of NSW would also be unlocked.

The next step for TransGrid is to prepare an environmental impact statement for the project, that must be assessed before making a recommendation to minister Stokes for a final decision on planning approval.

NSW environment minister Matt Kean said this week that the transmission line was a priority project for the state’s Transmission Infrastructure Strategy, as well as for the planning for the greater grid – it will include a side connection to Victoria, too.

“This project could facilitate the development of energy projects proposed in NSW’s Far West and Riverina-Murray regions, including the South-West Energy Zone,” he said.

Full article : https://reneweconomy.com.au/nsw-puts-in ... ack-10531/

Do you derive the "NSW will be exporting a lot of their renewables west into SA" from the last sentence? I took it that there is more space in NSW for more big solar farms beyond the capacity of the current NSW grid. The new interconnector will carry higher voltage so that for NSW, most of the time they will keep the Wagga Wagga end of this new line running near capacity, from NSW solar where it exists and SA wind when necessary. The SA end of the project will "unlock solar projects" in SA too. Much of the land it passes through is sparsely populated, has little current electricity transmission capacity, and low economic value for farming.

The Hornsdale wind farm in SA is contracted to supply the ACT government, but I doubt the SA electrons actually get there very often via Victoria.

[PeFe]

My view is that the large solar farms proposed for western NSW would be looking to export excess power somewhere......and this new direct connection to SA makes that very easy.

Yes they could export to Melbourne but the power would have to "go round the block" to get to there. There will be no direct Melbourne connection.
The new interconnector will deviate into north western Victoria allowing the big new solar farms being built there to export into NSW and SA.

And there is plenty of land along the proposed route where you could build 100 new solar farms without impacting on quality agricultural land.

[SBD]

My view is that the large solar farms proposed for western NSW would be looking to export excess power somewhere......and this new direct connection to SA makes that very easy.

Yes they could export to Melbourne but the power would have to "go round the block" to get to there. There will be no direct Melbourne connection.
The new interconnector will deviate into north western Victoria allowing the big new solar farms being built there to export into NSW and SA.

And there is plenty of land along the proposed route where you could build 100 new solar farms without impacting on quality agricultural land.

The Sunraysia solar farm (one of the two under construction near Balranald) is contracted to AGL as part of its plans to replace the Liddell coal power station and to and Uni of NSW as part of its plan to be carbon neutral by next year. https://reneweconomy.com.au/constructio ... nsw-19587/ I haven't found whether the even bigger Limondale farm next door to Sunraysia has contracted sales.

Many of the NSW coal power stations are reaching the end of their lives. Solar farms in the west of the state will still be in sunshine when the sun sets in Sydney. I expect they will be busy sending the electricity east at that time of day. Maybe they will send some west to us in the mornings if NSW demand drops for a moment after breakfast.

[bits]

Do the gas companies want to make money? Yes! Will they have every piece of power production rolling during heatwaves? Yes!
Do you have to tell supermarkets to sell water and icecream during heatwaves???? No...

Pelican Point, our second biggest power station, had been running at half capacity for 2014-2017.
February 2017 SA had load shedding with NEM offering max pay for anyone willing to bid. Pelican Point remained half offline for the entire event.
It is on now after pressure that it isn't acceptable that it was just off.

There is edge cases where the NEM market has proven it is not capable of supplying to satisfy demand. These edge cases occur every year.
The state black out is quoted as costing the sa economy $367m.
The private energy sector has a less compelling reason than the people, and therefore government, have for keeping the power on. The private sector has less to lose.

If AGL was going to lose $367m for every 5 hours of off peak trade (5 hours mid day surely would rack up insanely higher losses) AGL would easy spend $600 million building an extra power station that rarely gets used. They would be crazy to not control the risk.
But AGL, Origin, Engine etc are not left with these bills, we are.
When the generators fail to generate every year the answer so far is the economy will just take the losses.

[bits]

Will they have every piece of power production rolling during heatwaves? Yes!

I just want to highlight the answer to this is NO!!!!!!!!
Private companies doing supply vs demand are not driven by a need to maximize units sold, they are driven by a need to maximize profits.

Pelican Point could have been running but instead was offline and load shedding occured. That was the outcome that maximized profits.

Repeatedly the proof is that in a heatwave private companies are not driven to meet demand, they repeatedly fail to meet demand even with absurd spot prices being paid per mw unit sold.
Every single year so far the private NEM market has failed to meet demand because private profits are not driven by a need to supply for all demand.

The lack of supply has often been while power stations that could have been on were off.
Just building a power station doesn't mean it will be on.
Private companies will only run or even build a power station if they are sure it will increase their profits.
They will not run or build a power station based on your want for power.

AGL, Origin, Engie, Alinta have shown they will not operate to supply the edge case days, there is nothing in it for them, the government must do that.


The state government power station was built to take on that financial risk that private companies are not held responsible for.
Basically it was built to meet your need for power and not for a private companies need for profit.

$200m was spent and now we are back to having an unmanaged financial risk and unmet demand.
$200m spent just to go back to where every year the NEM market leads to days where users have no power.

[PeFe]

Will they have every piece of power production rolling during heatwaves? Yes!

Pelican Point could have been running but instead was offline and load shedding occured. That was the outcome that maximized profits.

Yes Pelican Point was offline and not selling gas.....at all.......Engie owns Pelican Point meaning it made 0 dollars that week, allowing all the money to go to its competitor AGL (who own Torrens Island). How is that maximizing profits? Anyway this will be the subject of the upcoming court case.

The lack of supply has often been while power stations that could have been on were off.

Pelican Point 2017 is the only case I can think of, otherwise every power station is up and running during heatwaves.

https://www.energycouncil.com.au/analys ... -the-heat/

The state government power station was built to take on that financial risk that private companies are not held responsible for.
Basically it was built to meet your need for power and not for a private companies need for profit.

Even back in the day when state governments built power stations they still sold electricity to make a profit (cover the cost of the build, ongoing staff and maintenance costs, future capital works etc) There is no free lunch.....

Heatwaves present unique challenges in this country re electricity production, demand suddenly surges 300 per cent and last 48 hours then dissipates again. This was a problem during the fossil fuel era and will be in the near future as well.
(I remember a big blackout in Adelaide summer of 79-80 or 80-81, load shedding at 4-30 pm even though the temperature was only 38. Why? According to the media it was those all the air conditioners being turned on , whereas 5 years earlier a/c was a luxury item not readily available to the common person)

Construction of big new power stations that are only used 5 days a year is not a great economic model, nor is the "divide the pie" model is a solution either (No private investor would put in money that saw their production facility's quota cut to a miniscule level.) That leaves the government to fork all the money for power production,and therefore the taxpayer (and their taxes) become part of the risk equation. Like I said before there is no such thing as a free lunch....

[bits]

Yes Pelican Point was offline and not selling gas.....at all.......Engie owns Pelican Point meaning it made 0 dollars that week, allowing all the money to go to its competitor AGL (who own Torrens Island). How is that maximizing profits? Anyway this will be the subject of the upcoming court case.

Engie potentially owns other assets that may have been getting paid big dollars to generate that day when there was limited supply.

Separately I believe Engie claimed their issue was they had no gas contract. To me that reads that the risk to precommit to buying gas to run the generators for an unknown amount of time was seen as too high.
It was cheaper for them to not buy gas they may never use vs the small chance they may use it.

Even back in the day when state governments built power stations they still sold electricity to make a profit (cover the cost of the build, ongoing staff and maintenance costs, future capital works etc) There is no free lunch.....

SA government privatised the electricity generation because it was seen to be costing the SA public too much to run it.
Failing to meet peak demand from public or private is totally fine, it may just cost too much. But that is what these generators were about, meeting peak demand and now we don't have them for that.

We didn't save $400m and get the same outcome, we lost $200m and accepted we don't want to meet peak demand for an extra $400m.

[PeFe]

But that is what these generators were about, meeting peak demand and now we don't have them for that.

We didn't save $400m and get the same outcome, we lost $200m and accepted we don't want to meet peak demand for an extra $400m.

The generators were going to cost the South Australian taxpayers $600 million dollars over 25 years.....that has now been mitigated by the leasing arrrangements. $600 million dollars is a lot of money for an electricity asset on standby being used 3 days a year.

I am surprised that AMEO (the Australian Market Energy Operator) did not ask the South Australian government to have the diesel generators on standby every time the temperature of 35 was forecast in Adelaide or Melbourne.....another tool to feed the heatwave electricity monster.

These diesel (soon to be gas) generators will be there when needed.....summer....or Nexif and Infigen can change their corporate strategies and offer lower gas prices than AGL and Engie, therefore being first into the market after solar/wind.

Or Nexix and Ingen can wait for the summer months when demand increases and sell their gas at "spot" prices (maximum allowed under AMEO rules $14,000 mwh) Either way all the gas supply will be there during the heatwaves.....that is when it is really needed.

[PeFe]

And for some more good news...SA Water is embarking on a solar farm/battery building process to make themselves energy self-sufficient.
As a large electricity user this will good news during heatwaves when demand is down 150 mw because SA Water can supply their own power.
From Utility Magazine

Morgan to Whyalla Pipeline harnesses solar power



The Morgan to Whyalla Pipeline in South Australia is set to receive more than 19,000 solar panels as SA Water continues on its path to achieving a zero-cost energy future.

Civil works are underway to install 7.5MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells on the pipeline’s third pump station at Geranium Plains near Robertstown, which is one of four along the 350km pipeline that transports treated, high-quality drinking water to customers between the River Murray and Upper Spencer gulf.

SA Water’s Acting Chief Executive, Mark Gobbie, said the panels – located adjacent to the pump station – will be installed on a racking system, allowing them to pivot from east to west and capture as much sunlight as possible.

“The DC voltage captured by the panels is converted into high-voltage AC energy, where it travels underground to a connection point for use at the pump station,” Mr Gobbie said.

“Delivering water from our Morgan Water Treatment Plant through to customers in the Barossa, Mid-North and Spencer Gulf requires a significant amount of power, so the energy generated at this site will help reduce its overall draw from the energy grid without compromising on performance.

“This is the first of four solar arrays to be installed at pumping stations along the pipeline, with a further 15,000 solar panels also soon to be catching the sun’s rays at the fourth pump station at Robertstown.”

SA Water has engaged South Australian-based company Enerven on a $304 million framework contract to deliver solar and battery storage infrastructure at a number of SA Water sites across the state.

One of the largest electricity users in the state, SA Water’s 2018-19 water and wastewater pumping and treatment operations required around 520GW hours of power, totalling in excess of $80 million.

“Increasing our renewable energy generation will help sustainably reduce operating expenses in our network and allows us to pass on the savings we achieve to our customers,” Mr Gobbie said.

“There will be times when we need to draw electricity from the grid, but this project allows us to store and sell energy at other times while protecting our business from the volatility of the electricity spot market.”

https://utilitymagazine.com.au/morgan-t ... lar-power/

[SBD]

But that is what these generators were about, meeting peak demand and now we don't have them for that.

We didn't save $400m and get the same outcome, we lost $200m and accepted we don't want to meet peak demand for an extra $400m.

The generators were going to cost the South Australian taxpayers $600 million dollars over 25 years.....that has now been mitigated by the leasing arrrangements. $600 million dollars is a lot of money for an electricity asset on standby being used 3 days a year.

I am surprised that AMEO (the Australian Market Energy Operator) did not ask the South Australian government to have the diesel generators on standby every time the temperature of 35 was forecast in Adelaide or Melbourne.....another tool to feed the heatwave electricity monster.

These diesel (soon to be gas) generators will be there when needed.....summer....or Nexif and Infigen can change their corporate strategies and offer lower gas prices than AGL and Engie, therefore being first into the market after solar/wind.

Or Nexix and Ingen can wait for the summer months when demand increases and sell their gas at "spot" prices (maximum allowed under AMEO rules $14,000 mwh) Either way all the gas supply will be there during the heatwaves.....that is when it is really needed.

Nexif and Infigen are both in the business of renewable energy. Owning their own gas turbines and batteries (Infigen has one near its Lake Bonney wind farm in the southeast, Nexif plans to have one near Lincoln Gap wind farm on Eyre Peninsula) allows them to develop and connect more wind farms to the national grid under the current rules. They might play the spot price game, but that is not their business model.

One of them even proposes to fit a steam turbine to the exhausts to convert the Open Cycle gas turbines into a Combined Cycle power station.

[PeFe]

Big new proposal near Burra.
From Renew Economy

Neoen unveils massive wind, solar battery project in South Australia



Neoen Australia has unveiled a massive new wind, solar and battery project for South Australia, adding to its suite of renewable and storage projects in the country, and taking the total pipeline of renewable and storage projects in the state to $16 billion.

The Goyder South project is earmarked for Burra, in the state’s mid north, and will comprise up to 1200MW of wind, 600MW of solar, and up to 900MW of battery storage (the number of hours of storage is yet to be determined).

The first stage, comprising about one third of the capacity, and totalling around $1 billion, may begin construction this year, while the second and third stages will depend on the timing of the proposed new inter-connector between Robertsown in South Australia and Wagga Wagga in NSW.

Even the first stage will be the biggest of its type in the country, and while the overall project would easily be the biggest in the state, its country ranking will depend on the fate of other projects also on the drawing board, such as 4GW Walcha project in NSW.

There are even bigger projects planned for Australia’s north, such as the 15GW Asia Renewable Energy Hub in West Australia’s Pilbara region, and the 10GW solar farm for the Northern Territory, although these are “off-grid” and may not be completed for some years.

The final size of Goyder South will also likely depend on the fate of other projects in the same region. These include its own Crystal Brook wind, solar, battery and hydrogen hub, also proposed for the mid north, as well as four different solar and battery projects.

Elsewhere in the state, Sanjeev Gupta also has a 280MW solar farm, a 100MW battery and a proposed pumped hydro facility in and around Whyalla, while at least three other pumped hydro projects are competing for funds from ARENA and/or the federal government’s Underwriting New Generation Investment program, while Nexif is also looking at doubling the capacity of the Lincoln Gap wind farm near Port Augusta.

Full article : https://reneweconomy.com.au/neoen-unvei ... lia-71699/

[Spurdo]

Construction at Barkers Inlet Power Station (middle left of image) appears to be progressing well.