News & Discussion: Electricity Infrastructure

[urban]

Unlike the statements from Putin which are 100% true?

Maybe I'm naive but I tend to put more faith in democratic countries with a free press (albeit controlled by private interests) than dictatorships with wholly government owned press.

The west is far far far from perfect but in a battle of transparency with Russia it's not even a contest which Russia are participating in.

[rubberman]

Unlike the statements from Putin which are 100% true?

Maybe I'm naive but I tend to put more faith in democratic countries with a free press (albeit controlled by private interests) than dictatorships with wholly government owned press.

The west is far far far from perfect but in a battle of transparency with Russia it's not even a contest which Russia are participating in.

That's such a low bar as to be meaningless. It's like saying two out of ten is better than one out of ten.

Both are so bad as to be irrelevant to the discussion of energy policy in Australia, let alone gas supply to Europe.

[SBD]

I am a bit over the discussion on this forum always heading towards 'Well in Europe last month......"

Europe is neither ahead nor behind South Australia in the renewable game......they have merely chosen a different path (interconnectors rather than storage, even though lots of European countries have mountains and regular rainfall)

Of course northern Europe is totally different climatically as well.......if you are going to talk about Europe then compare to Spain and Portugal.

Anyway back in SA......SA has been generating tons of electricity during the day exporting east during the main daylight hours



And the wholesale spot price has plummeted to -$12......





And a new tender for 600mw of storage has been announced for South Australia

https://reneweconomy.com.au/australias- ... ar-states/

It's interesting looking at the other states on OpenNEM and seeing that we are all different.

Tasmania's price and import/export curve is almost a mirror of SA at present. It has little solar and lots of hydro. It tends to export overnight while we are importing. It has both morning and evening peaks in demand, with a dip through the day that SA doesn't have.

NSW has some huge coal generation at times, but also has a lot more grid solar than SA. I suspect it needs more wind turbines connected to the grid. Maybe the EnergyConnect spine will help to enable that.

[mattblack]

Another massive step forward

From Renew Economy

South Australia names winners of world-leading hydrogen tender in race to 100 pct renewables

The South Australia Labor government has announced the potential winners of its landmark green hydrogen tender, which will see the construction of a 250 MW electrolyser and a 200 MW hydrogen gas generator that will be key to managing its accelerating shift towards 100 per cent renewables.

The government on Sunday named a consortium of international gas and engineering giants Atco and BOC Linde as the “preferred partners” to what the state calls its Hydrogen Jobs Plan, which is backed by $593 million of state funding.

The two companies were chosen from 29 competing proposals, with Epic Energy, a gas pipeline company that is branching out into large scale solar projects, providing the hydrogen storage capabilities. A final agreement is dependent on further studies to be conducted over the next six months.

The new projects – the biggest of their type in the world – will be built in Whyalla and will be crucial in helping the state and market operator manage the growing share of wind and solar in the grid, which regularly delivers more than 100 per cent of state demand, and which reached a potential 264 per cent on Saturday, before curtailment.

The electrolyser will help soak up excess renewables, particularly in the middle of the day when rooftop solar output alone is sufficient to meet all state demand on occasions, while the hydrogen gas generator will operate as a “peaking” plant to meet demand peaks in the evening and other times.

“This is a world-leading opportunity for South Australia, that has the potential to rival Victoria’s gold rush, the coal boom in Queensland, or Western Australia’s development of iron ore and gas,” state premier Peter Malinauskas said in a statement.

“We have all the things the world will need to decarbonise – abundant copper and magnetite, the world’s best coincident wind and solar resources, world-leading renewable energy penetration and soon, the ability to harness this abundant clean energy in the form of hydrogen.

“We can use this clean hydrogen to firm our electricity grid, but more than that, we can use it to help reindustrialise the Upper Spencer Gulf, creating thousands of jobs in the process.”

The announcement follows a six month assessment process that was due to be completed in the September quarter. The timeline for completion has also slipped, and the state is now targeting “early 2026” rather than December, 2025.

State energy minister Tom Koutsantonis says the green hydrogen will also be used by other customers, helping decarbonise industry in the state, and for potential exports. The state is looking to develop a massive green hydrogen and green ammonia export hub at Port Bonython, near Whyalla.

“For two decades South Australia has shone bright in the race to 100% net zero, thanks in part to our exceptional sun and wind resources to generate renewable power,” Koutsantonis said in a statement.

“The Hydrogen Power Plant in Whyalla continues this momentum, and our world leadership using hydrogen for renewable energy storage, and enabling us to ship the sun beyond our shores.”

The electrolyser and generator will both be owned and operated by the state. The demand created by the electrolyser will mean less curtailment of large scale wind and solar, and a value tool to help AEMO deal with its new big headache – how to deal with significant drops in operating demand.

Koutsantonis also said, in an interview with RenewEconomy’s Energy Insiders podcast (to be published on Monday) that the generator will bid into the market at the marginal cost of generation.

He says this will help moderate wholesale electricity prices in the demand peaks.

“I accept that there are some people who might be cautious about it, it’s just solely as an energy source,” Koutsantonis says.

“But my view is we’re only producing renewable energy now. That overproduction is leading to either export interstate, and when that’s our capacity, we basically turn it off.

“And I think that’s just completely unjustifiable solution. So what we’ve decided to do is invest our money to try and prove up electrolysis at grid scale can be done effectively and cheaply with the overproduction of renewable energies.

“And then you can use that energy to firm renewable energy into the grid. What we’re all paying for through higher power prices, isn’t renewable energy, it’s the gap.

“And the gap is becoming more and more expensive, the smaller and smaller it gets … because (the gas generators) are trying to extract that same amount of rent over a smaller period of time.”

Koutsantonis says that because the hydrogen plants will have multiple purposes and multiple revenue streams, and because they are state owned, they will be able to bid into the market at lower prices, to cover their production costs.

Koutsantonis says the green hydrogen capabilities, the ample wind and solar resources in the state, and the its reserves of magnetite iron ore meant a huge opportunity for the state to export “green iron” in significant quantities to help the global steel industry slash emissions.

“I think we will see exports of green iron well before we see exports of green hydrogen,” he told the Energy Insiders podcast.

John Ivulich, the CEO and country head of ATCO Australia, said the “world’s biggest hydrogen plant” in Whyalla will unlock decarbonisation opportunities and enhance prosperity for generations.

“ATCO is committed to the energy transition across the globe and our combined expertise at energy, partnering and delivery over many decades makes this project a significant milestone in our history,” he said.

[mattblack]

and......

South Australia potential wind and solar reaches record 264 pct of demand on Saturday

South Australia has reached another new landmark in the transition to wind and solar, setting a new record for “potential” wind and solar – a stunning 264 per cent of state electricity demand.

The number – reached at 1420 AEST on Saturday is a combination of dispatched renewables, which made up 137.5 per cent of state demand – with the excess either exported to Victoria or stored in batteries – and “curtailed” wind and solar, which on its own reached a phenomenal 126.5 per cent.

According to Geoff Eldridge from data collectors and energy advisory firm GPE NEMLog, the new record for potential wind and solar is a rise of 29.4 per cent from the previous record of of 234.6 per cent set on September 3.

It points, of course, to the growing need for more storage capacity – although batteries accounted for up to eight of native demand at appropriate times on Saturday, and underlines the need for the new link to NSW that should be complete in a couple of years, and more grid demand, such as hydrogen electrolysers.

The growth of wind and solar, and the significant excess, is one of the reasons why South Australia is committing nearly $600 million towards the creation of the world’s biggest green hydrogen electrolyser facility (250MW) , and the biggest hydrogen generation plant (200 MW) to be build near Whyalla.

Energy minister Tom Koutsantonis says green hydrogen is key to using excess wind and solar to value added products such as green iron, which he says could become a major export potential for the state, and solving issues such as minimum demand levels on the grid, and providing reserves for evening demand peaks.

South Australia is well ahead of the rest of the Australian grid both in terms of actual renewable generation (and average of more than 70 per cent of the last 12 months), and in “potential” renewable output.

The Australian Energy Market Operator, in its latest Quarterly Energy Dynamics update of the main grid, notes that the NEM as a whole reached a new peak in “potential renewables” of 98.6 per cent at 1230 AEST on Saturday, September 16 this year.

This record is based on a 30-minute interval – as are all AEMO benchmarks – and as RenewEconomy wrote at the time, the 5-minute interval showed a peak of 101.7 per cent of renewable potential.

AEMO noted in its report that at the time of the “potential” peak, renewables supplied 15,410 MW (64.9%) of total NEM generation, and grid-scale solar and wind offered an additional 7,980 MW to the market at this time.

But they offered their capacity at prices above the prevailing spot price and were therefore not dispatched. (Some wind and solar generators do this deliberately because they choose, or their off take agreements demand, to not send output to the grid at negative prices).

AEMO is seeking to make the grid ready to accept short periods of “net” 100 per cent renewables as early as 2025, although it has many engineering challenges to overcome, and grid protocols to establish, mostly relating to maintaining grid security (services such as system strength and inertia).

The record renewable “potential” in South Australia was not the only record to fall in a busy weekend. As reported on Saturday, the instantaneous share of renewables hit a new peak of 70.5 per cent (for a 30 minute) period on Friday, according to AEMO.

And on Sunday, the share of wind in the Victoria grid hit a new peak of 88.5 per cent at 3.50 am (AEST), while the “potential” renewables in NSW hit a peak of 96.5 per cent at 12.05pm (AEST) on Sunday.

[rev]

How countries can go fossil fuel free with wind and solar superpowers
South Australia is a renewable energy champion and now plans a truly fossil fuel-free grid. How did it make such a remarkable turnaround, and can the rest of the world follow suit?

By Alice Klein

24 October 2023

A DECADE ago, the main landmark in Port Augusta, a town in South Australia, was a 200-metre-tall chimney puffing fumes from a coal-fired power station. “You could see it from 40-odd kilometres out,” says Gary Rowbottom, who worked at the plant for 17 years.

Today, however, there are no hints of this history. The chimney is gone and the sky is a pristine blue. The chief landmark now is a tall tower topped by a dazzling light, where sunlight reflected from 23,000 mirrors on the ground is focused to power four giant greenhouses in which tomatoes are grown. Next door is the newly built renewable energy park, home to 50 wind turbines and 250,000 solar panels.

Port Augusta is representative of a remarkable shift that has swept South Australia. In 2007, just 1 per cent of the state’s electricity came from solar and wind. Now it is 73 per cent (see below graphic) – the highest proportion of any major grid in the world. On days that are particularly sunny and windy, it powers itself with 100 per cent renewables. That happened on 180 days in 2021 and for a 10-day consecutive stretch in December 2022. The state is now racing to ramp this up to renewable-only power year-round.

Coming from neighbouring New South Wales, where just 31 per cent of electricity is from renewables, I find this clean energy rush highly enviable. It is also highly instructive to the wider world, which needs …
to rapidly wean itself off fossil fuels to avert a climate disaster. To find out how such progress is possible, I have crossed the border to meet those leading the charge.

South Australia covers almost 1 million square kilometres – more than seven times the area of England – but has a population of just 1.8 million. Almost 90 per cent of the state is desert, so most people live along the wetter, cooler south coast, largely in the capital Adelaide.

The state’s renewable energy push began in 2002, when the South Australian Labor Party was elected to government. Its initial interest in renewables was in fact economic, says Tom Koutsantonis, the state’s current energy minister under its latest Labor government. At the time, South Australia’s electricity was very expensive, partly because its large, spread-out grid is paid for by a relatively small population, and partly because the previous Liberal government had privatised the state’s electricity assets “on terms that wouldn’t benefit consumers”, he says.

Weaning off fossil fuels

The Labor government wanted to “smash up the monopoly” of the newly privatised coal and gas-fired power stations to drive electricity prices down and “the obvious answer was renewables”, Koutsantonis tells me at his office in Adelaide. The government realised the desert could actually be a “massive opportunity” because it provided the vast amounts of space, sun and wind needed for competitive renewable energy generation, he says.

In 2002, the government approved the state’s first wind farm on the Fleurieu peninsula. This opened the floodgates to more renewable energy projects, with 24 onshore wind farms and five large-scale solar farms now operating. In 2008, it also began incentivising households to put solar panels on their roofs by offering generous payments to them for any excess solar energy that was fed back into the grid.

“We had this at our house and suddenly I was getting credits on my electricity bill because I was selling more than I was using,” says Jenny Paradiso, a former librarian in Adelaide who co-founded a solar panel installation business called Suntrix in 2009. As word spread, people rushed to get panels and cash in, she says. Now, more than 40 per cent of South Australian homes have them – one of the highest rates of uptake in the world. One afternoon last month, a major new milestone was reached when the state’s entire electricity demand was met by rooftop panels alone.
The drive for solar power

Certainly, as I drive around, the enthusiasm for solar is evident. There are panels carpeting the roofs of homes, shops, pubs and public toilets. I meet Adam Langham, a chemical engineer in the Adelaide suburb of Netley, who has 58 panels on his house and car port. They produce 12 times more power than he, his wife and two children consume. The government discontinued its subsidy in 2011, but smaller payments are still offered by private electricity companies, meaning the family makes more than enough money to pay off the upfront cost of the installation. “I’ve had quite a few friends call me up over the years and say, ‘OK mate, solar panels, what’s the go?’ and I tell them, ‘they’re a no-brainer – go for it’,” says Langham.

Wind energy has also been received more warmly in South Australia than in New South Wales, where a planned wind farm near the town of Berrigan was recently scrapped due to a community backlash. One Berrigan resident told the local newspaper the project would “pose physical and mental health threats to our children”. Here in South Australia, however, there are framed paintings of wind turbines in my motel room in the town of Burra.

What explains this difference in attitude? Fran Baum, a public health social scientist at the University of Adelaide, says one reason may be that South Australia has a long history of being progressive. It was one of the first places in the world to allow women to vote and stand for parliament, for example, and the first Australian state to decriminalise male homosexuality.

Wind farm developers are also getting better at working with communities, says Tom Jenkins, who heads the South Australian branch of Neoen, a company that is building the state’s biggest wind farm, Goyder South. For example, it funds community projects near its wind farm sites, including local clubs and sporting teams; encourages its contractors to employ local businesses; and hires First Nations people to supervise construction in case of the discovery of artefacts or remains. For the Goyder South project, the company will also offer annual payments of AUD$1000 to $5000 to every household within 6 kilometres of a wind turbine as a goodwill gesture.

I do, however, meet some people for whom the switch to renewables has been challenging. Rowbottom and around 400 colleagues, for example, lost their jobs in May 2016 when Port Augusta’s coal station, the last one in the state, closed. Few were able to find jobs in the town’s new renewable energy sector, which required fewer staff and different skills. Rowbottom initially had to move to Queensland to work at another coal power plant, but has since found employment back in Port Augusta.

There have been other hurdles to overcome. In September 2016, South Australia suddenly faced its biggest test yet when almost the entire state experienced a blackout that lasted for days in some areas. “It was the first state-wide blackout like that in Australia in about 50-odd years,” says Christiaan Zuur at the Sydney arm of the Clean Energy Council, which represents Australian renewable energy businesses.

The blackout was triggered by a violent storm that knocked over more than 20 electricity pylons and cut three of the four major transmission lines in the state. Coal enthusiasts in the federal government seized on the event to argue that renewables were unreliable. For example, Scott Morrison, Australia’s treasurer at the time, who became its prime minister from 2018 to 2022, accused the South Australian government of “switching off jobs, switching off lights and switching off air conditioners and forcing Australian families to boil in the dark as a result of their Dark Ages policies”.

Koutsantonis believes the state’s supply would have gone down regardless of its energy mix, due to the severe damage to transmission lines. But the mocking that South Australia received made the government there determined to prove the naysayers wrong, he says. “We hated the ridicule we got from the rest of the country.”

“After the blackout, a whole bunch of very positive things were put into place that have led to South Australia now being where it is – a world leader in terms of its renewables uptake,” says Zuur.
In 2017, for example, the state government created a AUD$150 million technology fund to provide grants or loans to businesses that could offer new technologies that would make the grid more resilient.
Backup batteries

One project to get funding was a giant battery – the first of its kind in the world – to provide back-up in the event of major grid disturbances. It was built by Tesla following a famous bet on Twitter between Mike Cannon-Brookes, Australia’s best-known tech billionaire, and Tesla boss Elon Musk. Musk told Cannon-Brookes that Tesla would get the battery installed and working in less than 100 days, otherwise it would be free. Luckily for Tesla, it achieved this in 63 days.

The battery is near Jamestown and looks like hundreds of refrigerators lined up in rows in a field. Each is filled with lithium-ion cells that are all connected to form one big battery with a capacity of 194 megawatt-hours. The facility monitors the frequency of the local electricity grid and if it suddenly rises or falls, the battery rapidly charges or discharges to stabilise the grid.
This has since proved its worth on multiple occasions, including in August 2018, when lightning strikes caused widespread grid problems across the eastern half of Australia. Major blackouts occurred across New South Wales and Victoria, but the lights stayed on in South Australia, as the battery was able to rapidly reverse the sudden drop in grid frequency. Inspired by its effectiveness, Victoria and New South Wales have since built their own big batteries.

The same is true in several US states that are also ramping up their wind and/or solar generation. California, Texas and Florida have recently built or are building big batteries to help maintain the stability of their grids as they change their energy mix.

Another innovative project that emerged after the blackout was a “virtual power plant“, also built by Tesla with some initial government funding. It comprises a network of solar panels and batteries that Tesla installed for free on more than 4000 government-owned social housing properties across South Australia. Tesla uses sophisticated software to coordinate the individual systems so they function like a single power plant. This allows it to trade surplus solar energy stored across the battery network on the electricity market.

This appears to be a win-win for everyone because it makes money for Tesla, reduces electricity costs for the social housing residents and helps to stabilise the grid so that blackouts are less likely for the wider community.

I meet Craig Renton, who lives in a social housing property in the outer Adelaide suburb of Elizabeth. He joined the virtual power plant in August last year and says it is “really good”. “My wife and I are pensioners and it saves us money – about AUD$60 a quarter – which makes a difference,” he says. Renton uses a machine to help him breathe at night and if there was a blackout in the past, “I had to get up to get the generator going, but since we got the battery, now the power comes back on within 5 seconds”, he says.
Equitable access to renewable energy

Renton says there is “no way” he would have been able to afford solar panels or a battery without the scheme. In this way, the virtual power plant is helping to address a key criticism levelled at these technologies, which is that they are typically only accessible to the wealthy. “One of the principles that we have in this energy transition is that we want to make sure we don’t leave anyone behind,” says Scott Oster at the South Australian government’s energy department, who has helped manage the project.

Despite all this progress, however, average electricity prices are still higher in South Australia than in most other parts of the country. This has meant there has been “a bit of fatigue creeping in” among the community, with people questioning the benefits, says Koutsantonis. Electricity prices have remained stubbornly high because South Australia still relies on gas-generated electricity to fill the gaps on days when there isn’t enough sun and wind, and gas has become increasingly expensive in recent years, he says.

As a result, the most pressing matter now is to find ways to store the excess solar and wind energy produced at particular times of day or on certain days, so it can be used when there is a deficit, instead of falling back on gas, he says. One solution may be to use excess solar and wind energy to power electrolysers that split water to make hydrogen. This hydrogen could then be stored and converted back into electricity when needed, either by burning it or feeding it through hydrogen fuel cells
.
To test this idea, the state government will commit AUD$600 million to building a hydrogen power plant near the town of Whyalla, which is due for completion in 2025. If it works, the state will be able to meet its target of running solely on renewables by 2030 and will probably have the world’s first large fossil fuel-free grid based on solar and wind energy. “If we can decouple ourselves from coal and gas prices, we decouple ourselves from international price shocks, and then all of a sudden the cost of power is just what it’s costing us to generate it,” says Koutsantonis.

According to Zuur, there is no reason why other parts of the world couldn’t replicate South Australia’s rapid adoption of renewables. The state has certain advantages, including large amounts of space, sun and wind, but other places can tap into their own advantages, he says. For example, nations with less land, like the UK and Japan, have built wind farms offshore, while Iceland, which gets little sun, uses alternative renewable resources like hydropower and geothermal energy to generate almost 100 per cent of its electricity.

Personally, seeing what South Australia has achieved in a relatively short space of time has filled me with optimism that the world will be able to wean itself off fossil fuels sooner than we think. Although its energy transition hasn’t been perfect, it has shown that the key ingredients for success are strong political leadership, winning community trust, willingness to try new technologies, equitability and, most important, never giving up.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg ... perpowers/

I'd say the most pressing matter for consumers is the cost.

[PeFe]

If you want the cost of electricity to come down in South Australia then we need to get off gas.....most expensive method to generate electricity in SA and also a "price leader" pushing even wind and solar to higher prices.

Here is the wholesale spot electricity price in SA over the last month.

https://opennem.org.au/energy/sa1/?rang ... crete-time

[SBD]

If you want the cost of electricity to come down in South Australia then we need to get off gas.....most expensive method to generate electricity in SA and also a "price leader" pushing even wind and solar to higher prices.

Here is the wholesale spot electricity price in SA over the last month.

https://opennem.org.au/energy/sa1/?rang ... crete-time

Average wholesale price 3.2 cents per kWh. My retail price was just over 37 cents, plus supply charges.

The world might change a lot if one of the retailers manages to source ALL of its supply from solar, wind and storage, either internally or on contracts not tied to the spot price.

[mattblack]

From Renew Economy

South Australia to reach 100 pct wind and solar within a few years, says network company

South Australia – the state with a world-leading average share of renewable energy of more than 71.5 per cent in its grid – is expected to reach “net” 100 per cent renewables within four years, according to the state’s transmission company.

The stunning prediction by ElectraNet, the first time it has been formally acknowledged by such an authority, is all the more remarkable because in South Australia renewables means wind and solar, because there is no hydro, geothermal or even biomass power to speak of.

South Australia would be the first grid of its size to reach such a milestone. Its share of wind and solar is also unmatched in a grid of its size in a modern economy.

South Australia state governments – be they Liberal or Labor – have long held a prediction that by 2030 the state will average “net” 100 per cent renewables, but it has also been informally recognised that it would get there much earlier, particularly after a new transmission link to NSW is complete in 2025/26.

Now, the state’s main transmission company ElectraNet has formally recognised that, and predicts that the state grid will double in size because of the rush of green industry coming to the state in search of low cost, zero emissions power.

“Net” 100 per cent renewables simply means that the state will export surplus production when needed, and import when needed – as any other connected grid in the world does, be they mostly powered by coal, nuclear, gas or renewables.

South Australia’s ambitions go way beyond just “net” 100 per cent renewables and is intent on tapping into its ample wind and solar resources to build a massive green hydrogen industry.

This will support the production of hydrogen, ammonia and green iron and other metals, and the government has committed nearly $600 million to build a 250 MW hydrogen electrolyser and a 200 MW hydrogen-fuelled power plant, and both will likely be the world’s biggest when built.

The ElectraNet report notes wind and solar supplied all of the state’s electricity demand for at least part of the day on 282 days over the 12 months to September 30, 2023. That equated to 24 per cent of all trading intervals. The share of renewables averaged 71 per cent over that period.

It also notes that 85 per cent of transmission connection points with the SA Power Networks distribution network has experienced times when the output of distributed solar PV systems exceeded the local demand during the day.

“South Australia has demonstrated that operating at 100% instantaneous variable renewable energy is achievable,” ElectraNet says in its planning document. “We will continue to balance affordability with reliability as we transition to a 100% renewable grid.”

The company says the state will reach net 100 per cent renewables within a few years.

More interesting is what follows. ElectraNet says it is receiving “unprecedented” interest in new demand that is driving by electrification, new and expanded mining operations, industrial loads, desalination facilities and energy-intensive operations such as data centres.

All these big energy consumers are searching for low cost, zero emissions renewables and their load will effectively double the size of the state grid. On the supply side, ElectraNet says new zones to the north and west are also attracting huge interest from developers of gigawatt scale projects for new wind and solar.

“We are also receiving enquiries from proponents of increasingly large renewable energy generation developments,” it says.

“Eight of these proposed large- scale generation developments exceed 1,000 MW in size, with interest spanning the state from the South East, through the Mid North, to the Eyre Peninsula.”

ElectraNet’s planning document sites the development of the Mid North Renewable Energy Zone, including the Mid North Southern Expansion and Mid North Northern Expansion, as essential to connecting the new wind and solar and storage capacity needed to meet the expected growth in demand.

Chief Executive Officer, Simon Emms, said South Australia remains a leader in the clean energy transition and ElectraNet network developments are central to energising South Australia’s clean energy future.

“South Australia’s renewable energy is attracting international interest from businesses seeking to invest in a net-zero emissions economy,” ElectraNet CEO Simon Emms said in a statement accompanying the report.

Emms said ElectraNet is on the ground engaging with customers for both new loads and renewable energy developments.

“This is demonstrating the need to strengthen the network backbone as soon as possible through South Australia’s Mid North,” Emms said.

“Now is the time for the timely investment of new transmission to fully capitalise on South Australia’s renewable energy projects to supply growing demand.”

[PeFe]

Another big battery proposal

From Renew Economy

Denmark’s CIP unveils 480MWh battery as part of big storage push in Australia



Danish energy giant Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners has formally unveiled its plans for what would be the biggest battery storage project in South Australia, and the first of a major push into energy storage projects across the country.

CIP is best known in Australia for its part ownership of the 2.2 GW Star of the South project in Victoria, widely regarded as the most advanced offshore wind project in the country, but it is now also turning its attention to battery storage.

On Wednesday, CIP announced it had chosen Canadian Solar’s e-storage division and its Solbank technology to build its first battery project, a 240 MW, two hour (480MWh) battery at Summerfield in South Australia. A final investment decision is due next year, with construction to begin in 2025.

South Australia is the world leader in wind and solar, with the variable technologies providing more than 71.5 per cent of local demand over the past 12 months, and expects to reach “net” 100 per cent renewables within a few years.

However, CIP says Summerfield is the first of multiple large-scale battery projects planned for Australia, and part of a $100 billion development pipeline across offshore and onshore wind, renewable hydrogen, pumped hydro and battery storage.

CIP Australia head Jørn Hammer called the Summerfield battery an “easy win” in terms of transmission infrastructure, and says it will be a catalyst for investment needed to unlock more generation in the South East Renewable Energy Zone.

CIP joins a host of international players looking at battery storage in Australia, including Brookfield, BlackRock’s Akaysha Energy, Macquarie’s Eku Energy, along with established energy giants Neoen, Iberdrola and Engie.

The Summerfield project comes with a backstory that says a lot about the energy transition, as the site near Tepko, east of Adelaide, was supposed to host a 300 MW gas power plant with a small 12 MW solar farm backup and 30 MW battery.

But shifting sentiments around emissions and the rapidly falling cost of battery storage has pushed fossil fuel generation out of the picture – it simply can’t compete anymore with renewables and batteries.

CIP says the Summerfield battery will have two hours of storage, which can be expanded depending on market need, and is located on the proposed 275kV South East transmission line expansion which will bring in new renewable generation from the South East Renewable Energy Zone.

“South Australia was a pioneer in bringing grid-scale batteries into the electricity system, creating a template taken up around the world,” says South Australia energy and mining minister Tom Koutsantonis, referencing the world’s first big battery, the Hornsdale Power Reserve.

“We are now at the forefront of the next phase, in which batteries provide stabilisation services and make a significant market impact by charging up from excess renewables and discharging energy when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing.”

South Australia streamlines future renewables

Last week, South Australia passed legislation intended to cut red tape for renewable energy and green hydrogen projects.

Its Hydrogen and Renewable Energy Bill consists of six Acts merged into one and creates five licences for each of the key stages of project development – from early research and feasibility right through construction, operation, and closure.

The new bill applies to both freehold and government-owned land and state waters.

Those looking to develop renewable or hydrogen projects on freehold land will need to secure access through direct agreement with landowners, and a new competitive system will be introduced for conferring access and licenses for projects on pastoral land and state waters.

https://reneweconomy.com.au/denmarks-ci ... australia/

[PeFe]

Another (really) big battery proposal! And not the same one I posted yesterday! Gas killers!

From Renew Economy

UK battery developer unveils biggest SA project and “multi-gigawatt” Australia plans


Artist's render of the Limestone Coast BESS. Image supplied

UK energy storage developer Pacific Green has made a dramatic entry into the Australian energy market with plans for one of the nation’s biggest battery project’s yet – a 500MW, three-hour battery energy storage system on South Australia’s Limestone Coast.

Pacific Green’s 0.5GW/1.5GWh Limestone Coast Energy Park, unveiled on Thursday, would be biggest big battery in South Australia – and trumps the previous “biggest” battery project just a day after that was unveiled by Denmark’s CIP.

The company says it has secured exclusive rights to a strategically located site in the state’s south east, across from an existing substation that feeds into the Heywood Interconnector, that links South Australia and Victoria.

This puts the proposed battery in a doubly strategic position, in a state that has been rapid-firing renewable energy generation and supply records, including last month’s new high for “potential” share of wind and solar – a stunning 264 per cent of state electricity demand.

That number, as RenewEconomy reported, is a combination of dispatched renewables, which made up 137.5 per cent of state demand – with the excess either exported to Victoria or stored in batteries – and “curtailed” wind and solar, which on its own reached 126.5 per cent.

South Australia averages 71.5 per cent wind and solar – the most in the world – and regularly produces enough rooftop solar to meet all of state demand. Pacific Green is looking at that rooftop solar market for bulk storage.

Pacific Green says the location of the proposed Limestone Coast Energy Park means it would be able to charge and discharge excess renewable energy to and from Victoria, via its access to the interconnector.

“Our Limestone Coast Battery Energy Park can act as a load during the day, increasing the viability of even more solar and wind generation, whilst shifting energy to the times it is most valuable in the evening peak,” said Joel Alexander, Pacific Green’s managing director of Australia.

“This momentum allows us to accelerate progress towards South Australia achieving 100% net renewables by 2030.”

The Limestone Coast project is currently going through a development application with the South Australian government, the company says, with construction scheduled for 2024.

The hope is that it will be the “first of several” for Pacific Green, with plans to build a “multi-gigawatt platform” across the country.

A second development, proposed for Portland in Victoria, currently sized at 1GW/2.5GWh is said to have project rights already secured and development approval expected to begin in the first quarter of 2024.

Pacific Green had its start in the marine industry developing and installing technology to scrub carbon from shipping emissions. It has also dabbled in concentrated solar technologies and in 2021 moved into energy storage in a strategic partnership with battery supplier Shanghai Electric.

https://reneweconomy.com.au/uk-battery- ... lia-plans/

[abc]

rEneWaBlE eNeRgY

https://x.com/Real_King_Elvis/status/17 ... 14659?s=20

[PeFe]

Good progress made on the SA side of Energy Connect. Just waiting for NSW.

From Renew Economy

“Transformational:” SA section of Australia’s biggest renewable superhighway is complete



The South Australian component of Australia largest electricity transmission project – dubbed a renewable superhighway – has been completed, delivering 206km of new poles and wires “on time and on budget” and promising to help make 100 per cent renewables a reality for the state.

Project EnergyConnect, a 900km transmission line that connects Robertstown in South Australia to Wagga Wagga in New South Wales, is being delivered by network companies ElectraNet on the SA side and Transgrid on the NSW side.

The huge project, which includes a branch line into Victoria, is expected to add 800MW of new transfer capacity to the National Electricity Market (NEM).

This means it will unlock vast amounts of new wind, solar and battery storage projects along its route and accelerate the charge 100 per cent renewables that, in Australia, is being led by South Australia.

Most importantly, it will also mean more wind and solar can be exported from SA, rather than curtailed, and offers greater grid “security”, meaning that gas generators are not required to run in the background.

South Australia network company ElectraNet said on Thursday said that the completion of the SA component of the project – running from Robertstown in the mid north to the NSW border – was transformational for the state and the NEM.

ElectraNet chief Simon Emms said on Thursday that, once in full operation, the interconnector was expected to slash the annual power bill of a typical SA household by $127 and by between $6,000 and $18,000 for business customers.

“The interconnector strengthens South Australia’s position as a leader in the transition to a low-carbon economy and enhances our ability to export our abundance of renewable energy resources,” said ElectraNet CEO Simon Emms.

“As well as unlocking renewable energy developments, it strengthens South Australia’s power grid, and will deliver price savings for customers.

“Project EnergyConnect is already contributing to South Australia’s clean energy future through new renewable energy developments in excess of 2GW including wind, solar and batteries that are now proposing to connect to the grid,” Emms said.

Neoen Australia’s CEO, Louis de Sambucy, said the new interconnector was a significant factor in the renewables giant’s ongoing investment in the state, where it currently has over 1GW of wind and battery storage in operation or under construction.

“As a long-term owner-operator, SA’s ongoing energy policy leadership and our deep partnership with ElectraNet
have been major factors in our continued investments here,” de Sambucy said.

“Among its numerous other benefits to consumers, Project EnergyConnect will help provide transmission capacity for additional stages of our Goyder Renewables Zone in SA’s Mid North, leveraging the area’s world-class renewable resources and unlocking billions of dollars in investment for South Australia.”

The 700km New South Wales side of the project kicked off in March this year and, according to this July LinkedIn post, the last of 1,500 steel towers was installed 100 metres from the SA border at Chowilla, ready to connect to the SA section.

In a new LinkedIn update on Thursday, Transgrid said the remainder of EnergyConnect was “progressing well,” including the successful assembly of two synchronous condensers which sit at the heart of the 16ha Buronga substation – the main connection between NSW, South Australia and Victoria.

https://reneweconomy.com.au/transformat ... -complete/

[PeFe]

Another large battery proposal.....at Mannum

From InDaily

Epic plan for SA’s next big battery

Adelaide-based Epic Energy will invest $130 million in a battery storage project to capture renewable energy generated by its solar farms at Mannum.


EPIC Energy will build its big battery near existing solar infrastructure at Mannum. Photo: EPIC Energy.

The South Australian firm, also part of a consortium to deliver hydrogen facilities at Whyalla, will build the big battery featuring approximately 220 MWh DC of energy storage.

That makes the battery larger than the once “world’s largest” at the Hornsdale Power Reserve, but slightly smaller than the state’s latest renewables infrastructure addition unveiled by AGL at Torrens Island last year.

To be located 90km east of Adelaide and adjacent to Epic’s two solar farms at Mannum, the $130 million project is expected to support South Australia’s ongoing energy security.

Epic will partner with energy storage specialist e-STORAGE – a subsidiary of Canadian Solar – to deliver the project. Construction is expected to commence in the second quarter of this year and should be completed in the second half of 2025 according to the renewables firm.

Epic CEO Clive D’Cruz said the project would support the supply of excess renewable energy during peak periods and enhance stability not just in South Australia but the national grid too.

“The battery energy storage solution will absorb surplus energy during times of low demand that can then be directed into the grid to help support the consistent supply of renewable energy to South Australian consumers, and the national grid, in peak periods,” D’Cruz said.

“The solution rounds out our investment at the current Mannum site where we own two solar farms capturing 46 MWp of the Riverland’s saturated sunlight to provide clean energy to industrial customers.”


A drone shot of the Mannum solar farm site. The battery will be built on the vacant plot immediately to the left of the panels and substation. Photo: Provided.

The battery will add to Epic’s portfolio of energy assets for its customers, with infrastructure ranging from wind and solar farms to microgrids and standalone storage. The company also owns and operates a gas pipeline spanning 1200km across SA, and is part of a consortium delivering the state government’s Hydrogen Jobs Plan.

Epic Energy general manager for strategy and business development Stephen Mudge told InDaily the project would help support SA’s transition to renewable energy.

“It does provide much-needed storage for renewable energy during periods of excess supply and allows that renewable energy to be supplied back to the market during peak periods,” he said.

“The project is located in Mannum but it supports the broader South Australian electricity system. From the Riverland’s perspective, the project will see another construction project which follows on from the construction of our Mannum 2 solar farm during 2023.”

The general manager told InDaily that its partnership with e-STORAGE was a continuation of its collaboration with Canadian Solar.

“e-STORAGE will be our main partner to deliver the project using their technology from a battery perspective,” he said.

“We’ve been working with another Canadian Solar [subsidiary] – Recurrent Energy – over the last one to two years at this site. We ultimately acquired the [solar] project from Recurrent Energy so we have a long history with the company.”

e-STORAGE president Colin Parkin said the firm was excited to collaborate with Epic as it expands its renewable energy portfolio in Australia.

“The Mannum project will support Australia’s roadmap for the efficient development of its energy network and facilitate the integration of new renewable generation sources,” Parkin said.

https://indaily.com.au/news/business/20 ... g-battery/

And Renew Economy's story on the same subject matter

https://reneweconomy.com.au/another-big ... y-storage/

[SRW]

Read yeserday that local (and Australia's only) PV manufacturer Tindo Solar is pitching to build a solar panel gigafactory (i.e. Tesla scale) but is looking at sites in QLD and NSW. This would be far above their current SA capacity.

Begs the question of why not expand here? Hope the SA government is not missing opportunities to consoldiate existing clean tech advantages while they're out trying to build an hydrogen industry from scratch.

https://reneweconomy.com.au/big-new-pus ... gafactory/